A complicated excursion to the valleys of Lebanon
During our trip 10 days in Syria, also planned a trip to Lebanon.
From Damascus we reach the border in less than an hour, but here we spend as much time to exert all his debt.
Problems occur almost exclusively in the Lebanese, both incoming and outgoing: first, we must produce the documents and a lot of times, especially when we go in person to queue, we go out a lot of people, equipped with thick of so many passports to view and .. from which they come out money to speed up the service.
It 'frustrating and causes a crazy rage, Diala at some point he begins to talk in Arabic, but, as they always cowards and dishonesty, the police officer makes a loud voice and the attacks.
I say at once that it is not worth to object to these people and this system is a system just because I understand his anger, just because that's the world that it must confrntare her every day!
Another interesting detail: the hooded women are not required to show your face and if there is,, so, correspondence between it and the photos of the documents, because it establishes the law of the Arab republics, and Diala, which has the open face is studied and compared with 4 or 5 times the picture, to rule out that Osama bin Laden to travel and not her!
In addition, we spent a lot of money and a lot of money not provided because the agency had forgotten to tell us that we should also pay to get out of Syria, tax that, if you exit the airplane in the country, but was abolished a few months .
On the way there are many military checkpoints where you see guns and tanks: we are not far away from Israel and, on the other hand, this is the area of increased presence of Hezbollah.
The first step is Anjar, a city built in the sixth century by the Umayyad architectural criteria Romans, Greeks and Christians, and only for this reason: in reality, although it is a UNESCO heritage, does not tell us much.
From here we finally reach Baalbek, the real goal of this trip, also a UNESCO heritage, but much more thickness!
In fact, the temple of Jupiter is considered one of the most colossal and most amazing of the world: what is immediately striking in this huge and ancient complex is the size, we realize that it is outside the human carrying capacity, especially with regard to the base of the building where you can see the bigger boulders, each measuring over 21 m long by almost 5 meters wide and weighing about 1000 tons. According to the official archaeological site dates back to the Canaanites attributed to the Bronze Age, around 2900-2300 BC and is dedicated to the triad-Shamash-Ishtar Adad. The famous Russian researcher Zecharia Sitchin speaks, in his opinion the site was built by an alien race, the Anunnaki from the planet Nibiru in 10,500 BC as claimed by the ancient Sumerian texts, and these are the same as described in the Bible Nephilim giants.
During the rule of the Ptolemies, the greek city was renamed Heliopolis, dedicated to the greek sun god Helios and the Egyptian Ra. Later, during Roman rule, was transformed into the divine triad Jupiter-Venus-Mercury, then Neroniana era were built the temple of Jupiter in 60, while at the same time the altar was built in front of tower building. In later times, under various emperors, Trajan and Caracalla Antonio Pio, were built the temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Venus. Finally there was Philip the Arab born in Damascus, who built the courtyard of the hexagon. But it is evident that the foundations of the colossal site is much older and are neither Greek nor Roman, since the use of megalithic blocks that make up the temples, a custom certainly not typical of these two great cultures.
In short, the archaeological site with a mystery!
It's really great: it is clearly incomprehensible that certain stones have been hoisted!
Not to mention the opulence: Many monolithic columns came from Aswan and then transported to Istanbul, where there are more in the Hagia Sophia and the Roman cistern, floors, marble sculptures and fantastic!
Ecstatic.
At the entrance of the site is a giant of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, pointing his gun on a series of objectives, putacaso Israelis, and the writing threatening "If you come back, we do too!"
Diala is not too upset, in fact.
We do a little 'yes.
I am upset mainly because I perceive clearly that is a spiral of hatred and violence to animate this part of the world, this party was the cradle of civilizations and religions.
Clearly and sadly, in vain.