Family Trek Across Lebanon Inspires 70 Years Later
Reviewed by Robert Lebling
Smelling the Breezes: A Journey Through the High Lebanon in 1957. Ralph Izzard and Molly Izzard. Eland Publishing, 2022.
“‘A house without children is a house without light,’ says an Arab proverb, and the possession of our children assured us a warm and sympathetic welcome wherever we went. The question would never arise of us having to protect them; among a people kind and indulgent to children, they, at a pinch, would probably protect us.”
In the summer of 1957, a Beirut-based British family—two parents, four children, their Lebanese servant, Elias and two donkeys—sets out on a 483-kilometer trek along Lebanon’s mountainous backbone. The authors, both parents, with Ralph being a foreign correspondent and partial inspiration for the fictional James Bond, and Molly, a World War II-era British interrogator and writer, offer an engaging account of their adventure that was first published in 1959. Readers tag along as the group traipses from Tripoli to the Cedars, along the country’s northern Mediterranean coast, stops over south in Baalbek, near the Syrian border, and visits Druze country westward before arriving back in Beirut. It’s an exciting trip, with the family encountering hashish smugglers, clan feuds and hospitable tribal sheikhs during their three months on the road. Luckily, the couple’s children, who’d grown up as expats, didn’t mind. Their lives reflect an ongoing adventure, and they found this journey along the Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges a fairly “normal” experience.
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