Lebanon – Anjar, Baalbek, Ksara Vineyard.

Anjar, Baalbek and Ksara Vineyard, Lebanon

Anjar is an extensive 8th Century AD ruined Arabic city, large enough to spend a few hours. It can be walked better with a guide or you miss the important parts. Baalbek is up in the mountains and a big Greek and then Roman religious site of Temples and outhouses, These are still remarkably complete with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. We ended the bus tour with a visit to a local vineyard for wine sampling – yummy- and an underground cellar visit. A great end to a tiring day. Again book this trip via the tour bus website. Unless you hire a car, (not advisable in Lebanon), the sites are inaccessible by public transport – especially as two are only a few miles from the Syrian border!

I visited seven places in Lebanon as part of my Middle East 3 week tour. Using Beirut as base for day trips out of the city. Below are the other sites I visited in Lebanon:

Beirut, (click here for info)

Byblos, Jetta Grotto Caves and harissa, (click here for info)

On this Middle East trip, I also visited five places in Egypt and six in Jordan. Find the places I went to under those countries on my destinations page. 

Use Beirut as a base to explore this interesting country

Although Lebanon is physically not a huge country – it is only 271 km top to bottom and 56 km wide – it is difficult to move around due to its mountainous landscape, underdeveloped infrastructure and lack of good public transport.

Luckily Beirut is pretty central from north to south and on the coastal non-mountainous area so north to south routes to other coastal cities ie Sidon, Tripoli and Tyre are not too bad.

It is when you want to go east, inland, that you hit the mountains, deep valleys, and differing communities that have not always got along well. Here communications and travel can be a challenge. As I write the Syrian Civil/ISIS War has ended and the road route into Damascus has reopened. However internal political tensions in Lebanon have resurfaced, that threaten to push back gains in many areas made over the last few decades.

You can hire a car or even an expensive car and driver option to take you to many sites around Lebanon but these were time consuming, unreliable and even scary – knowing the bad state of many roads and the many military road blocks in more isolated areas to negotiate.

How to get around Lebanon.

There is a real lack of a proper bus network in Beirut, let alone a national bus network for anywhere else. Connexions, (click here for website) is about the biggest and best bus company in Lebanon and connects a few main cities north from Beirut to Tripoli but otherwise it is private unregulated mini-buses that do these trips.

Taxis form the basis of transport in Lebanon, which is not an eco- friendly method and can be unreliable and frustrating to barter and organise. Uber is available in Lebanon and used extensively but mainly in Beirut. Trains or trams do not exist in Lebanon!

Tour buses.

I chose what seems to me the best option – tour buses. There are many operating for the tourists and they are great. The one I chose picks you up from your hotel in a small modern minibus and takes you to the departure point of the company’s coaches in the city. The coaches are modern, airconditioned, comfortable and safe.

They are not that expensive for what is a whole day trip and includes entrance fees, lunch and any other fee eg wine tasting. It also includes a guide who will eagerly and expertly show you around the venues, give you great info and answer your questions in good English. I loved them and after having a similar good experience with this type of day trip coaches in Jordan – see here for Jordan coach info on my trips out of Amman if coaches are your thing – was looking forward to my pre-planned and book outings.

I used a company called Nakhal for my day trips. They are a local company, well reviewed and recommended by many including myself and I believe offer the best value for money for this type of tour. (click here for their Lebanon site) You can pre-book your seats and trips in advance online (recommended) and pre-pay, knowing that you can sit back and relax, taking in the views till you arrive at each destination.

Mine had several destinations in one trip so the value was considerable, Compare that to hiring a car and driving yourself, finding the sites and staying awake at the wheel for a whole day on bad roads.

Each trip cost £69 but for that I got a pick up at the hotel, shuttle to the coach point, travel in a great comfy coach, an expert guide in English to the 3 sites on each trip. Included is a good, tasty lunch, entrance fees paid, full day adventure and a drop off back at the hotel. I felt it was good value and would certainly recommend them.

Travelling to Anjar.

Just as in the previous day, the minibus picked me up at the hotel and drove us and the previously boarded passengers through the dense Beirut traffic to the avenue office of Nakhal tours. Several other minibuses were there and more arrived and we were quickly sorted into which group was going on which tour and allocated our coach quite efficiently. This company seems to have got this well planned as we were boarded quickly and set off in no time at all.

