The Heritage Trail will provide the opportunity for residents and visitors to travel back in time, through a pedestrian circuit in the city’s historic core and designated conservation area of Beirut city center, connecting the main archeological sites, places of historic interest, monuments and heritage buildings which are important to Beirut’s rich past. Its first section opens in Spring 2005. Starting from the Ancient Tell area with its archeological remains, visitors can mount steps to the belvedere that overlays remains of the Crusader castle and then stroll along: Cadmus street, from which you can see the site of the Phoenician city wall (Phoenician Glacis) Martyrs’ Square and the remains of the Petit Serail Hadiqat As-Samah (Garden of Forgiveness), with its archeological site, including the Cardo Maximus and Decumanus Maximus, Byzantine, medieval and Ottoman remains, with St George Maronite cathedral and Nouriyeh chapel The pedestrian area of Maarad with its preserved French Mandate buildings, to Nejmeh (Etoile) Square, site of the ancient Roman Forum, with St George Greek- Orthodox cathedral and St Elie Greek-Catholic church Weygand street, site of the Municipality of Beirut with the historic Al Omari and Amir Assaf mosques Back to Nejmeh (Etoile) Square, site of the Lebanese Parliament, and Riad El Solh Square, with such modern buildings of architectural value as the Post Office, Arab Bank, Asseily, Shaker-Oueini and former Pan Am buildings The archeological site of the Roman Baths with its Mediterranean aromatic herbs gardens and, on the Serail hill beyond, the Ottoman Grand Serail, today the Prime Minister offices, and the former Ottoman military Hospital, today CDR offices The ancient site of the Bab Idriss old gate, with the Capuchin (St Louis) church The historic Amir Munzer Mosque, and then downhill to the well-preserved and pedestrianized Foch-Allenby district with its French Mandate buildings, down to Old Harbor Square, marking the site of the ancient harbor. Fragments of its salvaged Ottoman harbor walls are being reinstated in the square as one of its focal point, and the story of the city’s port from ancient times will be illustrated there Foch street, with Abou Baker (Dabbagha) mosque, before ending at Bab El Saray garden, site of one of the city’s old gates Brass medallions set in the sidewalk paving will guide the visitor along the route. Historical information will be provided on a series of multilingual information panels illustrating the main aspects of the city’s legacy. An illustrated Trail map, showing the route and key sites of interest, will also be available to the visitor. A subsequent extension of the Heritage Trail will complete the itinerary, bringing its total length to over 6 km. The extension includes the ancient Tell archeological site and planned site museum, that will illustrate the history of the city and provide the future starting point of the Trail; the Souks of Beirut important archeological sites: Ibn Iraq shrine, medieval city wall and Phoenico-Persian quarter; and Hadiqat As-Sama (Garden of Forgiveness), a themed garden integrated within the Cardo archeological site. The Heritage Trail will be connected in the future to two other linked pedestrian trails, marking former city layers of shoreline infrastructure: The Old Shoreline Walk, which will take visitors along a linear greenway following the prewar coastline and original Corniche sea wall The Ottoman Wall Walk, which extends along part of the original Ottoman harbor wall, providing stunning views across the port of Beirut and to the mountains beyond.