Anfeh (Arabic: أنفة), also spelled Enfe, Enfeh or Anfe, is a town in the Koura District of the North Governorate of Lebanon.

While Anfeh has witnessed only minor excavation, Phoenician and Roman walls, wine presses, mosaic floors, and two seventh-century-A.D. chapels lie bare beneath the intense sun and wind.

Natural dwelling caves abound on the surrounding hill of Al-Gheer; the original city lies on a small near-island about half a kilometer into the sea.

Some of the carvings go all the way back to the Phoenician period, and possibly earlier, as witness to the fact that the name of Anfeh appears in the Tell-Amarna tablets of ancient Egypt; (see letter no.

which were sent by the governors of the coastal Canaanite cities to the Pharaohs of Egypt asking for help in repelling Amorites intruders (nomad tribes originating from the middle Euphrates region in the North).

The remains of subsequent settlements include dwelling caves, places of worship, cisterns, water tanks and wine presses, as well as steps and roads all carved in the rock.

The Crusader Lords of Nephin, who were protected behind the walls of Anfeh, the vast rock-cut moat which severed the peninsula from the town, and the sea-swept battlements of their citadel, soon established a reputation as robber barons, the terror of travellers between Jerusalem and Tripoli.

Anfeh entered its glory days during the Medieval era, and most of the archaeological and historical monuments that can be seen today date from this period.

Anfeh, as a cell or a hive sculptured out of the ground, is surrounded by walls and fortifications of enormous stones hauled from the nearby quarries.

The Lord of Byblos, Guy II Embriaco, the Genoese, and the Knights Templar rose up against the Count of Tripoli Bohemond VII, but they were brutally crushed.

Bohemond VII punished the Genoese by blinding them, and he buried alive the Lord of Byblos and his family in the Fort of Anfeh.

The knights who escaped from the burning city to the two remaining coastal castles of Batroun and Nephin (Anfeh) were unable to withstand the full fury of the Mamluk army and beat a further retreat to the island kingdom of Cyprus.

It is believed that sailors and fishermen from the village of Anfeh built the chapel so that the Virgin Mary would protect them as they sailed the Mediterranean.

Deir el-Natour has an interior cloister and the church has been decorated with paintings and frescos executed in Byzantine style by artists from Odessa.

Lebanese diva Fayrouz chose Deir el-Natour in 2010, to perform her yearly chants of the holy Friday, in the scenery of the monastery's chapel and surrounding landscape.

Architectural elements typical of the 18th century can be observed in the structure, such as the jars embedded in the ceiling to reduce noise and echo inside the church.

Global emigration occurred as far back as the mid 19th century with records showing young men and families migrating to the new world mainly Australia and the Americas (North and South).

However, in the diaspora, if one visits any major city or town specially in Brazil, Argentina, Qatar, Australia, Canada or the USA one will almost certainly find someone whose ancestors come from this village.

Along the length of the bay, the salt marshes add a typically pretty note to the landscape, especially with the traditional wind wheel which pumps seawater.

Anfeh attracts tourists, especially during summer time, for its landscape of small white houses, windmills and salines on its rocky beaches along the Mediterranean coast.

Its historical monuments, old churches, and archaeological site of its peninsula make it one of the top touristic destinations of the Lebanese northern coast.

Many swimmers enjoy the wavy clear sea of Anfeh, others prefer the Olympic swimming pools that are available for practicing outdoor in summer and indoor in winter.

During the war, Lebanese national swimming championships were mostly held in Las Salinas and marina del sol in Anfeh.