Temple of Jupiter

Yesterday we went to Baalbek with several friends. Baalbek is the most impressive archaeological site in Lebanon – some pretty amazing Roman/Phoenician temples in the Beka’a Valley. When Ethan and I were here in December 2002, we visited the ruins the morning after a big snowstorm and there was about a foot of snow on the ground. We had the place nearly to ourselves, all bright white snow and soaring columns. This time was a bit less magical, though to be fair, I spent a good part of the time playing with our friends’ delightful 2 year old daughter.

We also stopped in at an old but refurbished mosque (with myself and the other women donning Jawa capes) and for a visit at the largest hewn rock in the world. Before heading out, we perused the Hezbollah t-shirts and key chains for sale in the tourist shops. Baalbek is the HQ for Hezbollah and there are flags, banners, and posters everywhere.

Later that evening, we finally got to go the music festival, Fete de la Musique. This festival was started in Paris in the 80s, its aim being to bring music to the streets. Many European cities have followed Paris’ lead. It is supposed to take place on the Solstice, but as it happened, that was the day that George al Hawi was killed, so the festival was rescheduled. There were stages set up all around the downtown area, with people gathering to see mostly Lebanese musicans perform next to the ruins of Roman baths, in churches, or in parking lots. It was festive (though Saturday night in Beirut always is) and also inspiring to see so many people getting to enjoy free music in the open air. We didn’t see any life-changing music (and the rappers were downright awful) but it was a wonderful time anyhow.

It’s now a lazy Sunday morning but hopefully we are going to motivate to go to the racetrack in a little while. The Hippodrome holds races every Sunday, and we have been meaning to go since we got here.