Getting to Baalbek
Since we got to Lebanon, we planned for Baalbek visit on our last full day in Beirut. We picked Sunday because we were hoping to get less traffic on the way to Baalbek.
Baalbek is a short detour on the main Beirut-Damascus road. On working days, there’s a heavy traffic on this road. Considering the fact that this scenic drive is passing through two mountain ranges, it won’t be fun to get stuck in traffic in this windy road.
Ahmet, our Uber driver was happy with Sunday too. We left Beirut early in the morning, and with the minimum traffic possible, we ended up in Baalbek roman ruins site at 10:30 am. We stopped on the way, where we had to turn left to go to Baalbek from the main Damascus road, to get Kenafe. That region is famous for serving the best Kenafe in the whole Lebanon, therefore we had to try it, right?
Generally speaking, on Lebanese roads, military checkpoints are common and after the first few, they become part of the road side scenery. Road to Baalbek wasn’t an exception, knowing the distance between Beirut to Damascus, it makes a lot sense to see them frequently.
Visiting Baalbek Roman Ruins:
Getting to Baalbek, it’s almost impossible to miss the ruins on the left hand side. Being the UNESCO heritage only since 1984, the site is definitely the biggest, most impressive and well preserved roman acropolis complex that we have ever visited. It is not as well presented as it should be though, considering the media effect on Lebanon tourism, this site won’t receive as many tourists as it deserves.
Pretty much there’s no queue for getting the ticket. The entry cost is 15000 LBP which is around 10 USD. There are local guides at the entrance, if you are interested to get one. There’s not enough signs and information around on site, so if you need to know more, probably have a local guide is a good idea. The site is pretty grand and even with lots of people around, it’s easy to walk around and feel that the whole site is yours, avoid the crowds and come back to see the same spot in peace later on, if it was a big tour round one temple. We spent 3 hours there and only two tourist buses came.
We visited the site late October and the heat was overwhelming. It’s hard to find shade especially around noon, so be prepared with lots of water and some cover for your head. I wore my scarf the whole day and it was a life saver.
All the granite and marble used to build this complex over two centuries were all supplied locally. Later on, after Romans, different dynasties used these constructions as a source for stones and materials and took some parts of it for constructing their own temples, mosques and other buildings. This region has went through lots of earthquakes as well. Considering these two facts, it’s amazing to seen these giant pillars and hangings ceilings standing high and proud after all these years. We finished the site visit around lunch time and were ready to explore the real life in Baalbek. The site is big and definitely worth half a day to a full day visit. There are good options for lunch in Baalbek, but for night stay, I still think Beirut is a better option.
Understanding Baalbek
Baalbek is considerably close to Syrian border, it is the Hezbollah headquarter in Lebanon and it’s located in Bekaa valley. The lush fertile heartland of Cannabis plantation in Lebanon. All these facts, made it an interesting destination for us. We were quite lucky that Ahmet, the Uber driver that we were visiting most of Lebanon with him, was from Baalbek. After spending few days with us, he knew exactly what we were looking for and I guess, he felt comfortable with us as well. So he agreed to take us to more residential area of Baalbek to see the real life at Baalbek. So to start with, he took us to his family’s house in the outskirts of Baalbek.
First thing we noticed was the cars. almost none of the cars had number plates! Ahmet explained to us that in Baalbek region, locals who are mainly from the two main tribes in the area, are governing their region not the police and the main government and some how it is accepted to drive these cars around. hey can drive these cars withing Baalbek but not in rest of Lebanon.
We also learned that all the locals including old women of these villages protected their land and their border, when things got chaotic and out of control in Syria, very close to their home town. They are quite self sufficient and they have amazing produce. We tried their local cheese, honey, pickled stuffed eggplants and fresh bread with Za’ater. What can I say, we were in heaven.
And we also learnt that sometimes things get ugly between these two tribes. We heard few shootings in a distance and they mentioned sometimes it’s between tribes, sometimes it’s just a shooting practice or just for haunting. I’m not sure, which one was the shooting that we heard, but they were pretty relaxed and we didn’t bother to get worried too 😉
Most of the families in the area are rich because along all their vegetable plantation, dairy farms, bee hives and apple and walnut orchards, the main business in the area is Cannabis plantation. Even the family that we visited, they had house maids mainly from north African countries
I’ve seen casual cannabis plantation in Nepal, as we were hiking in the remote areas around Annapurna, but in Baalbek, the size of the plantation was different. All the corn fields were covered by rows and rows of Cannabis in between corn rows. I’m not sure how easy it would be to spot these if you are not local or even if you are allowed to even drive there, but we were lucky to have Ahmet with us, who was keen to show us around. Even the plant that they had in their front yard for their personal use, was huge!!!!
While we were speechless with all these new information to digest and were busy socializing with Ahmet’s untie and his sister in law, the boys left us to go and get us, Baalbek’s iconic pastry for lunch.
This Baalbek specialty, called the Safeeha Baalbakiyyeh, is a meat-based pocket. It is made by placing a mixture of meat, onion, pepper and spices on the dough and forming a square. It then baked in the local baker’s oven and it serves fresh out of the oven. They normally order it in kg not per piece. I think they got 1 kg for all of us, Back at home, his aunt and her maid cooked us few more side dishes too. Before we knew it, we had a feast for lunch!
We had too much food, followed by tea and we already had a long day, started 7:00 am and we were thinking that Ahmet will drive us back to Beirut after the tea. But no, we were wrong! He planned a short visit to another village in Bekaa valley with amazing views that his sister in law family were from. So we got back to the car with his lovely sister in law and drove through a magnificent windy road through apple orchards and colorful autumn trees till we got to the village. All the way on the hills, you could see mansions owned by locals that they had a successful business, which by then we knew what was the successful on trend business there 🙂
So far, whole Baalbek experience was an epic adventure for all of us. We love if when we think that we have some idea about a place, but being there, changes our whole perspective completely. There’s too much information all that once, different lifestyle, using guns so massively, illegal Cannabis plantation, Hezbollah presence, cars with no plate numbers, locals that stop to make sure you are not on your own in their regions and a lot more. And you star t thinking about all of them from our view and it doesn’t look right but being there spending time with them and experience life through their eyes, their extreme hospitality, it all makes kind of sense but not completely. We left Baalbek with more questions than we had before our visit to Lebanon. But for sure, we now feel that we know Baalbek and the region more than before and when you look at news and sometimes start to see things black and white, you know that there are always much more behind the scene that makes this whole area complicated.
But above all these geopolitical complications, the warmth of real people’s heart and their kindness and hospitality is what we are travelling for. To find this connection. To sit around a table and share a cup of tea without even knowing each other’s language properly.
We finished up our day in am amazing local cafe owned by Ahmet in laws, next to an amazing water reservoir, under walnut trees and enjoyed the sunset over an amazing Arabic coffee to finish off our day trip strong before heading back to Beirut late at night.
