Les Ateliers de Tyr

Set in Hammediyeh-Tyre, in southern Lebanon, Les Ateliers de Tyr sits a few minutes from Tyre Beach, the Tyre coast nature reserve and the ruins of Tyre. The village was inaugurated in September 2017, built to revive Phoenician handicraft techniques and give work to local women. It is eco-designed, with rainwater collection, grey-water recycling and solar power. Orange orchards ring the site, and a hiking trail loops through them. Guest houses offer family, triple, twin, double and single rooms, all en suite. The restaurant, Les Ateliers, serves regional dishes from the south. By day, the workshops turn out blown glass, pottery, jewellery and silkscreen prints, each taught by hand. Legend ties the site to glassmaking itself: Phoenician traders are said to have discovered glass on the beach at Tyre, when natron blocks beneath their cooking fires melted into a strange, clear liquid. You can walk from a pottery wheel to a glass-painting bench in minutes, then out among the orange trees. The centre has drawn over 45,000 visitors in two years, including 5,000 students on school visits. It is a working craft village, not a resort, and reads as one: kilns, wheels and workbenches sit alongside the guest rooms. The coast and the ruins are close enough for a short walk or drive.