Michael’s trip to the Middle East

After arriving at Damascus International around 6:50PM I went through Immigration in record time; I have to admit they were pretty efficient. I was out of the airport by 7:10PM.
Once out I was surprised that there were almost no cars on the road. If you ever traveled through Cuba at night you know the feeling. September 13th was the first day of the Ramadan and so right after 7PM everyone is either home or in a restaurant to serve their meal. They call it “FUTUR”. That made for a quick drive to hotel Afamia.

After I had something to eat I went straight to bed, probably a good idea considering the long trip.

Next morning my driver Miro (short for his Armenian name) picked me up and we went into Lebanon. No longer were the roads empty this time. My first instinct was to buckle up, to the disappointment of Miro that saw it as a sign of me questioning hid driving skills.

First lesson of the day was that in both Syria and Lebanon the road signs are purely a suggestion. The double line in the middle of the road is to ensure that you really drive in the middle. When you pass get very close to the car in front of you, honk and go for it. Having a car driving right at you from the opposite direction is not a good enough reason for you not to pass as he will most definitely avoid you…….Joke aside it is a very entertaining type of driving as long as you are not involved in an accident. By some miracle I have en ot seen any…

Any way moving along to the actual trip, the crossing in Lebanon was pretty smooth, thanks to a bit of “BACSHIS” to the custom officers. This method of solving differences of opinions seems to be quite wide spread here. My Romanian friends know exactly how it goes.

First Stop was Baal beck, where I visited the three temples; Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. Hiring a local guide was a good idea as there is limited information made available to the visitors. By the way there are not too many of them….
Once well on the way to Ball beck Miro told me that we are in the heart of Hezbollah territory. To tell you the thruth I did not see any difference from the rest of the area.

Moving right along went to Jeita Grotto. AWESOME is the proper word describing this cave. You are not allowed to take pictures inside but the”bacshis” solve this inconvenience.

Moving along to Byblos, where we stopped for dinner. Great restaurant in the “oldest” port in the world. There is evidence that the port has been there for 8000 years, and is still in use.

Off we go to Beirut and on the way there I visited the church of St. Harisa. Great view of the city and spectacular ride with a cable car.

Stopped at Holiday Inn, the site of the most fierce fighting during the civil war that lasted between 1975 and 1990. took some pictures until a guard told me that is not the best idea. They are really suspicios of everuyone these days…

Moving right along I got to the hotel around 8:00pm and let me tell you the heat and humidity made it a really long day.

Next day took a tour of downtown Beirut; Talk about check point and army and tanks and guns on the streets. Well they have them all.

Moved right along to Beitadinee and Arjar and then crossed the border back to Syria.

I am not sure why but the driver had to use the law of “bacshis” one more time with the Syrian guard.

I really have to go as they close this internet café in 3 minutes.

More to come … I wish I could share some pictures but I just do not have the tools to modify them. You’ll have to wait till I get back.

Cheers everyone.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 15th, 2007 at 10:31 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.