Day 5 Photo Album - Bekaa Valley

Keith needs his coffee! We are up early for the day's tour, but too early for hotel or cafe coffee. No problem, this fellow just across the street from the hotel brews great coffee behind that door. Yes, only 2 seats here, as most do "take out."

We are picked up at our hotel by van & efficiently whisked to the office of the tour company, Nakhal. Here we find that there will only be 2 others on our particular tour this day, 2 French ladies. Our guide, fluent in both languages, starts to explain everything in English & French, but the ladies stop her & suggest that she just use English as they are also fluent in English. So thoughtful!

Climbing the hills east of Beirut, we swing in for a brief photo op from the bus of the "Monument to Peace" in front of the Ministry of Defense building. This 10-story sculpture is composed of never-to-be-used-again weaponry squashed between layers of concrete. It was done circa 1996 by the French artist Armand Fernandez. (don't know the story about the guy on the horse..?)

With a quick breakfast break in a small village, we are soon over the mountains & going down in to the Bekaa Valley. We are both struck by the similarity here with California - both having a valley between the coastal mountains & a more inland range.

Our first regular tour stop is at Anjar (or Aanjar) ruins. This early Islamic town was probably built by the 6th Umayyad caliph around the beginning of the 700's AD. The walled city was separated in to 4 quadrants by 2 major wide streets. Here our guide, behind Keith, explains this site to our small group.

Where the 2 wide streets intersect, we find this 4 column structure or "tetrapylon." It was pointed out that this shows Roman influence. As this city was built in the very early days of Muslim rule, architectural style was borrowed from Hellenistic/Roman sources.

In the southeast quadrant of this ancient city we find the "Great Palace" parts of which have been reconstructed. The alternating of large blocks with narrow bricks seen here shows a typical Byzantine style.

Here we get a distant overview sight of this "rare example of a Lebanese inland trading city" & the Anti-Lebanon mountains to the southeast. Here we are only a little over 20 air miles from Damascus.

Driving northeast up the Valley, we next come to the stone quarry south of Baalbek. Here we see the "Stone of the Pregnant Woman." This huge 1000-2000 ton stone is reportedly the largest cut stone in the world (21.5 m x 4 m x 4.5 m or 70.5' x 13' x 14.8'; weight estimate varies but probably closer to 1000 tons).

We soon drive through the town of Baalbek & fight our way through the aggressive vendors at the gate so that we can enter the grounds of what is probably Lebanon's most famous tourist attraction. At the entrance is this informative display sign showing the layout & artist's depiction of this site of Roman temples.

Here are the steps leading up to the Propylaea & Hexagonal Court of the main, or Jupiter, temple. Here is a partial quote from the sign at left:

"On the site of a previous sanctuary dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages as well as to the Hellenistic period ... the Roman temple of Jupiter was built during the 1st c. AD. ... Though previously planned, the monumental entrance, the semi-circular forecourt and the hexagonal courtyard were added only later in the course of the 2nd and 3rd c. AD."

Here we enter the Great Court, or Sacrificial Courtyard. Our guide book (Lonely Planet, p. 209) tells us that in the center of this "courtyard there once stood a Byzantine basilica, which was dismantled by French archaeologists, revealing the foundations of a huge altar stand." (See Patrick's Panorama for a wider view of this area.)

Here our guide Dalal Doumit, a professional archaeologist, shows our French friends the diameter of the columns used in the Temple of Jupiter Baal.

An image almost synonymous with Lebanon itself, these are the famous remaining 6 standing columns of the Temple of Jupiter, here seen from the back side.

Here seen from the front are the massive "big 6." These are the only columns left standing of the original 54 columns. These are reputed to be the largest such columns in the world - 22.9 m (75+ ft.) high & a diameter of 2.2 m (7.2 ft).

From near the 6 columns of Jupiter, we get this excellent view of the Temple of Bacchus. From an interpretive sign: "The smaller temple of the holy precinct of Baalbek was maybe dedicated to Bacchus, the wine god. There are no inscriptions to confirm the identify of the worshipped deity or to provide a clue as to the date of the building. ..."

Here our group climbs the Temple of Bacchus "staircase." The sign continues: "The Bacchus temple is one of the best preserved Roman temples. It survived without serious damage several earthquakes, religious changes from paganism to Christianity and Islam as well as its transformation into a dungeon during the medieval period."

This is the famous doorway in to the Bacchus Temple with its partially fallen keystone which has been the subject of much art work. The temple's "holy place" was at the far end of the cella, or the inner room, shown here.

This is the view of the ornately carved ceiling stones that cover the portico between the Temple of Bacchus wall, seen here to the left, & the colonnade, here on the right.

Our guide Dalal tells us of the differing archaeological interpretations of this ceiling stone which has fallen.

Before moving on, Patrick poses with one of the massive fallen columns with some that are still standing in the background.

We next enter the coolness of this large vaulted tunnel which is now a fascinating museum.

Leaving the main Temple grounds, we get this view of the remains of the Temple of Venus. It is now time to send a couple of postcards & leave Baalbek heading south.

From our tour bus window, Patrick gets this snapshot of a Dom, or gypsy, encampment (definitely not to be confused with the more highly respected Bedouin).

Part of the tour is this first class lunch in the resort town of Zahlé (or Zahleh). Here our wonderful guide Dalal & Patrick are on the left & the 2 enjoyable French ladies are on the right. (Major pain! We lost our notes that had the names & addresses of these ladies - Can you help?) More photos!

Leaving the cool riverside restaurant, Keith is fascinated by this hotel or resort perched high on a rock bluff. Its name was "Monte Alberto" according to a large sign. Zahlé, by the way, is described as a "predominately Greek Catholic town."

Our next stop is the Ksara Winery, Lebanon's oldest & most famous winery. Here we had an interesting & cool break, complete with a video on this historic winery, plus wine tasting. Patrick poses with our friendly winery tour guide.

This was reportedly a site of a medieval fortress with caves that were expanded by Romans. Now these tunnels are used to age the wine. Keith & Patrick both bought bottles of the Lebanese national drink, arak, here labeled as "Ksarak."

Driving back over the mountains toward the coast as our fascinating tour day nears an end, we get this view of Beirut & the Mediterranean Sea far below.

As we enter the city of Beirut, Keith is able to capture some of the war damage of which we saw so much. Some of these bombed out, bullet riddled buildings are hollow shells, others are being lived in (from necessity).

Day 5- 9/15 - Bekaa Valley: Anjar, Baalbek, Zahleh, Ksara