Travel Report : Liban - Day 1 : Baalbeck

very short time for a wonderful country like Lebanon (a.k.a Liban or dlm bahasa melayu, Lubnan). ada quote cakap, lebanon is a place where u can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon... tp aku tak lah adventurous as that... and in fact, i neither ski nor swim :-) anyway, it was an excellent weekend getaway.

kitaorg fly dr Doha jam 5pm, so kiranya last thursday tu agak rush lah, sbb lepas office terus g ke airport. Flight was uneventful. sampai kat airport beirut lebih kurang jam 7.30pm (time difference +2gmt). our driver for the 3 days kat sana dah tunggu kat airport. we didn't do much that night except g ke HRC (kenapa lah org malaysia suka sgt beli souvenir kat HRC?) dan Soledad a.k.a downtown. after dinner we went back hotel n tido...

a quick summary on lebanon. negara ni berborder kan syria kat utara dan barat... lautan meditranean kat timur dan Israel kat selatan... a very small country. mainly Muslim dan Christian... and muslim plak ada syiah dan ada sunni... selalu berperang.. kalau tak ngan Israel, ngan Syria... kalau tak pun antara Islam dan Kristian... tp selalu gak antra puak syiah dan sunni... for more details... tgk wikipedia.. :-)

Day 1 : Road to Baalbeck (west of Lebanon)

kitaorg decided utk g ke Baalbeck. apa ada kat Baalbeck.. ntah... aku cuma expect ada tinggalan roman sahaja. sbb kan Baalbeck ni jauh, kitaorg keluar dr Beirut around 7.30am. It was on Friday, so jalan agak sesak utk keluar dr Beirut. tp ntah mcm mana... we met with accident... burn sejam masa utk settle kan accident... it's a very minor accident yg kalau kat M'sia... kita settle kat tepi jalan je... tp kat sini, depa siap kena tunggu adjuster... mind you... driving in Beirut agak susah... lampu traffic light pun mcm tak wujud... kalau tak berani.. mmg susah lah drive kat sana... nasib baik kitaorg pakai driver.

perjalanan ke Baalbeck mengambil masa lebih kurang 2-3 jam... melalui pekan Chitura dan Zahle... cross over banjaran Lebanon, accross the bekka valley dan menghampiri banjaran anti-lebanon. on the way tu ada nampak satu bridge tgh reconstruct... bridge ni dulu pernah kena bomb masa israel serang lebanon tahun 2006. masa kat bekka valley... kiri kanan jalan penuh banyak ladang2 anggur... area ni mmg famous dgn pembuatan wine... dan sepanjang jalan ada jugak nampak askar lebanon... plus sebelum masuk dan keluar pekan/small town, mesti ada askar checkpoint... but no question asked lah...

We reached Baalbeck around noon... Baalbeck yg penuh sejarah, wujud beribu tahun sebelum masihi... an extract dr Wikipedia...

Baalbek (Arabic: بعلبك‎) is a town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude 1,170 m (3,850 ft), situated east of the Litani River. It is famous for its exquisitely detailed yet monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman period, when Baalbek, known as Heliopolis was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire. It is Lebanon's greatest Roman treasure, and it can be counted among the wonders of the ancient world. The largest and most noble Roman temples ever built, they are also among the best preserved.

Towering high above the Beqaa plain, their monumental proportions proclaimed the power and wealth of Imperial Rome. The gods worshipped here, the Triad of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, were grafted onto the indigenous deities of Hadad, Atargatis and a young male god of fertility. Local influences are also seen in the planning and layout of the temples, which vary from the classic Roman design. (more on Baalbeck... kat wikipedia.. hehehe)

it is really beautiful... in fact i would say lagi cantik tinggalan roman kat sini berbanding kat rome itself.. :-) for more pictures.. click on collage below...

after 2-3 jam kat Baalbeck... kitaorg menuju ke anjar. Anjar ni diduduki oleh org-org armenia. agak terceruk skit nak g anjar ni. aku plan ke sana pun sbb nak tgk tinggalan Ummayad... ada lah some batu2 and ruins... nothing much, and not many info on it.. in fact, kitaorg je visitor kat situ. and apparently aku rasa Anjar now dihidupkan only on weekends... byk restaurant2 besar area tu... there is where we had our lunch... a so-so lebanese food at a quite high price.. :-

On the way balik ke Beirut, we stopped at Zahle... another town yg happening only on spring/summer... Zahle ni kedudukannya tinggi dr aras laut.. sejuk gak.. kat sini pun ada satu tempat utk lawatan n berhibur.. tp since kitaorg dtg masa winter... tempat ni tak lah happening mana... no one actually there...

Right after that kitaorg pun balik ke beirut, reached hotel around 9pm... have coffeee with the driver, since the next day birthday dia... later around 10+ balik hotel terus tido... setelah seharian tgk 'batu' :-)