Visit to Baalbeck - 25 October 2009
Yachtforeverfreedom
Sun 1 Nov 2009 14:37
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Sunday was spent on a trip to Baalbeck - a huge
Greco/Roman/Byzantine/Ottoman ruin about 55 mile NE of Beirut, up the Bekah
Valley. We joined all the others at the marina entrance at 0830 to meet
the coach - only to discover it was only 0730 as the clocks had gone back one
hour. Anyway we all sat on benches under the trees in the marina gardens -
yes, this marina has gardens! The coach duly arrived, on time, and we set
off South to Beirut to pick up the motorway which would then take us up the
Bekah Valley to Baalbeck. I use the term "motorway" quite loosely as years
of warfare have reduced parts of it to single carriageway. Notwithstanding
this, Lebanese drivers see no harm in 2 vehicles overtaking our coach
simultaneously on either side - repeatedly. The part of Beirut which we
saw is a mixture of high rise exotica and expensive car dealerships, and extreme
poverty - we saw nothing to suggest a middle class. The journey came as
something of a surprise as none of us was prepared for the mountainous aspect of
the countryside - steep climbs and sweeping bridges crossing deep valleys -
except where the bridge in question was being repaired so we wound our way down
one side of the valley and then crawled slowly up the hair-pin bends of the
other side. We stopped at about 10 o'clock for coffee at an obvious
tourist "trap" - the souvenir touts were around us in seconds! Anyway, the
restaurant was pleasant and clean and several of us tried the local "sandwich"
of a large thin flat bread, covered in a thick yoghurt, sprinkled with thyme,
olive oil, lemon juice and a thin layer of chopped olives, and then rolled into
a tight cylinder a bit like a fajita.
Nothing prepares you for the size of the ruins
which stand like a small town on the edge of the existing town. We spent
some 2 hours walking round; firstly with a guide, $25 for our group of 11, and
then for a while on our own. According to the guide, the initial
construction took some 250 years and involved 35 generations of slaves totalling
over 100,000; there being no trade's unions, minimum wage, elfin's-afety or
working time directives at the time! By lunch-time everyone was
beginning to feel the heat at 30℃, and the humidity. Back on the coach,
instead of the long way around by the motorway, it was the scenic route over the
mountains, with a stop for lunch at an extremely nice Lebanese restaurant which
must have seated over 300 and was packed - it was definitely the place for the
beautiful people to have lunch on a Sunday. The meal comprised a "Meze" of
a whole series of little "Starters", about 8 of them, followed by various types
of kebab - it was delicious and appreciated by everyone and all came to about
$25 per head, including wine etc.
    On the way back we stopped at a roadside fruit and
vegetable stall where the owner was making spicy tomato sauce, for bottling and
subsequent sale to gullible tourists, whilst his daughters extracted money from
our wallets for fresh fruit and vegetables.
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