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Lebanon's narrow coastal plain gives way almost immediately to the high mountains that dominate most of the country. Time and again we were struck by the physical similarities between Lebanon and California, which also have broadly similar climates and vegetations.
Perhaps the most beautiful part of the country is Mount Lebanon, which is also the heartland of the Maronite Catholic sect. Although a minority, the Maronites have traditionally played a disproportionately important role in the economic and political life of the country, always providing the president, for example. The region where they are most concentrated is quite different from other parts of the country, especially in the sacred Qadisha Valley, where monasteries, churches, and pretty, smart villages with red tile roofs are perched on the sides of steep cliffs beneath high mountains. It's a lovely and distinctive landscape. Because it's quite high, the summer temperatures are delightful (in winter, there can be a lot of snow, and there are nearby ski resorts).The first two pictures show Bcharre, where we stayed overnight. This village is the birthplace of Khalil Gibran and situated just beneath one of the few remaining cedar forests in the country.
The mountains in the background are about 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). We crossed over a high pass here (the road is only open during the summer) to the Beqaa Valley, shown in the third picture. As you can see, there was still some snow in sheltered sites in late June. At first Anna and Isla couldn't believe that it was snow, since we had just suffered through the heat of Damascus. The road down to the Beqaa Valley is beautiful, with sweeping vistas. The valley is agriculturally productive, although for much of its recent history not necessarily in a way that the Drug Enforcement Agency would approve. Until just a few years ago, this was one of the major hashish producing areas in the world, and many fortunes were made, and arms purchases financed, here. Today the Syrian army, which controls the region, has forced farmers to grow other crops, although not always with complete success.
The principal reason to visit the Beqaa Valley is to see Baalbek, the site of some of the most spectacular Roman ruins in the Mediterranean region. The first picture shows the lovely Temple of Bacchus, perhaps the most intact surviving classical temple anywhere. The following image shows part of the Temple of Jupiter. The immensity of the columns is very difficult to convey, but if you look very closely at the enlarged image, you will see Suzanne and Isla at the bottom of the second from the left column. They look like ants beneath these 60-meter (200-feet) tall columns!
One of the more interesting things about Baalbek and the Beqaa Valley today is that this is a stronghold of the Hizbollah ('Party of God'), with most of the population Shi'ite. During the civil war many of the western hostages were held in this part of the country and Iran gained some influence here. Virtually every lamppost in Baalbek is decorated with Hizbollah placards and pictures of Shi'ite religious leaders are everywhere. The picture shows the distinctive yellow symbol of Hizbollah with the gun over the word God (could almost be Texas!) and, second from left, someone whose face you will no doubt recognize. The Beqaa Valley is also where most of Syria's 25,000 occupying troops are deployed (since the Syrians fear this could be an Israeli invasion route). A week after we were there Israeli planes attacked a Syrian position near the main road through the valley.
We did have one little adventure along the way, which is funnier after the fact. As we were driving out of Baalbek, Alasdair noticed a huge new statue of the recently deceased Syrian president, Hafiz al-Asad, at the entrance to the city. It's rather unusual, to say the least, to erect a statue of the president of a neighboring country, especially one that most Lebanese consider to be an occupying one, and definitely worthy of a picture. This was, shall we say, not a smart thing to do, given the sensitivity of the subject. Alasdair failed to notice that smack behind him was a roadblock manned by the Syrian "mukhabarat" (intelligence [or lack thereof] agents). They flagged down the car and the agent said it was completely prohibited to take such a picture. Alasdair really thought he was going to be arrested, or at least have his camera confiscated, so conveniently forgot all his Arabic and feigned total innocence. Eventually (this was one time we were grateful to have two screaming kids in the back of the car) we were waved on. Alasdair was sorely tempted to ask if they were ashamed of their late president (much too impudent) or if the statue was, unlike every other statue in the world, a secret (much too dangerous). Sad to say the picture turned out to be badly out of focus, but in the subversive spirit of thumbing our noses at silly, reflexive totalitarianism, we feel obliged to post it to the WORLD WIDE Web anyway ("Banned in Baalbek! The Statue That Syria Doesn't Want You to See!"). As Anna would say: nah nah nah boo boo!
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