Wow, I thought--what a BEAUTIFUL place! How come I had never been there before or even heard of anyone going there before??
Now don't get me wrong, I spend my summer traveling around Lebanon visiting all the beautiful sites and I could certainly believe that this place was in Lebanon--but the fact that I had never been there before was a tad bit suspect...
Something seemed a little fishy...it wasn't the first time I had seen these photos either, I had seen them in YouTube videos of Lebanon mixed in with pictures of Beirut, Byblos and the Cedars of Lebanon.
Still...something was not right...
And then I figured it out...these supposed pictures of this beautiful oasis in Baysour, Lebanon are in fact the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia.
Ok...so what the hell happened? Go ahead and Google Image "Baysour, Lebanon" and then "Plitvice National Park." Even sites such as Souwar.com incorrectly show pictures of the Croatian Park and label them Baysour, Lebanon.
So unfortunately, it is undeniable that this is not Baysour, but actually Croatia--but how did this hoax begin??
I would personally like to think that it was a stroke of genius by the Tourism Board of Baysour, Lebanon--after years of extraordinarily low tourism in Baysour, the old village-people got together over Lebanese coffee and thought up this genius scheme! Perhaps they thought up the idea in 2008 after the assassination of Saleh al-Aridi, a leader of the Lebanese Democratic Party, in a carbomb in Baysour--that couldn't have been good for Baysour's image...
And I, for one, think as Lebanese citizens, it is our duty to increase tourism in Lebanon by following in the footsteps of the people from Baysour and posting picures online and labeling them as different places in Lebanon.
In fact, I have already begun this quest by posting millions of copies of the following pictures online and labeling them accordingly (The Seven Wonders of the World would be a good place to start):
Ras Osta, Lebanon
Baalchmay, Lebanon
Richmaya, Lebanon
Ghassaniyeh, Lebanon
Bahbouch, Lebanon
The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism should've employed this strategy years ago!!
For what it's worth, I do think that Baysour does have a river, and I believe that this is it:
I'm not sure though--perhaps a Baysourian could confirm??
Actually, nevermind, they're not to be trusted...
~LZ
Share
