Hbaline - Hsarat - Bjerrine (the ghost town)

A cool nice hike from Hbaline to the famous abandoned village of Bjerrine via Hsarat village. It can be done in less than 3 hours which makes it perfect for a morning or an afternoon hike in the coming spring and summer. The only bad thing about the hike today is the hot weather which exhausted our chocolate labrador dogs! Don't do it mid-day when it's hot. The trail is exposed and there's almost no shade. We started from Hbaline and went down to the valley before starting our ascent to Hasrat. After a pleasant walk in the village, we took a footpath becoming soon a wonderful "ligne des crêtes" walk leading to St Elias shrine where you can see the stunning hill of Bjerrine ruins. The way down follows a zizgaz trail and you will reach an old rusted sign. Continue your way up to Bjerrine, the old village and take your time exploring the stunning ruins. From there, we went down to the green fields before going up back to Hbaline from its west. Go to the viewpoint where you will have another superb view of Bjerrine. The village road walk to the starting point is nice and you will encounter few cars. I highly recommend this hike for all nature lovers. Keep hiking and stay safe. Kindly leave a short review after following my trail. Enjoy!

Below info about Bjerrine abandoned village was retrieved from this wonderful article:
https://www.the961.com/bjerrine-abandoned-village-lebanon/

Between the villages of Hsarat and Gherfine, in the Jbeil District, lies the forgotten mountainside village of Bjerrine. A hike to the lost town must be made since the road to the village no longer exists.There, several stone walls remain, leaving traces and ruins of the people who had once inhabited this land 100 years ago. The deteriorated walls tell stories of the past. With an abandoned silk factory, the Maronite village was once known for producing silk. It is said they grew wheat crops and had tobacco plants.
Now, it is an abandoned town with stone houses that have lost their roofs and whose people have all disappeared. What happened to them?
According to 89-year-old Simon Mershad Nehme, the town’s people were very peaceful and friendly. Mr. Nehme had heard stories about the Bjerrine tragedy from his family. He said that the residents of Bjerrine were very helpful and had all worked together to build their town up.
“It was once a beautiful village, famous for its greenery with a plentiful supply of water from deep wells, but now all that remains are the deteriorated walls of houses that were once the homes of its villagers”.
The last activity from the town dates back to the time of World War I. The tales say the inhabitants fled, escaping the tyranny of the Ottomans who had taken over Lebanon at the time. “The townspeople fled to the United States, escaping the starvation that Lebanon was witnessing around the time of World War I,” recounted Simon.
Bjerrine’s people made the plan to get to the Lebanese shore and escape. It was either that or starve to death in their homes.
Some say that the people of Bjerrine had all crammed into one boat in order to flee, and this boat sank. Some say they reached Brazil but there is so far no confirmation of either story.
Till today, no one can be truly sure what happened to them and how could an entire once-vibrant town could be left to slumber into such oblivion. It gets visitors though. It’s a hot spot for hikers, adventurers, and story lovers.