We had been warned to bring jackets and warm clothing with us. The reason being that despite it being pleasantly warm enough, even in March, to walk the streets of Beirut in t-shirts and shorts (and I did), where we were going was not so warm. The guide warned us the we would be travelling up through the Bekka Valley area but also climbing into the mountain range that separate Lebanon from Syria.

Here we had been warned it had been snowing during the week and whilst the sites were snow-free, the route was not. I took what little I had with me for cold weather, as back home, I had not planned for this change in temperature. A jacket and sweater came with me and I wore jeans and stout shoes for this trip.

We crawled out of Beirut, with the usual continuous heavy traffic whatever the time of day, and headed for the hills. Our bus passed by buildings built on hill slopes and gorge edges, many still unfinished (due to the war many years ago our guide told us). I was not expecting the scenes from the bus windows – varying degrees of increasing layering of snow and it was quite a surprise to see it in mid March.

We had been heading towards what I could see were snow capped mountains but as we got nearer and nearer I realised that we were going to go into the snow. The bus was on a continuous climb for a long while and at a couple of points I felt my ears pop due to the altitude change.

We passed by an enormous modern concrete road bridge spanning a valley and were told that this is part of the new motorway being built to connect Beirut and Damascus. It had started many years ago, was very slowly being constructed and was not due to be finished for a few more years.

The fields and slopes beside the road become whiter and whiter due to the snow as we climbed further, but we never entered a white-out as it was still March and the worst of the snow conditions had passed. The slopes were terraced for crops and every now and again a farm would appear in the middle of nowhere. The distant ski resort was up in the far away mountains, which were totally white. I had heard of skiing in Lebanon but had also heard of its proximity to the Syrian border so it was not as popular now as before the Syrian Civil War.

Arrival at Anjar

We knew we had arrived at Anjar when high ancient brick walls ran alongside our route. The walls turned at right angles to continue another impressive set of walls with small turrets and our road similarly followed alongside it. The entrance was rather vague but our driver knew it and pulled up alongside. As we descended from the coaches some huge hills were in front of us.

We were warned not to stray far from the guide or walk along this road as the hills in front were actually the border with Syria and there was heightened security around the area.

I couldn’t hear any military or bombardment noises, or see any sign of soldiers. The area was actually rather quiet and peaceful, belaying what we knew was less than 2km away over those hills. The first view of the entrance was a sign with “Do not” in pictorial form. The most interesting one (and one I had only ever seen before in USA) was of a gun with a line through it indicating guns were not allowed on site!.

Welcome to Anjar!.

A little on the history of Anjar.

The city was built in the 8th Century by the Umayyad Dynasty of Arabs who had a far reaching Semi-empire. It sits strategically at the crossroads of the roads connecting Homs and Tiberius and Beirut and Damascus.

The city would have been built in a grid pattern of roads with a defensive perimeter wall – 2 metres thick and 7 metres high. It has 36 semi-circular, regularly spaced towers and 4 circular, corner main towers. It was hugely influential as a trading city in a very fertile wide valley in this region of the Middle East.

The City contained a main Grand Palace on a high terrace and 4 smaller ones, a Mosque and a magnificent mosaiced baths. Over 600 colonnaded shops ran along the four main interior roads with a still standing monument at the crossroads. The residential area was off set to one quarter area of the enclosed city. It did undergo major remodelling in the 11th and 13th Centuries.

Today it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city that grew up around it today has a huge Christian Armenian Community with the second largest Armenian church In Lebanon. Click here for the UNESCO website on Anjar.

Anjar Archaeological Site.

The entrance fees were already paid for in our tour prices so we were allowed to walk straight through the entranceway and see at first sight the enormity of the grounds ahead of us. Immediately we saw the thickness of the walls we had just driven beside outside and the beginnings of what is the main North-South road – the Cardo Maximus.

Surprisingly we were the only coach there and there were no other tourists so we had this huge site all to ourselves.

Main Street

Our guide had actually worked on the site herself for a long while and knew every corner intimately – she was amazing in being able to describe everything we saw and its relationship to what was a walled city with a huge Palace. We walked along the main area, lined with some of the original entrances and walls which would have held shops and stores and got a feel for a thriving city.

