Blogs from Baalbek, Lebanon, Middle East - page 2

The visit of the caves jeita grotto was the most important thing that we had doing. (there is a picture if you want to see). We were on the boat and we had the opportunity to take several pictures. We had also visited the town Baalbeck and its many temples that constituted an exceptional historical patrimony for the country. Patrice wanted absolutely to see a basketball match of Beyrut the capital of Lebanon . Then, we have eat mezzé a flavor culinary of this country besides Wael became sick by eating too much Baklawa a cake too sweet, he couldn’t eat anything for some days. ... read more

Starozytne swiatynie, cedry i snieg, Wyjechalismy z Beirutu wypozyczonym samochodem w kierunku miasta o mitycznie brzmiacej nazwie Byblos. Droga z Beirutu na polnoc szczelnie obudowana jest sklepami, centrami handlowymi, fastfoodami i domami, a wszystko ozdabiaja wielkie billboardy. Tylko czasami udaje sie posrod tego wszystkiego zobaczyc morze. Ruch w Libanie odbywa sie wedlug jednej zlotej reguly: wiekszy wygrywa. Co tez juz w przedbiegach dyskryminuje pieszych i de facto eliminuje ich z ruchu, smialkow probujacych przemierzac Beirut pieszo skazujac na kilka tuzinow prob samobojczych dziennie. Absolutnie najgorzej jezdza kobiety, obowiazkowo na pietnastocentymetrowych obcasach i z komorka w reku. Zadnej nie zdarzylo sie zatrzymac, zeby nas przepuscic. Swiatla na skrzyzowaniu traktowane sa jedynie pomocniczo i respektowane tylko w ostatecznosci. Pasy na jezdni nie istnieja, a tam gdzie ... read more

We pulled into Baalbek, amidst a little military presence and all sorts of Hezbollah propaghanda, and were promptly struck up by a enterprising fellow to buy a Hezbollah t-shirt. I thought this a little ironic! We wandered the town with our cameras and shot a few photos of interesting sights. After a few minutes, I was stopped by a guy (that was driving a bus full of children!) and he demanded to see my pictures. I showed him, and he seemed to be comfortable with the delapidated buildings and random people I had photographed to allow me on my merry way... Other than that, this was any other middle eastern town! The ruins in Baalbek were very well preserved, and had 6 of the tallest (granite) columns I have seen yet and some very intricate carvings ... read more

We spent our first few days in Lebanon in the mountains. The scenery and the weather were both enjoyable. The valleys, trees, Christian churches and mountain air was not the typical Middle Eastern scene. We left the Lebanese holiday spots, checked out the Cedars and cruised by the ski resorts before we journeyed into the Bekaa Valley. We made it through the winding roads and were shocked by the fertile farmland in the valley. Once we reached the top of the mountain, we all gasped when we saw snow on the moutain-top! Snow in July in the Middle East...are you kidding me? Within less than an hour of playing in the snow, we were in the valley where women were harvesting potatoes. Men were cutting wheat and tomatoes were being picked by the bushel. The temperature ... read more

Lebanon has been a country with many surprises, of course, the majority of these being enjoyable. Perhaps the best surprise of this trip though was getting the opportunity to feel Roman. Or when I say Roman, in this case I mean walking through the well preserved ancient Roman sites (and when you have the temple all to yourself, who's going to stop you from pretending?). Even though I traveled to Rome in Italy after my time in Lebanon, at this time of writing, I would still have to argue, Baalbek Lebanon has been the best Roman historical site I have visited. Add to this a sense of adventure with traveling to Baalbek in a 3-4 hour round trip with having to catch my flight in the afternoon and you have the ingredients for an exciting last ... read more