BEIRUT: PARIS OF THE MIDDLE EAST: PART III MY NEIGHBORHOOD

I flew non-stop from Guayaquil, Ecuador on my favorite airline KLM to Amsterdam; after a few hours lay-over, I then flew to Paris on Air France, another very good airline; and after staying overnight in Paris, Air France flew me into Beirut, Lebanon.

I snapped a couple of photos while in flight as we approached Beirut.  It was a very clear day, and my excitement mounted as I saw these aerial views of what would be my next adventure. It would be my first time to ever visit a country in the Middle East.  I was also greatly looking forward to seeing my son, Marc, who would prove to be the consummate host.  

The views from the air reminded be of the rare occasions when I flew into Chicago over Lake Michigan with a beautiful view of the Lake Shore, Navy Pier, and Downtown Chicago.

Beirut was considered one of the most modern, and one of the most beautiful cities in the world in the 1970's. Unfortunately, a horrendous civil war began among different groups, but primarily between Christians and Muslims.  The war raged on for about fifteen years before it ended in 1990. Tremendous devastation was done to the city. The population of Lebanon, itself, had shifted from approximately 60% Christian before the war, as many Christians exiled to Greece and Cyprus, to possibly forty percent Christian today.  No census has been taken since the end of the Civil War, and some believe the percentage of Christians today may be even lower in the country.

Amazingly before the civil war, Muslims and Christians (altogether there are eighteen different designated religious groups in Beirut today) lived pretty much integrated.  While the different groups have for the most part coexisted peacefully during the post-war period, they generally do so in their separate neighborhoods. Christian groups dominate the eastern and northern parts of the city. Sunni Muslim groups dominate the western part of the city, and Shia Muslim groups dominate the southern part of the city.

If flying into Beirut reminded me of Chicago. Three things about Beirut would remind me of Cuenca, Ecuador, where I live.  Cuenca is a basin nestled in the Andes, and surrounded by mountains on all sides. Beirut (above photo) is also surrounded by low-lying mountains of three sides, but has the shimmering beauty of the Mediterranean Sea along its coastal side.

Beirut at 5,000 years of age is one of the world's oldest cities; very narrow streets and sidewalks, not made for modern day auto traffic; and a great deal of congestion and crazy drivers much like drivers in Cuenca drove when I first arrived seven years ago, but have since become so much saner in their driving habits.

Many buildings, due to the civil war, have been demolished and replaced by newer and even higher high-rises.  Others have been refurbished, and even twenty-seven years after the ending the civil war, there are still many buildings riddled with artillery shells waiting their day of renovation. (One of my friends wanted to know if the bullet riddle buildings also reminded me of Chicago (lol).

The population of Beirut is guessed to be about one million, and about two million including the city and its metro area.

Below is the entrance to my abode for the next two weeks.

I was definitely in an upper middle class neighborhood, within walking distance to downtown Beirut, and once again I was reminded of Chicago, as this heavily tree-lined residential area dotted with many upscale shops, restaurants, and pubs and bars; reminded me of a replay of the north end of Chicago around the Rush Street area.

I came to Beirut In May during a perfect weather season of temperatures in the 70's and 80's, and before the humid and hotter weather would engulf the city in just a few short weeks.

Many a late afternoon or early evening, after a day of walking and site-seeing, I would relax on my balcony and enjoy watching the people as they interacted with each other and strolled by, while I took imaginary bets as to whether or not that car was really going to attempt to pass through that narrow way with parked cars on both sides of a very narrow road, followed by another calculated bet as to whether or not as it went for it, if the driver would make it through without a side-swipe.  Does that woman really think she can pull that off?  Oh my God, she slapped-in her side-mirror and went for it.  Oh that motorcyclist just plowed into the back of that car.  Ah, a little fender bender, no one hurt.

It did not get dark until almost 10:30 p.m.  The family from whom I rented the apartment said it was very safe to walk the neighborhood at night.  I would go out to eat at a restaurant, and generally make my way to one of the many pubs after dinner. Sometimes eating and drinking at the same pub, and mingling with the international set that seemed to dot the various bar scenes.  I would pass single women on the streets walking solo at midnight or 1:00 a.m.  Many of the internationals were embassy people.  One Lebanese pub owner with a heavy British accent said he had lived in London for decades before returning to Beirut and opening his pub. He attracted many embassy staff especially from the British embassy. I could tell who the tourists were even late at night.  Like me, their noses and eyes were honed onto their Google Maps trying to find their way back to from wherever they came that evening.

Above from my balcony and across the street, one can see the Paper Moon restaurant, an Italian restaurant with very good food, and the absolute best creme brulee that I have ever had to cross my palate.  Restaurants like Paper Moon in Beirut generally have patios that are in alcoves adjoining the restaurant away from the noise and pollution of street traffic.  A very nice feature of most Beirut restaurants.