Several of the main road areas still had the original arches in place – or had been reassembled – and again gave the atmosphere of an affluent Arabic town centre beautifully decorated and designed for practicality and display. The different colours of the stones, mainly a cream and brown spectrum again indicated the original designs and ornamentation of the original arches.. These arches reappeared at various points throughout the city so gave a very pre-arranged indication of city planning in its time.

The main road was long and after scampering among the ruins of the interior of the then shops, we arrived at the crossroads of the 4 roads. This was marked by the still-standing tetrapylon monument. This marked the central point of the city and we now got a feel for the distance from one side of the walled city to the other, as you looked down the length of the ancient thoroughfare.

Nearby was also the site of the original Mosque with only small indications of its locations still standing including the Minbar prayer wall area.

The guide was happily explaining more about the structures we were seeing and was so informative about everything, giving little stories as to her times when she helped in the archaeological dig. I would never have known which was what building if I hadn’t been with her, so this is another advantage of going on the coach tour for this site. I was snapping away at the ruins but realised that in many parts the views of the distant snow capped mountains and the now border with Syria 2 km away kept coming into view, providing a captivating backdrop to the expanse of ruins.

Grand Palace area

After walking some distance through the ruins we arrived at what was a much more restored and complete area of the site. This the Grand Palace building and the photos give a semblance of the beauty that the building must have given.

The layered colours, arches and columns gave the impression of an Alhambra style interior and gave me a wish that more of this magnificent palace remained intact to appreciate what must have been an astonishing edifice.

Public Baths area

The final area of the site that we explored was the public baths area. Just like roman baths with the underground heating system (exposed here for all to see), there were small mosaic floors to see and remnants of the interior rooms’ walls.

By now we were back at the entrance area, tour complete of the site. Toilet facilities at the exit/entrance area are adequate and well maintained if you need to visit them before leaving. They were very clean, fresh and well maintained, although the custom of leaving a few coins on entry was still required.

There is a small café at the exit to fill up on snacks and refreshments . Here we found that most of the public chairs were taken by snoozing cats – much to the delight of many of us who took their photo.

Be aware that this site is very open to the elements and somewhat large in area. There are no roofed buildings surviving so if visiting on a hot day take the normal hydration and sun protection precautions to make the best of your visit.

Refugee camps and military check points

We re-boarded the bus to start the journey to the next site on our day’s visit – Baalbek. We were warned that we were now going into a region of Lebanon that was controlled by the Hezbollah group. I knew this was an organisation deemed as a terrorist group by many nations, and has a more stringent view of Islam, so my apprehensions were raised.

We indeed did pas through a couple of military checkpoints. We were basically waved through by Lebanese Army soldiers brandishing powerful looking machine guns. I noticed the green flags of Hezbollah started to adorn nearby telephone poles and buildings. The area and towns also took on a more underdeveloped and less maintained look.

At one town the market area with many stalls and shoppers resembled more a 3rd world poverty area than the Lebanon had come to know from Beirut city. A contrast indeed.

We passed by two refugee camps but were told it was not possible to go inside. They were quite large in area and most of the buildings were of a temporary tents/marque nature. White tarpaulins strung over metal frames weighted down by old tyres was the most common structure. UNICEF inscriptions on the tarpaulins was common and the tents were huddled close to one another. There was scant activity however and not many people could be seen.

Lunch

We stopped off for lunch at a well known restaurant in a nearby town. The building was modern in an old Arabic style and was very good. Traditional hot food was served buffet style at the large table that accommodated us all and was more than plentiful and varied. Delicious and tasty food was brought to the tables in waves and we all enjoyed the spread.

Drinks were offered and it was a great opportunity for everyone to chat about where they were from, their travel experiences and then get to know each other more.

Hajjar al-Hibla near Baalbek

This next site was a short stop to show where many of the stones and columns were extracted from stone pits before transportation to Baalbek, where we were headed. This one unfinished column was one of the biggest and showed how the blocks were mined and raised out of the ground. It was apparently abandoned just before it was completely removed form the ground.

This remaining megalithic column is 21 metres long and roughly 4.5 metres wide and deep.

