Two places are tangled in this label, and it helps to separate them. The Qadisha Valley, whose name means Holy Valley, is a deep gorge in northern Lebanon beneath the Cedars of God, where Maronite Christians settled in caves and built monasteries and hermitages from the early centuries. UNESCO inscribed it in 1998, and the cliffs there fall nearly straight into a river valley that ties together prayer, farming and defence.
That is a different country of stone, scrub and wind. The Qalamoun mountains run along this side of the Syrian interior, dry and pale, with villages in folds of limestone and orchards where water allows. Qara itself is a town of about twenty thousand people and the area has a long Christian and Muslim history. Nearby, the monastery of Mar Musa clings to a cliff, an ancient hermitage revived in modern times as a place of dialogue, though its situation has been affected by the region's conflicts.
Riding in this part of Syria is high desert: long straight sections on the main highway, crosswinds, hot dust in summer and cold nights on the plateau in winter. Surface quality varies and military checkpoints have been common in recent years, so a rider would need to be careful and well informed. Fuel is available in the larger towns on the main road, though supply has been disrupted at times, and water and shade are worth carrying.
If the Qadisha Valley is the goal, the better approach is from the Lebanese side, through Tripoli and Bsharri, birthplace of the poet Kahlil Gibran, whose museum sits in a monastery above the gorge. The road climbs steeply and the cedars sit higher still, ancient trees that provided the timber for Phoenician ships and, according to the Bible, for Solomon's temple. Check current travel advice for both countries before planning any trip, since conditions change.