Baalbek and the Bekka Valley

Last stops in Lebanon that are worth mentioning, Baalbek, with what's left of the large site, remains from the Roman rule of the area, now preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site. All the Roman sites that I visited have wonderful, intricate carving in the rock to decorate the walls. The Temple of Jupiter has six of the largest columns in the world still standing as they once did, each measures 22.9 metres high with a girth of 2.2 metres. 

I also visited the Ksara winery in the Bekka Valley. Driving towards the boarder you have to pass though the Bekka Valley, a fertile area of land where grape vines flourish. The Ksara winery offers a free tour of the underground caves that make perfect natural cellars for red wine storage, a little video on the history of the winery, plus a few wines to taste at the end. The white wines are really dry, the rose and red wines are much smoother. I ended up with a few wines to take home, one of them a red wine that should be served chilled at ten degrees. In the gift shop are business cards from stockists around the world of Ksara wines including a stockist in Luton, twenty minutes from me.

Syria, an ''Axis of Evil''

Syria was more what I expected the middle east to be like, a high portion if not all the women I saw were wearing the traditional long black cloak and were either out with their husband or a group of other women. In a private home, the women can wear what they like, among other women, it is only when they go outside or are around other men they wear a version of a headscarf. The BBC has a good slides on different types of headscarves worn by Muslim women. Going up a short escalator towards the Damascuan souqs, both times I walked past it, it had to be stopped as someone’s black cloak was caught in the escalator teeth. The black cloaks looked like they are made of polyester, not cotton and must be extremely hot in the sun.

I defiantly noticed being a woman in Syria, or being in a place where they are no women. When we were in a restaurant or trying to get a hotel, any time Paul and I had to speak to someone, they would look at and talk to Paul. The men would not look/speak to me, unless I was trying to buy something from them. I didn’t see many women at work, apart from the tour guides and one meet/greet lady in a restaurant, the jobs seemed to be predominately men.

Translator on the left; Syria's answer to X-Factor on the right.

With all the photos I’d been taking of ancient ruins, I needed to put my photos onto a CD, which I thought would be a fairly straight forward task. The one computer shop we found in Damascua took two guys over an hour trying to put my photos on to a CD disc. They said my SD card had a virus on it, which was why it was taking so long; I didn’t know SD cards could get a virus. While we waiting we were entertained by one of the guys singing us a little song he had written himself. 

Bush added Syria to Ameria's Axis of Evil list in 2002, along with Cuba and Libya. My experience of Syria has been a good one, people are friendly and do seem to go out of their way to help you, whether this was because I was with Paul or not, I can't really by sure.

More photos from Damascus...

Damascus

Palmyra

Syria’s largest tourist attraction, is in the middle of the desert, literally, there is nothing around it for miles and miles, except a massive oasis. The road leading into Palmyra is newly laid, shiny black tarmac with street lights that would fit on to any western city road. Seems they are spending a lot of money building infrastructure to support mass numbers of tourists. There is one main tourist road lined with restaurants and gift shops all selling similar cotton scarfs, silver jewellery, postcards. We arrived in time to watch the sunset from the castle overlooking the entire site and town. The locals also seemed to come out in the evening, families having a picnic in open areas, friends riding motorcylces by the side of the camel racetrack, all very relaxed.

The streets are not over run with tourists, a few people here and there, leaving the area pretty much to yourself, although this does make the locals on the tourist street that much friendlier/eager to have you come into their shop or restaurant. We debated weather or not we should get up at 5am for the sunrise and am I glad we did as it’s the best time of day to walk around outside without sweating up a storm. The ruins are pretty impressive, and enormous, hard to imagine that people moved these massive chunks of rock out here to carve and assemble into these ancient ruins.

View from the top of the Castle

Waiting for the Temple of Bel to open, we ending up talking with a couple of young boys who were selling postcards. Paul bought the postcards from them. Their English was better than any of the Japanese ten year olds I taught, and the subjects they wanted to talk about were much more mature. Paul’s car is a Nissan Explorer and they wanted to know how much it cost, why he didn’t get a camel, then how many camels you could get for a million dollars. They then moved on to exchange rates and he knew a place where they offer two hundred Syrian pounds flat rate commission of any amount. They gave the impression that they sell postcards as a summer job while school is out. We took out the Lonely Planet and both boys jumped on it saying they knew the camel on the front, reminding me that they are still young boys as their expression of recognition on their faces didn’t look like something they faked.