The whole arae around us now was the site of the Roman stone quarry for building materials for Baalbek.

I just had to get a photo of this. A car was parked nearby and it was clear it was still in use today. One look at it would have been enough to deem it as unroadworthy in most countries yet here it was ready to be driven. Standards here are a lot different to what I am used to!

Dubious dealings on the street in Baalbek

We arrived at Baalbek, in what was in many areas a ramshackle, bashed up city of thousands of overhead electricity cables, dangerously overloaded cable junctions, bashed up unroadworthy cars and badly maintained streets and pavements with rubbish strewn alleys and streets. Suddenly it felt we were no longer in the usually clean and nicely maintained Lebanon that I had seen on my 3 days here so far. It felt we were in a poor/war torn area of Iraq or Syria from the state of everything around me.

The Baalbek area is a strong Hezbollah area, lots of green Hezbollah symbolic flags, posters with announcements in Arabic with the Hezbollah logo/stamp on them. Here all women were clad in black hijabs with our female guide the only local female in sight not wearing the traditional Muslim headwear and long gowns. She did not seemed perturbed so I was not either but I wondered what the local reactions may be. We walked along the streets after disembarking the coach for a few minutes to arrive near the entrance.

Several older men suddenly appeared dressed in dishevelled jackets and trousers and started to offer something furtively in their hands to our group of about 16 tourists. Thinking they were touting tourist souvenirs, as I had become used to on my month trip around Jordan and Egypt before arriving in Lebanon, I thought nothing of it.

Then one semi-toothless, unkept guy approached me and opened his hand to discreetly reveal something in foil paper. I looked down wondering what it was and he quietly said. ” You want hashish?”. Shocked I looked up at him and said no but looked back in amazement as he passed by. ……… Had I just been offered dope in Baalbek, in a strongly Muslim area that punishes drug use with death  …..

I quickly caught up with our guide and explained what just happed. She seemed unsurprised and just gently nodded and motioned to keep it quiet when I asked was it really hashish I was being offered …..shocked at the double standards …. I looked back as the guys disappeared quickly back into the crowds and doorways.

History of Baalbek

The Baalbek area has been inhabited for the last roughly 8ooo years. It sits in a fertile valley, served by rivers from the mountain snow. Egyptians knew of it but it become famous under the Greeks. Alexander the Great conquered Baalbek in 334 BC and re-named it Heliopolis, `City of the Sun’. The Romans, in 45 BC, occupied Baalbek and by 60 AD had built two of the largest Temples in the Roman Empire here and it thrived as a great city.

In the 3rd century AD Christians and Romans battled over Baalbek. Christians converted the temples to churches so they remained quite intact. Eventually the great Temple of Jupiter after being damaged in an earthquake was demolished in 372AD. Several of its columns were taken to Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 532 AD and used in the refurbishment of the Hagia Sofia Cathedral there.

Baalbek was sacked in 634 AD by the Muslim Army and largely handed back and forth by various conquering Muslim armies for the next 500 years during which the Temples were abandoned. Mongols and Byzantines then conquered Baalbek and along with 3 earthquakes, the wars pretty much destroyed what was left of the Temple of Jupiter.

The outer area is vast and heavily built, so much still remains. It looks like a warzone inside however but you can still get the idea. The walls and steps of the Temple of Bacchus however are largely intact but no internal areas remain.

Click here for a fuller historical account of Baalbek.

Arrival at Baalbek

The outer area is vast and heavily built, so much still remains. It looks like a warzone inside however but you can still get the idea. The walls and steps of the Temple of Bacchus however are largely intact but no internal areas remain.

Temple of Venus

The entrance area to the Baalbek Temple complex starts with the temple of Venus. Today it is set amongst ruins and can only be seen from a distance with only its most basic structure remaining.

Stairway entrance –  Propylaeum

Near to it lies the entrance to the Baalbek Temple Complex.

It is reached by a huge wide stone staircase 6 metres high and at the top would have been a large row of columns depicting the entrance (Propylaeum) area and then a entrance into an unusual hexagonal forecourt area.

You can still walk through this fairly intact part to arrive out into the massive open area Court of the Great Temple.

