Lebanon's most experienced and sought-after tour guide is... Bulgarian. Antonia Kanaan, now in her late 50's, tall tireless woman with a sharp conversation, came to Lebanon in 1965 to marry lawyer Jamil Kanaan, leaving behind her the domain of Indology she had been studying in Warsaw. "My Brahman teacher was furious", she recalls: " 'I wanted to send you to specialise in New Delhi and you went and married a Semite!' "

Soon a mother of three, she'd been unable to pursue her higher education, but chanced upon the syllabus of a tourism school initiated by Mrs Wadad Eddé at the Ministry, in the goal of creating tour guides. Kanaan hadn't taken the Red Cross tourism class that was the only available one till then, but the new two-year program was very attractive to her: archaeology (given by Emir Maurice Chehab), history (Fares Boustany), economy, field trips, a practical formation, etc. Kanaan signed up for sheer pleasure: "I never thought this was going to be my profession." This was in 71, and the end of her studies in 73 barely preceded the beginning of the war. In the meanwhile the outings had begun as she accompanied groups to the Baalbek Festival and was called upon by agencies for daily tours. "That was the golden period, and it launched me."

The war came as a brutal cut. Yet visitors were still coming to Lebanon and since Kanaan remained in Beirut most of the time, she was often in charge of guiding journalists or businessmen during periods of calm. Most of her colleagues had left the country or were otherwise cut off, but she never experienced a complete break. There were particularly dark moments where she thought: "It's over", and was tempted to trash all her class notes, but she kept them, "just in case".

When the war was over, the Ministry and travel agencies called upon her services again on a regular basis. In 94 the Ministry opened a course to form new guides, and she was naturally invited to handle the practical aspects, which involve guiding, itineraries and commentaries. Four classes graduated before the implementation of a full-fledged, 3-year program in universities around the country made the Ministry course unnecessary. Kanaan now teaches in USJ where she initiates students into the guiding process and gives guest lectures in other classes to elaborate on specific aspects of the subjects.

Alongside of this she continues her own tour activities, although since 9-11, she says, the industry hasn't been doing too well: many large Western agencies have stopped or diminished their trips to the Middle East. Still, private circuits are popular, organized for occasions such as weddings that bring visitors from afar for the event. The tourism industry is also profiting from the number of conferences and symposiums taking place at any time during the year.

Back in the 70s Kanaan found herself assigned to guide celebrities such as Alain Delon launching his perfume, and Julio Iglesias shooting the spot of "Ah les femmes" at the St Georges. Now, with her experience, she is often sent uncommon guests. In general they are people with titles, counts and the like, requiring a very high level of guiding, but a few years ago it was Sean Connery she took through the Museum. "They kept it a secret till the last minute, I never knew who it would be until the day itself," she relates. "I thought it would be a political figure, to be honest! He was with his wife and a British group, and he was the most attentive and interested." This summer, the highlight was the singer Shakira, although Kanaan explains that it wasn't the same kind of tourism: "She was on a quest to find her roots. We moved around a lot and had a good time, but it wasn't culture- or history-oriented."

Apparently there is much more to being a quality tour guide now than before the war, as we now have 25 to 30 years to relate of a history that foreigners are just as interested in as they are in the Phoenicians and Canaaneans. "The war and the news take up 50% of the guiding nowadays. Visitors want to know everything about life during the war." The casualties, number of emigrates, religious ratio, but also urbanisation, ecology, political situation, even the languages and school systems, are subjects that never used to be brought up before, but that the guides must be prepared for now. The tour of Beirut, which used to be quite small, grew with the reconstruction to include the whole Solidere program and information pertaining to the company itself. Kanaan emphasizes the demanding aspect of the profession: "When you are dealing with people of a high level, you need to be constantly up to date, follow conferences and whatever it takes to know what's going on." As for the recurring questions about the different religious sects, they make it necessary one to know their history. Thus last year Kanaan took a class on the beginning of churches. "Actually," she comments, "every year I take a class somewhere! When you're able to englobe all these subjects and present them in a clear way, then you have a good reputation."

Not only should a "superguide" be capable of answering any Lebanon-related question; he or she must also be able to address a group in its own language: "When I do the museum tour, which is on Thursdays, I modify my language according to whom I'm addressing. For regular tourists [not looking for a full historical lecture] I have to simplify. For schools, I have to put myself at their level and I tend to do it with questions, in an interactive way that makes the children feel involved."

As if meeting these challenging aspects wasn't enough, Kanaan is also a polyglot capable of giving her tour in no less than 6 languages, including Bulgarian, Polish and Russian. But not Italian, where, she says, she's not deeply involved enough. "One of these days I'll have to do that, actually", she ponders -- "work on my tour in Italian..."

Thirty years after her unforeseen embracing of this career Kanaan calls tour guide a beautiful profession, diverse, where one gets to deal with people of different social and cultural levels as well as nationalities. "You give and in return you learn certain aspects of their cultures through the discussions. For instance, the most recent bit of trivia I found out was that in France they stopped using the word "employée de maison" (housekeeper) to replace it with "surface technician..." And she sums it up: "The job is like cooking: you have to do it well and with love, because it shows in the result."

Article by Joumana Medlej