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Published: August 30th 2009
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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 day in a foreign land.
Before I share my time in Baalbek, I have to quickly recount my time in Tripoli. Tripoli is not so much known for its Roman sites as compared to other countries, but it certainly possess its own charm. My brief time in the morning the day before consisted of walking through the market and being welcomed by a local
family with their own soap factory. This factory has been in the family for 4 generations, and it was a good time to meet the family in a personal tour of their workplace. The factory was very traditional, and perhaps that's a part of the reason why their soap was such good quality. As some of the pictures show, their family makes olive oil soap in the same way as has been done for hundreds of years, if not in fact longer. Besides how welcoming they were, what set them apart from many others I have met was their pride in their work. Some who may scoff at the idea of being proud of making soap, I suggest you go a week without soap to gain a new respect for the product. Besides the soap being a useful item, the nature of pride in a good product that contains tradition is a value that I argue the world could use more of (Don't shop at Wal-Mart!)
My time in Tripoli ended with running into a volunteer local guide, Shams. Even though this young lady was not supposed to talk to foreigners without her family being around, she still sought
Dionysus himself?
At least its theorized this is him. to represent the quality of the people. Shams proved to me that even though some cultures can be very different, being kind to each other is something that humans simply should do. Thanks Shams for a nice day!
Getting to my last 'high speed take in hundreds of years in history in a few hours' trip to Baalbek, it was a great end. A part of what made the morning in Baalbek fantastic was the rain. While many may think "Man, if it was raining, I wouldn't want to go out in ruins," please keep on thinking that. For that leaves the park, as was Baalbek this time, all to myself. Besides a few other travelers at the site, I got to walk inside and around these major Roman monuments and temples in absolute solitude. For those of you who have been to major tourist sites before, like the Pyramids, you can appreciate the value of having a major site all to yourself.
As for Baalbek, it went by the name Heliopolis (city of the sun) when Alexander the Great took control. At this time, it was considered a major holy city, and this trend was continued when
the Romans took over. The Romans built a few major temples here. The largest, displayed by the tall lone wall of columns, was for Jupiter. An interesting story is that underneath this temple, there are a few foundational stones that weigh around 750 tons each (which doing the math, each weighs 1653466 pounds!). While it's still a mystery how these stones were cut and moved before the advent of modern machinery, it goes to show how history can still be interesting. Standing next to the temple of Jupiter was quite a feeling all by itself though. While the wall of columns itself is imposing, seeing the entire temple at its creation would be quite an event.
There is also a temple to Venus, but the most famous temple here is the one dedicated to Bacchus (the God of wine. known as Dionysus in Greek). As the pictures reveal, this temple is in great shape, arguably the best preserved Roman temple in the world. Considering that this temple dedicated to alcohol and debauchery is located in the Middle East, it was nonetheless surprising to see its great condition. The craftsmanship of this temple is still evidenced by many parts. Some
A well preserved structure
Here I was unable to explore further since excavations were still taking place. of the pictures I took show up close some of this work. In short, walking inside and around this temple, I have come probably as close as I can to experiencing ancient Rome.
So, with my time of wandering this ancient city, I had only a few hours before I had to say goodbye. With this goodbye, I raced back to my hotel (or at least the driver made me feel like we were racing) and made it to the airport with 30 minutes to spare. As I look back on Lebanon, I am very glad I went. Probably one of the biggest surprises to me now is how little publicized its attractions are. I suppose I can understand with the political tensions, but speaking honestly, I was treated very well throughout my trip. I suppose it goes to show that if you give a new place and the people a chance, you can be pleasantly surprised.
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Mata
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Beautiful Baalbek
I went there last year and was in awe of the place! Having visited all the great Roman and Greek sites in situ, Baalbek lived up to all my expectations! By far this is the most fabulous Roman site of the Ancient World! I love your photos with the fog - fabulous! You must've really felt the powers of Jupiter, Baal and or Mercury/Baachus! It's a shame the government hasn't spent much money on marketing for Baalbek but you do know why? I love your photos, so mystical!