I took a photo of them when we left the temple, I offered them a tip, which they didn’t take at first. It was because they wanted a tip of each of them or one at least they could split equally, which I guess is fair enough, there were two of them in the photo. I didn’t have anymore small change  and one of them came running up to accept the tip, I hope they at least spent it on something they could share.

By ten o’clock the desert was hot, we had wondered the length of the site and felt pretty ready to start the long drive back to Damascus. There are some weird things in the desert and you’re imagination can run wild. Random buildings with guarded entrances, neatly planted olive groves, hitch hikers, military training. You could probably do pretty much anything out there and no one would be the wiser.

Along the road we had spotted a few places called ‘Bagdad Cafe’, assuming it was a coffee shop we stopped at one on the way back. A little random, the place has a fully stocked gift shop with dining space for about fifty people and the only people there were a husband and wife. We had coffee and biscuits in their living room, where the husband was watching an Australian show on tips for timid women on a first date. The wife showed me a swimming pool out the back filtered though a sack, I asked if she swam here and she does. Upstairs, are beds and a chill out area all ready to go for passing travelers who need a place to sleep. The whole place is ready and waiting for people to come and use it.

A Bagdad Cafe

More photos from Palmyra...

Syria

Boarder Crossing

Crossing the boarder to and from Lebanon/Syria, I was lead to believe it would be a madhouse of people everywhere and it would take a few hours. It must have been the time of day that we crossed, as we got though all of the various check points in about an hour, hour and half, max. As well as the usual immigration in and out of each country and customs, there are also checks for the car you’re driving though. Correct paper work is essential, the car needs to be signed in and out of each country. There were different lanes for normal cars, taxis, diplomatic vehicle, didn’t make a difference, there is only one booth where all the drivers crowd round the one guy who is signing and stamping the books. 

Everyone's a Diplomat

There’s no real order to any of the places where we had to stop, people parked their cars anywhere, queues at immigration were more small bundles of people huddled around an open window. So I could imagine how crazy it would have been had there been more than a few hundred people trying to cross. The first thing you see on the Syrian side of the boarder is a massive Dunkin’ Doughnuts sign and an entrance into a plush, shiny new and slightly out of place, duty free store selling anything from a Rolex watch to Toberlone.Going into Syria, Paul and I exchanged money with a guy in an office with no exchange rates. Leaving Syria, we stopped at the duty free shop for a little browse, while I was looking at the wines, a shop assistant came over.
‘’Are you OK there?’’
‘’Yes thanks, I’m just looking at the wines, do you only accept US dollars?’’
‘’Yes, that’s right.’’
‘’Do you know where I can change my money?’’
‘’I can change it for you, how much do you have?’’
‘’About five hundred Syrian pounds.’’
‘’I can give you eleven US dollars.’’
‘’Ahh, OK, I’ll think about it and come back.’’


Went to lunch in a surprisingly tasty Italian restaurant where the waiter took ages to clear the table and only gave a menu to Paul, fine, I was getting used to this by the time we were leaving Syria. After lunch, went back into the duty free shop to change my Syrian pounds, as I could see an exchange board up on display. I was told, ‘’There is no money exchange in the duty free shop, those rates on display are information only.’’
Went back to the wine section, caught the eye of the assistant who approached me before. He pulled someone over, no idea if he knew the guy or not, this guy pulled out a wedge of notes and I gave him my Syrian pounds and he gave me back the quoted amount in US dollars. A quick ‘thank you’ and we all parted ways.
On leaving Syria there is also a leaving tax which is five hundred Syrian pounds each, the officer charged us one thousand one hundred Syrian pounds for two people. My mental maths isn’t that great, but reckon he must have added on a tiny tourist tax as well.

Lebanon

Lebanon is not a country I would normally visit, knowing Paul was posted there in the British Embassy it was a great excuse to go visit him and a new country. This trip was my first trip to the middle-east and an eye opening experience.

I arrived in Beirut very early and needed to negotiate immigration. I was pretty sure I didn't have to pay for a tourist visa, yet when I got to the immigration area there were signs everywhere with price lists and take your voucher to the counter. What was more worrying was the sign, clearly stating in English that payment for the voucher was to be in Lebanese pounds only. A bit of faffing around, walking to the money exchange desk that was closed, I discovered that you indeed, do not need to pay for a tourist visa and you can go straight to the booths with the immigration officers. The officer who stamped me into the country flicked though every single page of my passport and asked me if I was of Lebanese or Arabic decent; No, strange question.

My expectations of Lebanon was an Aladdin, Lawrence of Arabia, Prince of Persia type environment with desert, sand, camels, people dressed in big white clothes made from cotton. The movies do a very good job of romanticising this part of the world. The reality was a hot, big, noisy city where there are no rules of the road, cars make four lanes were there are road marking for three. To cross the road as a pedestrian the green man means nothing, you just need to cross and the cars will generally stop for you. Armed officers are everywhere, in little huts painted with the Lebanese flag, on the roadside, on the traffic junctions. Tanks also are on the out on the roads, gated off, but I assume ready to go.

Lebanon has a large number of people, 59% of the population according to the Lonely Planet, who are Muslim, so I was expecting the women to be in head scarves and the traditional black outfits. There were women who were in traditional clothing, but the majority of the women I saw were in modern western type dress. In the newly developed shopping areas and downtown areas the women seem to wear whatever they want. I saw one women shopping in H&M with a top so see-through I could see her bra. I didn’t see these women outside of these nice new areas on the ‘normal’ streets. The entrances to the downtown areas are gated off with barriers where armed officers and/or military police stand guard. At one of the gates were valet staff, ready to take the big, expensive, air-conditioned cars away while their perfectly coiffured owners shop. Most shops who aren't on the ‘normal’ streets will offer a valet service for clients. Outside of these new areas the city looks like a mixture of derelict buildings with bullet holes in walls or statues, a building site, where a lot of future development seems to be planned or kind of French inspired small streets.

What I also found very strange and out of place, in a country where the dress is generally conservative, are massive billboards by the roads advertising lingerie with a scantly clad lady starting down at the drivers provocatively.

It is common for people in Lebanon to have a maid and who may also double as the nanny. Within Lebanese society it shows how much money you have or your social status depending on what nationality your maid/nanny is. Apparently the best are from the Philippines, then from Sri Lanka and then the African’s. I went on two tours in Lebanon and walking to and from the hotel meeting point I saw the same local maid’s walking the same dogs in their pastel coloured outfits in the early morning and late evening. At the supermarket it is completely acceptable for someone to pack your shopping and take it up to your car and pack the car for you. Obviously a tip is involved.

Lebanese pounds are difficult to get in the UK, in fact so difficult, the man behind the exchange counter told me you can't get Lebanese pounds outside the UK. What I should have done was change all my money in to US dollars as they are used completely interchangeably in shops. If I paid in US dollars change would be in Lebanese pounds, but you can pay in which ever currency you want to, even split the currency on a single transaction.

The city is much more liberal than I imagined, apart from downtown and the seafront, there isn’t much in the city. The place to be seen in the evenings or weekends is along the Corniche, a pleasant promenade running along the sea front. There is much more interesting things to see outside the city and to make the travelling easier, I joined a couple of Nakhal Tours, to see the ancient ruins of Byblos, the limestone caves in Jeita, the temple of Echemon, a sea castle and soap museum in Sidon.

Lebanon

ERASMUS Student Pick-Up

Hannah has spent the last year in Marseille in the south of France on an ERASMUS exchange programme. Which is basically an excuse for her to 'study' abroad and take lots of mini trips though Europe. For us it was a excuse to road trip to Marseille to pick Hannah and all her stuff up from Lumini University. 

With the car, we took the Euro Tunnel and headed to Arras for our first stop over, a cute little town with all the usual shops you would expect in a French town. I really like that you can travel just across the channel and get to a whole different country, food and weather.

We had planned to take a morning to look at Dijon, but thanks to a flat battery we spent the morning waiting for a VW mechanic to come and help us start the car. Thank you Novotel Leon for free Internet.

Marseille isn't the prettiest city in the south of France, yet I found the surrounding towns very quaint. Marseille and surrounding areas are famous for soap, lavender, the Calanques and Bouillabaisse (fish soup). All of which we bought, smelt, walked on and ate while we were there. The lavender wasn't out in full bloom, maybe just another week and it would have been so pretty driving though the mountain roads.

One last stop over in Dijon before a very long drive back to Milton Keynes. The Euro Tunnel check-in software is pretty smart, at the time when you book the ticket, you have to enter in the licence plate so when you drive up to the check-in counters in Folkestone or Calais the software will recognise your booking and print out your boarding time, no need to speak to anyone.

Photos...

Southern France