About 3 kilometers past Batroun, in the narrow valley at Ras ech-Chekka, is the attractive Moussalayha Castle, which used to defend the only land route between Beirut and Tripoli. It stands on a rocky outcrop and is built on the summit in such a way as to look like part of the living rock, its entrance at the top of a steep, rock-cut stairway.

Although the site is very ancient (it has been suggested that this is the Gigarta mentioned by Pliny), the present castle probably dates to the 16th century:

Beneath the castle runs a small river with an ancient stone bridge crossing it. And as these Lebanese girls are demonstrating, the bridge serves admirably as a bench as well: