Baalbek, Ksara Winery and more

Where Have I Been?

HI Everyone,

Here’s the blog I started last week (Aug 3) and have yet to finish it. If I say we’ve been way too busy having fun, it would be a massive understatement! This past week, after the wonderful trip to Baalbek which I’m writing about below, I have been to Beirut 4 separate days; met with Sheik Walid El Khazen, a very prominent attorney, diplomat and possibly a distant family member in his office in downtown Beirut; spent a day with Hilda and her daughters at the beach, south of Beirut; shopped; spent a day with Rhada, a lovely Lebanese friend of Huda’s; and ate, drank and laughed myself silly. And that doesn’t take into consideration the week before….

We have confirmed our reservations back to reality, we’re leaving here on Thursday, Aug. 20, arriving home the 21st. James and Huda upgraded us to Business Class for the trip home, which will make for a much more relaxing flight – what a treat! We have a long layover in Dubai, but we will be chauffeured from the airport to Le Meridian Hotel to relax, have a nice dinner, then be driven back to the airport for our flight to New York. Now why can’t I live like this ALL the time? I’m afraid I have become way too used to this lovely way of life and will have a difficult time making my own bed, doing my own laundry and cooking my own meals again. Guess we’ll have to bring one of the maids home in our extra bag!

Anyway, here’s the trip to Baalbek that I started last Monday. It’s already 2:30 p.m. and I’ve been trying to finish it since 10, but would rather talk to Huda and the girls. I am resisting going into the hot tub with the ladies as I write, so please appreciate my sacrifice!

Baalbek, Bekaa Valley and Ksara Winery – August 1, 2009

Well, we’ve just had another wonderful weekend in Lebanon with James, Huda and the girls. We feel like we’ve known this lovely family for years and have been invited back in the winter when the snow covers these mountains and we can play in it with the snow sleds that James invented or in the Jeep he has converted from tires to tractor treads. He is a true Renaissance man, amazingly bright, creative and pragmatic at the same time. He owns an R&D facility in the Philippines that I am certain will ultimately develop numerous “big” ideas into successful products or systems that will make a difference in our world. Huda, as I mentioned earlier, is a wildly successful business owner, overseeing seven companies with more than 500 employees. Remarkable on any level, her success is more notable due to the patriarchal Yemeni society that doesn’t easily conform to women in powerful roles. She takes it all in stride, wondering why the rest of the business world regards her achievements with both admiration and awe. I am so impressed at how centered and comfortable she is about all of this. What a great role model for other Arab women who face major challenges to their independence and freedom of choice.

But back to my travelogue! I haven’t forgotten about our trip to Byblos, but since I can’t access the blog I wrote on it due to the computer crash, I’m going to postpone that one for now and move on. I promise to get back to it one of these blogs, as the ruins and the history they represent, our climb into one of the royal tombs and a visit to the archeologist who discovered perfect marine fossils in a quarry in the mountains is too good not to share.

Since the guys work long days on the boat from Monday-Friday, we have been trying to cram in as much sightseeing as possible on the weekends, and this past Saturday (Aug 1), we went to another ancient cultural site, Baalbek, designated a World Heritage Site for it’s remarkably well preserved temples and 5000 year history, and visited one of Lebanon’s premier wineries, Ksara….you KNOW I enjoyed that.

Baalbek

Baalbek is located to the east of Beirut, over the mountains where we are staying and in the Bekaa Valley, an area now peacefully controlled by the Hezbollah party. We encountered the usual checkpoints along the way, all staffed by friendly soldiers. The only difference between the Lebanese and Hezbollah soldiers is the color of their cammies and berets. Signposting of roads and attractions is iffy, especially if you don’t read Arabic, and my guide book admits there is no good road map of Lebanon in existence! Fortunately, our multi-lingual family takes care of the translating when signs exist. Otherwise, we stop and ask whoever looks unarmed!

The road over the mountains is narrow, serpentine and unencumbered by guardrails. The scenery is dramatic, and we quickly forgot the sheer drop-offs and washboard conditions of the roadbed. In some places, the road is wider and newly paved, then suddenly it reverts to ruts, potholes and broken edges with piles of rocks here and there which have fallen from the cliffs. We all agree that the good road is located in the favored political party’s district and the crappy road belongs to some outgoing and unpopular mayor. Not unlike the US in some ways!!!

