After one week in Lebanon, I have come full circle, and am now sitting at the Syrian border, waiting for my visa. Unfortunately the southern border was unreachable, as the route through the mountains suffered from a blizzard last night, and is now impassable. Basically this means I have gone three hours out of my way to reach the northern border, and it is cold. But my last day in Lebanon was splendid, as I had the pleasure of seeing one of the most impressive sites in the middle east, and possibly the world, Baalbek. The first thought that struck my mind is the gargantuan nature of everything. The doorways here could easily accomodate giants, the pillars reach to the sky, and the foundation stones are of such massive size and weight that the mind reels contemplating the methods used to position them. Known as Heliopolis, or "City of the Sun" to the Greeks and Romans, Baalbek was originally the site of a Phoenician temple to their god Baal. During its period of Roman occupation it reached its zenithg regarding aesthetic appeal and size: its proportions are monstrous. We then walked one soggy, cold kilometer to see the so-called "Stone of the South," an absurdly large dressed stone that is estimated to weight upwards of 1500 tons. wow.
