بعلبك Archives ⋆ The Passenger

December 23, 2019January 10, 2020

Sfiha

Lebanese food is well-known across the world and because of the large Lebanese diaspora, it is also widely available. But you don’t need to think about high-class restaurants – even small eateries or bakeries can surprise you with delicious experiences. One of them is Sfiha, minced meat wrapped in pizza dough and baked in small pieces. You get it with a lemon to drop some juice on top and salted yoghurt to drink in between. Once you started with eating it is hard to stop again.

December 23, 2019January 19, 2020

Baalbek

One of the very good reasons to travel to Lebanon is the historic temple site of بعلبك. Baalbek is located in a strategically important position of the Beqaa valley and was once called Heliopolis (the city of the sun). There the Romans built temples to worship their gods between the 2nd and 3rd century CE. The site is vast and temples for Jupiter, Mercurio, Venus and Bacchus can be found. The temple of Mercurio is mostly destroyed, the temple of Venus is preserved only in parts. Most interesting and best-preserved are the temples for Jupiter (the highest god) and for Bacchus – the god of wine.

December 23, 2019January 13, 2020

Biggest stone

There seems to be a competition around the world who has the biggest monolith. Is it in Lebanon, in Egypt or in China? When you get to بعلبك, Lebanon you can visit the Roman quarry in which the stones for the Baalbek temples have been carved and at its centre, you’ll see the Hajjar al-Hibla (Stone of the South or Stone of the Pregnant Woman). The monolith with a weight of 1,000 t is 20 meters long and has been carved but not yet moved to the temple site.