As we dropped down into the Bekaa Valley, it reminded me of California’s Central Valley with squares of rich, dark soil, bright green produce, dark green fruit trees and golden grains. This fertile valley supplies a large portion of the fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts consumed by the Lebanese. Potatoes were being harvested as we drove by, and they appeared to be the size of footballs! Everywhere you look are produce stands along the road with piles of watermelons, red cherries, purple figs, herbs, green and red tomatoes, peaches, plums and nectarines….yum! We have been enjoying our fruits and veggies….remember what a tomato or peach tastes like when it’s just picked? Amazing what we’ve gotten used to in the US – beautiful looking produce with little or no flavor. Maybe I can cram produce in my other suitcase!

Driving through the modern city of Baalbek is both depressing and hopeful. It is mostly a poor town of rundown houses, industrial and retail shops and cafes with flats above, and empty lots, but there are also many new homes, churches, mosques, schools and hospitals, and many nice homes under construction. Hezbollah has built most of the public facilities in the past few years in an effort to bring much needed social and medical services to the valley. A new, 4-lane road is nearly completed, which has eased the horrendous traffic issues, especially this time of year, when the Baalbek Music Festival is held right among the ancient ruins.

Arriving at the ancient city, we were frantically directed to a parking area by two guys laden with tourist souvenirs, ball caps, maps, scarves and Chiclets. We were surrounded as we left the car, and of course bought a few things. (I really look hot in my Lebanon ball cap). I was reminded of the street vendors in Cuzco and Tijuana…..very persuasive! The short walk to the entrance revealed a full scale Roman religious site with the largest Roman temple in the world. Still considered the most important Roman site in the Middle East, its extravagant temples outshone those in Rome.

We secured an excellent guide at the entrance who brought the ruins to life. Originally Phoenician, a large temple was constructed here during the 1st Millennium BC, dedicated to the god, Baal. Yep, Bek means temple, so there you have the city’s name! Because it was located at the intersection of main east/west and north/south trade routes, the ancient city grew to a population of 250,000 people! Alexander the Great renamed the city Heliopolis – city of the Sun – after his conquest and in 64 BC, Emperor Pompey made it part of the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar founded a large Roman settlement here (geez, everybody who was anybody wanted this place!) in 47 BC and construction of the massive religious temples began, taking more than 150 years to complete.

We entered the ruins up a monumental staircase cut from stones so huge that an entire flight of 20 steps, 16 feet wide could be carved from one stone. These were put together to form a staircase that was 600 feet long. At the top, you are standing in an outer temple which was originally roofed in cedar and floored in mosaics. All of the stone was quarried nearby, but the massive columns – the largest found in the Temple of Jupiter are 70 feet high and 7 feet in diameter – are solid granite from the Aswan Valley in Egypt. The columns were shipped from Egypt to the coast of Lebanon, then rolled miles and miles over the Lebanon mountains and into the Bekaa Valley on a track of two parallel stone walls built solely for this purpose. More than 100,000 slaves worked on the site over the years.

We continued into complex, entering the hexagonal court, its six sides surrounded by columns, with decorated niches for statues of minor gods. This was the waiting room for the Great Court, where animal sacrifices were made on a huge stone altar in the center of the open plaza. Covered by an arcade supported by 84 massive granite columns, you can see the where whole columns have toppled, almost intact, and look as if they’ve been sliced into pieces on the ground. A massive earthquake in 1759 caused many of the remaining columns and ramparts to fall, but large parts of the temples are remarkably still standing!

From there, we entered the Temple of Jupiter, the largest and most sacred religious temple in the Roman empire. Nearly 300 feet long, it is entered via another massive stone staircase. Inside the once cedar-roofed temple were 54 of the largest marble columns in the world. Six remain standing, with the connecting arch still intact. Due to the massive size of this structure and the stones used to construct it (one we saw is about 60’ x 15’ and weighs an estimated 1000 tons), it was once believed giants constructed the temple. As in many of the ancient stone structures still found on earth, there is no obvious explanation for how such massive stones were moved and positioned so precisely. No mortar was used between the stones, yet there is no space between stones, the cut being so perfect.

Our guide, Hussein, gave us time to wander these incredible structures on our own. Remarkably, there are no restrictions to where you can go or what you can touch. We climbed over fallen marble columns, posed for photos on sacrificial altars and touched the faces of ancient statues of Cleopatra, Marc Anthony and Julius Caesar. The Lebanese feel that this is their right and appear to respect the ruins, not taking pieces home with them or covering temples with graffiti. We were disappointed at how much trash seems to be around, but much of that stems from lack of funds to provide trash cans and staff, as well a population uneducated on litter courtesy!

