Lebanon
Late in the afternoon we boarded the Fiesta and plowed through the waters of the Mediterranean on its way to our next place to visit. The next morning we landed in Beirut, Lebanon.
As we pulled into the harbor in Beirut, we were greeted by taxis. Some of them were horse drawn, and they were some of the poorest looking animals I've ever seen. There were a few motorized taxis. I remember seeing a 1947 Plymouth and another vehicle that looked to be about 25 years old. I was standing by a man who had been there before. I said, "This country is pretty primitive isn't it." He said, "Yeah it's pretty backward compared to anything we have in the United States, except for Arkansas of course."
We boarded busses which were hot and steamy. They were not air conditioned but our guide told us we would not need the AC once we got in the mountains. He proved to be right. Beirut is on the coast – ancient Phonecia. Baalbek – our primary sightseeing objective for the day - is in the mountains.
As we pulled into the harbor in Beirut, we were greeted by taxis. Some of them were horse drawn, and they were some of the poorest looking animals I've ever seen. There were a few motorized taxis. I remember seeing a 1947 Plymouth and another vehicle that looked to be about 25 years old. I was standing by a man who had been there before. I said, "This country is pretty primitive isn't it." He said, "Yeah it's pretty backward compared to anything we have in the United States, except for Arkansas of course."
We boarded busses which were hot and steamy. They were not air conditioned but our guide told us we would not need the AC once we got in the mountains. He proved to be right. Beirut is on the coast – ancient Phonecia. Baalbek – our primary sightseeing objective for the day - is in the mountains.
Baalbek was the center of Baal worship and the ruins dated back to the 2nd century A.D. They were well preserved and we got an idea of what life was like in a Roman Colony during that period of time. We had been scheduled to visit Damascus, but it was not deemed save to travel there at the time. Still isn’t. Lebanon was armed to the teeth. We passed through several military checkpoints along the way. It was as though they expected a raid at any minute. We were warned against taking photos at the checkpoints.
Since we were not allowed to go to Damascus, we went to Tyre and Sidon instead. Tyre was the northern most point of the travels of Jesus. We visited the Roman Hippodrome and saw gates that dated back to the time of Jesus. We walked through some old cemeteries, and after a long day, we headed back to Beirut.
By this time I was thoroughly exhausted. I came as near to passing out as I’ve ever come in my life. At one point, however, our guide stopped at an orange grove and passed out a box of oranges. I’ve never eaten better oranges in my life, and they revived me completely.
On the way back to the Fiesta, we witnessed the phenomenon of the unusual driving habits of the motorists in Lebanon. At one point we saw two cars headed straight for us. A head-on collision looked inevitable. At the last possible moment the two cars split, one passing us on either side of us. The driver and the guide looked at one another and laughed.
This happened several times before we got back to Beirut. Finally somebody started taking motion pictures of the phenomenon. I mentioned this to one of my roommates, who had lived in Beirut for a number of years. He said that it was so common that it was the national joke. Body shop repairmen were reputed to be the richest men in town. That evening we had dinner on board the Fiesta, and we headed for Israel.
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