Beirut is the most international and cosmopolitan city in the entire Mideast.  It does not have the oil wealth of a Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, or Qatar. Nevertheless, it attracts a great amount of international business and investment.  

My neighborhood was literally resplendent in new Camaros, BMW's, Porches, and Mercedes Benzes; and this was not the most affluent neighborhood in Beirut.

Below is a series of buildings in my neighborhood to give you an idea of the varied architectural styles and diversity of housing in the area.

Beirut was a mandate of France after the Ottoman Empire collapsed a few years after the end of World War I.  I was amazed at how many people spoke French. In fact, I heard more French spoken in my neighborhood than I did Arabic.  It is obvious that many middle class Christians in Beirut speak French as if it were their first language.  I have no idea how prevalent French is among the Muslims in Beirut, but I would speculate probably less so.

After my two weeks in Beirut, I spent two weeks in Paris.  I have little ear for languages, but I could definitely detect a difference in the French I heard in Beirut from the French I heard in Paris. I assume the Beirut French was spoken with an Arabic accent, because it had a harsher sound than the softer accent of the Parisian French. Much like Castilian Spanish in Spain is harsher sounding than the softer lilt of Cuencano Spanish.

Near my place, was an upper scale supermarket with a multiplicity of  products from all over the world, which covered two floors. I was envious of the choices we could only dream of in Cuenca, because of the high import taxes in Ecuador.  I have only seen this type of escalator (below) once before in Lima, Peru in the two-story Chang Super Market.  Coral in Mall Del Rio could use this to facilitate the movement of customers between floors.

  

Notice that there are no steps.  There must be magnets that allow carts and baby buggies to glide up or down while safely remaining stationary.

About twenty minutes from my apartment was a large horizontal upscale shopping mall, with an expansive food court and cinemas--all on the top floor.  The food court consisted almost entirely of restaurants.  I really enjoyed the feeling of this place, and returned about three times, and even took in a movie.  If the movies were not in English, they then had English subtitles.

Be-forewarned, however, Beirut is not an inexpensive city.  Prices are quite expensive.

Below, near the mall, was a plaza where a number of streets converged.  In Catholicism, May is the month in celebration of the Virgin Mary.  It appeared that preparations were being made for an outdoor evening mass.

TRAVELING TO BEIRUT, LEBANON (ANJAR, BAALBEK, KSARA) Part II

My second archaeological tour in Lebanon would head slightly northwestward from Beirut to Baalbek close to the Syrian border, and in turn, Baalbek is approximately forty miles northwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Baalbek 

The history of Baalbek was tumultuous to say the least, like most of the history of the Middle East. There were centuries of tribal warfare and conflict; which were followed with conquest by major groups like the Ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Fatimid Dynasty Muslims in the 9th century, the Mongols in the 12th century, and the Ottomans until the end of World War I.  

Even as late as 2006, there was the Lebanon War in which Israel invaded Lebanon, and moved as far north as the Baalbek area against Hezbollah. None of the blasts in the Lebanon War directly hit the temple complex.  However, the concussions of the blasts were enough to cause some destruction to partial collapses in the complex.

Ultimately, three earthquakes in the 11th century, especially the third quake did the most damage to the temple complex.

It is astounding with all that Baalbek endured over the centuries, that parts of the temple complex are among the best preserved Greek and Roman sites in the world.

There were three temples which made up the temple complex. The Romans began building the complex back in the first century A.D. upon the previous foundation sites of the ancient Phoenicians, and later the Greeks, when the site was know as Heliopolis. Various additions were added by various Roman emperors over time.

The three temples included the Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Bacchus, and the Temple of Venus.

Above is the remains of the Propylaeum, the eastern entrance to the site.

Below is a rendition of what part of the temple complex would look like in a fully restored state.

Below is part of the outer wall of the complex.

The scaffolding in the photo below is being used to prevent the collapse of some columns.

Below is Madeline, or very knowledgeable guide for both the Tyre, Sidon, Maghdouche tour of last week (Post I), and this week's tour. It was a very warm day under the sun.  Madeline was a real trooper. Each time we stopped for her to make her presentation, she presented first in French to those who understood French, then in English, and then a third time for the one woman who only understood Spanish.

The largest of the three temples was Jupiter, which was 156.5 ft by 287.9 ft at its base, almost the length of a football field.  Except for rubble, some foundation stones, and six pillars still standing; the temple, today, is all but a memory.