My favorite temple is the smaller, lovely, much decorated Temple of Bacchus. Actually larger than the Parthenon, it is considered the small temple compared to the massive Temple of Jupiter. Almost completely intact, this temple shows the sophisticated carving and decoration on the walls, arcades, ceilings and entrances. Topped with a curved stone ceiling carved and painted with vivid scenes of Roman gods and goddesses, such as Diana shooting an arrow, winged Victory, Mars, Vulcan and of course, the wine man himself – Bacchus! Hussein pointed out the doorway to the inner temple, which is considered the highlight of the temple. Carved and decorated by multiple artists, it is almost completely as it was in 150AD, with only the half fallen keystone symbolizing the impact of nearly 1900 years of war, natural disasters and conquests.

Conservatively, I think we said “wow” about a zillion times during this tour. The opportunity to actually walk among this ancient structures, touch the stones, feel the smooth marble and stand where civilizations have stood for centuries is unforgettable. It wasn’t hard to close my eyes and visualize what must have been. Hussein led us to the museum, housed in a huge vaulted tunnel, shaped like a cross. The tunnel is thought to have been where the animals were prepared for sacrifice, as well as a place for pilgrims to await entrance to the temple. The museum has an excellent depiction of how Baalbek was built including innovative Roman building techniques used to raise the columns and move the massive stones into place. A lay-out, sketches of the completed complex and beautiful marble and alabaster statues and other artifacts bring the site to life. What an experience!

Other temples and ruins, including the Temple of Venus, are nearby, but inaccessible due to current excavations. What a paradox to see this exquisite curved temple amid a pile of fallen stones, fenced with barbed wire with the ugly modern city in the background.

Ksara Winery - Lebanon's Oldest


After buying souvenirs and cooling off in a small café, we headed for the Ksara Winery, located near the town of Zahle, south of Baalbek. Most of Lebanon’s wineries – and all of the best ones – are located in the Bekaa Valley (the Napa of Lebanon, I guess). We picked Ksara as it is the oldest and best known, and is located atop nearly 2 miles of tunnels, discovered by the Romans.


As with every driving experience with James at the wheel, we careened down the road passing cars, trucks, tractors, donkeys and ultimately, the winery!!!! A quick u-turn and with the help of bystanders, we found the roundabout (loaded with Ksara Winery signs which everyone but the driver had seen……) and in a few blocks, the winery. As we turned up the drive, we could have been at any small winery in Napa, Sonoma, or France. Beautifully landscaped grounds and green, grape laden vines led to the old stone winery building on a slight knoll. Four – count ‘em, four – wedding parties were there having photos taken in the vineyard. Have I told you about Lebanese weddings? I think so, but to add, the bridal gowns are always gorgeous, expensive, ornate, with huge skirts, trains and a zillion crystal beads. Watching all of this get dragged through the dirt and parking lot was a pit sad, but I’m sure the photos were worth it!

The winery wasn’t too busy, but there were tourists from Germany, Sweden, the US (us), England and Australia, as well as locals on our tour. Since Muslims do not drink alcohol, we weren’t surprised that we saw no Arab visitors. The tour started in the caves, where the temperature is an ideal 50-52 degrees, but very humid. Hundreds of barrels of wine rest along the tunnel floor, and individual bottles fill crevices and rooms carved into the stones by the Romans. The Jesuits, who started the winery in 1857, found the chalky soil and dry weather of this part of the Bekaa Valley to be perfect for grapes and today, the wines continue to wine numerous international awards.

Following the tour, we watched a very informative video on wine production, marveled at a number of rudimentary antique wine making devices and were taken to an ultramodern tasting room to sample an assortment of Ksara wines. I asked to taste the chardonnay as it wasn’t on the tasting menu and Carole, our guide, poured me a generous taste – it was fabulous and I bought 4 bottles. We also enjoyed and purchased the Cabernet, made in the Napa style. Sadly, with the restrictions on liquids in the cabin and the amount of handling our checked luggage will face, we decided not to bring any home, but have sure been enjoying it here.

We took the same route home, over the mountains and into Farqa, and were having our first glass of Ksara wine while watching the sunset from the Stone’s living room about an hour later -- remembering to toast Bacchus and his beautiful temple before the first sip.

A truly memorable day. Lebanon, with her beauty, diversity, history, warmth and variety, amazes me every day I am here.

Love to all,
Lari