Goodbye, Lebanon

Baalbek, Lebanon—Last night I wandered the Rue Fouad Chehab in Tripoli. Most of the shops were shuttered; few people wandered the streets. I paused to watch a man pruning the palm trees. I stood in front of a sweets cafe, and the waiter told me the man was sixty-five years old. He would prune all the palms down the street he told me. Then asked if I wanted a photo in the palm. He could give me a rope with which to climb. I smiled and declined.

This morning I took a series of buses to Baalbek. The route through the mountains is closed due to the snow, and so I backtracked to Beirut, taking one minibus, then another. From Baalbek I backtracked to Chtaura in order to visit Aanjar, Lebanon's best-preserved Islamic archeological site. The owner of my guesthouse told me to take a service taxi for 1,000 LL, but I was tired and lazy and hadn't eaten all day and so I was lulled into taking a minivan for ten dollars (1 dollar=1,500 LL). Once we arrived at the city center the minivan stopped. The man asked for his money. No, I told him. I pointed to the picture of Aanjar on my brochure. You told me ten, I told him. The man shook his head. To the ruins is 15 he said. I take you to Aanjar's town center. We argued for five minutes. I refused to get off the bus, the man refused to budge. The driver was ready to give in. The ticket collector threatened to call the police. I sat back and waited. I tried to make him understand that I was under the impression that the price we agreed upon was for a return trip.

Finally the minivan moved, but the ticket-seller told the driver to stop. They argued. I pleaded with the driver, who spoke no English. The ticket-seller barely spoke English. We argued and waved our hands in the air. Finally we agreed on 12 dollars, and I chalked it up a lack of communication. Thus far, I have been amazed with friendliness and generosity of the Lebanese, and I was surprised at the argument we had. But it wasn't enough to spoil the lovely ruins as we approached.

Discovered in the 1940s, Aanjar is the only significant Umayyad site in Lebanon. Built in the eighth century A.D., the city was built along symmetrical Roman lines. Little remains of the pillars and buildings. Most of the site consists of foundations, save for the reconstructed sections of the great palace.

I walked back to the highway. Within seconds, a service taxi honked and stopped. Chtaura, I told him. He waved me in. I gave him 1,000 LL. Where you from, he asked. I told him. Where are your friends? he asked. I have no friends, I told him and smiled. He said he saw me walking alone by the side of the road and wondered what had happened to me. Where my group was. I told him I was travelling alone. He beeped his horn and stopped to let a passenger in. The man told him his destination, and the driver waved him in.

The Roman ruins in Baalbek loom on the edge of town. Plainly visible from the town are the temple devoted to Bacchus and the six remaining pillars of the Temple of Jupiter. The structures are immense, the columns towering over everything else. I walked and sat and took pictures and sat some more. Termed the "Sun City" of the ancient world, the ruins are Baalbek are arguably the most impressive Roman site in the Middle East.

For dinner I had the best chicken shwarma of my life. For the first few days of my trip I was subsisting on falafel. Yesterday I started to branch out, sampling the many terrific sweets on offer in Tripoli. Before dinner I had sat in my room overlooking the old city drinking tea and gorging myself on a sampling I had purchased. Tomorrow I am off to Syria, taking the bus north to Aleppo. E.W. had recommended I visit Damascus first, or be disappointed after Aleppo, but today I travelled the road from here to the border near Damascus three times, and I'm unwilling to do it again. At this point, heading north seems to require less backtracking in the future. I'm sorry to leave Lebanon. I've found it incredibly welcoming, and I've experienced cities known before only in my imagination. I can only imagine what Syria will bring. Posted by eku at May 3, 2004 6:53 PM