According to our guide, Jupiter was the largest temple in the Roman empire.  Like the hippodrome in Tyre (see post I); it and the Temple of Jupiter were two of the largest features of their kind  in the Roman empire.  Today, they are located in what is modern day Lebanon, which indicates the economic and political importance of this area to ancient Roman rulers.

The Temple of Venus was the smallest and last to be built of the three temples.  Roman emperor Constantine, razed the temple in the late 300's and had it replaced with a Christian basilica.  The basilica was used for worship by Greek Orthodox Christians until the 1800's.  All that remains of the Temple of Venus today is rubble, without any standing walls unlike the photos immediately  above and below.

Below is the Grand Court Yard, which was three or four acres in size.

Below, in the next three photos, is the Temple of Bacchus, the most preserved of the three temples, and one of the most preserved Greek or Roman ruin from antiquity.

The complex is very large and grand in size. Whether as in the photo below when I am at a higher elevation than the temple, or from a lower level where the structures are towering over me; I felt like a miniature doll, as I was surrounded by the awesomeness of the ruins.

Below is intricate stone engraving found throughout much of the temple complex.

Below is a stone engraving in the the ceiling of the temple.

Below is the magnificence of what once was, and now a shadow of what still remains.

Below is an example of engravings in the ceilings.

The area near Baalbec has low-lying mountains that are white capped. This photo below was shot from a bus window on our way to a stone quarry near the temple complex.

Below is the Stone of the Pregnant Woman.  It is one of the largest man-made cut stones in the world, and weighs 1,100 tons.  There just happens to be two larger stones in the same quarry.  The largest weighs about 1,600 tons, and was discovered in 2014.  The stones may have been prepared for further additions to the temple complex--additions which never took place. 

The stones in the temple complex are the largest man-made cut stones in the world, by which archaeologists and scientists still speculate as to how the stones were lifted and brought into position from this limestone quarry.

Why is this called the Stone of the Pregnant Lady? There are many myths as to how the stone received its name. Fortunately for her, none of the myths include an arduous labor by which the woman produced the stone.

ANJAR

Above is a local mosque covered in mosaic tiles.

Below is a view of the mosque's dome and its two minarets.

As we departed the stone quarry, we made our way to Anjar.  Anjar was founded in the 9th century, and it is the place where ruins remain from the Islamic Umayyad Dynasty.  

The town had been abandoned for years. Then in 1938, 5,000 Armenian Christian refugees were brought to settle in Anjar. These refugees were the survivors of the Islamic Ottoman Turks; who through killing, deportation, and starvation exterminated a million-and-a-half Armenian Christians in 1915 during the time of World War I.

Above are the ruins of the Umayyad City, which are nowhere near as well preserved as Baalbak.   

Ksara

After our exploration of the ruins at Anjar, we made our way to Ksara to what is always my favorite time of any day--dinner, and taking a load off my feet.  As always, the food was very good, and the restaurant laid out a beautiful spread of tasty Middle Eastern dishes or meze (the Middle Eastern version of tapas), served to accompany alcoholic drinks.

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Our final tour of the day, was in Ksara, as we toured the Ksara winery, the only cave winery in Lebanon.

Of course, what good is it to visit a winery without a visit to the tasting room, where we imbibed in various red, white, and dessert wines.

I took a photo below of the very attractive labels on one of their wines, which I actually had at a very elegant restaurant in Beirut.  It was to my taste an excellent wine.  A brand that I knew would never be found served in Cuenca.

Below, one of the ladies in our tour and myself did our share of attempting to take selfies through the mirror on the other side of the bar opposite us. This photo pretty well worked.

A month after visiting Baalbek and Anjar, on the 24th of June, in the Christian town of Qaa, about forty miles north of Baalbek, four suicide bombers entered the town at dawn.  Five people were killed, two of the dead were suicide bombers, and fifteen others were also injured. Later, that same day, four additional suicide bombers entered the town, and an additional thirteen people were injured.  

Lebanese officials believe the bombers were ISIS.  On the edge of Qaa is a makeshift Syrian refugee camp with a much greater population than Qaa. As the civil war in Syria spills over into Lebanon; Lebanese officials searched the Syrian camps for the terrorists, although some officials believe the terrorists may have slipped into Lebanon from the nearby Syrian border and not directly from the refugee camps.

It was a great honor for me to visit these historic archaeological sites in Lebanon.  Unfortunately, I can't help but wonder, after all that these sites have survived for almost two millennia, whether they will survive much longer in the future in light of today's dangerously-charged political climate.  

Below is also a link to the priceless historic artifacts and ruins which have been destroyed in the Middle East by Muslim terrorists in the 21st century alone:  (Most, but not all of them, have been destroyed in Iraq and Syria alone.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monuments_damaged_by_conflict_in_the_Middle_East_during_the_21st_century