Lebanon is a place of stark beauty, and in 1967 Thubron spent four months there, walking the tracks across the mountains and following the rivers down the valleys. Not only was he there to see the country, but he had the desire to integrate himself with the people. Whilst there he managed to visit almost all the significant cultural and spiritual sites, places that held the secrets of life and death in this ancient land.

Immersing himself in the landscape on his walk, he either stayed with families in the villages he passed through or camped wild out in the hills. Thubron is a careful traveller, taking time to listen to and observe those he meets, never imposing himself nor being confrontational. It was tense when he was there too; he had to have special permission to move in some areas of the country, and towards the end of his journey there came the Six-day War making a complicated region a lot more dangerous.

As with all of his travel books this is a fine piece of writing. His descriptions of the landscape is fantastic too, evoking the remoteness of the ancient ruins. He has a way with people that draws the best out of them, it may be because he was walking and is was not considered a threat, or it might be just because of his manner and attitude. Above all it was a personal quest for him to discover and reflect on his own personal faith and meaning of life as his draws inspiration from an ancient land. ( )

Colin Thubron: “The Hills of Adonis” (1968). A trip through Lebanon BEFORE the civil war, interesting to compare with William Dalrymple’s experience just AFTER. Thubron decided to walk through Lebanon, in a quest to discover traces of Astate – Aphrodite in the Greek mythology – and Adonis. The mythological details are not exactly what one would have expected in a travelogue, but the other parts are quite interesting, and indeed describe another country than what it has become after the civil war, notwithstanding Thubron’s recognition of a wide variety of population groups, and significant tensions between them, already then. Still, not one of my favourites. ( )

The hills of Adonis. A journey in Lebanon by Colin Thubron is a rather bookish travelogue of his trek through the hills of Lebanon. While the book contains sufficient references to observations made on the way, the book mainly reads as a history book, a great deal of historical background information probably penned over from the books in the extensive three-page bibliography at the back of the book.

Presumably, a young author, new to the craft of travel writing, without a commission, would go to a country or region of his intrinsic interest. Thubron's first books are all set in the Middle East, Mirror to Damascus (1967), The hills of Adonis (1968), Jeruzalem (1969) and Journey into Cyprus in 1974. For all these destinations, Thubron visited on the brink of war, awhile they were still quite pristine.

Throughout the book, Thubron appears a rather aristocratic traveller of independent means, roaming the countryside on foot free of fear and shunning luxury.

Most readers know very little else about Lebanon than that it is a country thoroughly devastated by war. Its close proximity to Europe, both geographically and historically are overshadowed by its muslim character. Like Turkey and other countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, Lebanon has a rich culture viewing both to the West, with pockets of Christian villages and to the East, as a mainly muslim country. The first book to open my mind to this aspect of Lebanon was The dream palace of the Arabs. A generation's odyssey by Fouad Ajami. The hills of Adonis. A journey in Lebanon is an excellent introduction to the ancient, Phoenician part of the history of the country.

We have all read and heard about the Phoenicians in our history classes, but oddly I have never been able to connect the Phoenicians to any country. In The hills of Adonis Thubron visits and describes the background of the earliest cities in Lebanon founded, occupied and abandoned by the Phoenicians. While bookish, this is a very interesting part of the book.

Throughout the book, Thubron weaves the myth of the resurrection of Adonis, a myth with connects Pagan, Phoenician, Greek, Roman and Christian culture through the ages. There are beautiful landscape descriptions of cypress and lemon groves, almond blossom and other to dream away into.

Overall, the book reads like an intellectual and sensual journey through history and the region of and around Lebanon. There are some, but few encounters with local people. Many travel books focus on the landscape and particulars of local population. The hills of Adonis has very little of that, and its tone is somewhat more erudite and intellectual. A very interesting read indeed. ( )