You can still walk through this fairly intact part to arrive out into the massive open area Court of the Great Temple.

Basilica area of Baalbek

The great open area in front of the Temple once contained a Basilica. Today just the central altar remains and the outline of the stone walls amongst masses of what feels like debris of stones and blocks. Difficult to imagine what it would have originally looked like here.

I would suggest you familiarise yourself with the images of the buildings in their time from the display board at the entrance and you can get a better feel for the enormity of this area.

The surrounding, very high walls are still there and it feels like you are definitely inside a ginormous, important, protected area from their height.

Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek

Ahead of you is the raised terrace of the base of the Temple of Jupiter built around 60AD on the foundations of a previous Greek temple. Very little remains now of what was the biggest Roman Temple in Lebanon but a climb up the many stone steps to the top will give you majestic views.

There are still some of the outer temple walls remaining and a few of the original exterior columns are here but you will have to imagine that this enormous temple covered the base area that you are standing on now.

It was originally constructed with 58 exterior columns but today only 6 are left still standing. The panoramic views of the nearby cedar trees (the symbol of Lebanon), the green fields beyond, with a backdrop of the distant snow-capped mountains, is captivating

Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek

This is probably the most impressive of all the ruins here. It is certainly the most complete and the one that gives the best indication of its original use.

The building externally looks very much like it was originally as most of its columns and walls are still in place. It did remind me of a view of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece and I later found out that this Temple is actually bigger than the Parthenon.

You enter up a long flight of wide stone steps and through a gloriously carved lintelled doorway (look up at the top of the entrance) into the virtually intact interior views of the inner walls.

The interior walls have carved columns and decorated tops and even inscriptions. Some of the walls contains carved elements and the toffee colour of the stone carved facades make you feel you are inside something important.

Take a view from the high altar area down towards the entrance and the grandeur comes to life

Baalbek Temples Museum.

There is a Museum underneath that contains many of the site’s treasures and more fragile monuments etc that could not be left out in the elements. It is in one of the huge underground tunnels and contains some really beautiful artefacts.

Also here is information/pictures  on the original archaeological dig in 1898 that revealed more of the Baalbek Temple Complex as we see it today

Ksara Vineyard

An added delight to this tour was that we were taken to a vineyard. We were in the famous Bekaa Valley, respected for its wines – grown mainly in Christian areas – and why not take in the economic background of this world renown area. The valley lies between the two north -south mountain ranges in Lebanon and actually accounts for 40% of Lebanon’s arable land. Vineyards are established here and wine-making is an important part of the local economy.

We were to visit the Ksara Vineyard or Chateau Ksara as it is also known. Click here for Ksara website. It is located just outside Zahleh, was founded in 1857 by Jesuit priests but is today in private hands. Château Ksara is currently Lebanon’s oldest and biggest winery, producing 3 million bottles each year.

The cellars of the winery are actually a Roman underground cave and tunnel system that runs for two kilometres under the winery grounds.

It produces 16 different wines – Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Clairette, Semillon, Caladoc, Syrah, Gewürztraminer, Viognier, Malbec and Syrah are the best known of these. It also makes an arak and a brandy. They are all grow on the 21 hectares of the Ksara estate. The wines are available in 40 countries and it receives over 100,000 visitors each year.

The entrance area and adjoining rooms displayed old wine making artefacts. machinery, maps, certificates and vats. However there were also many implements that I was unsure what they would have been used for. Unfortunately there was no info boards to read about them.

Wine tasting at Chateau Ksara

We were lead to an attractive bar/restaurant area on an upper floor along an old flagstoned floor, with intricate  ironwork on the stair’s bannister.

then we were introduced to three wines and everyone had a tasting of all three from a server who described them and explained the label design. All were available to buy later in the public shop, if we wished, but there was no pressure to buy.

The restaurant itself, apparently, is well known and popular but was not serving on our arrival, but we were not there for the food anyhow. The group chatted at the bar as we were now coming to the end of the tour before the long drive home.

We discovered we were actually 12 different nationalities, from all corners of the world, in our group of 16.

Tour of the wine cellars at Chateau Ksara

Next we were taken on a tour of the underground caves and tunnels by a very experienced separate guide. She told us about each area that we visited, how the wines were stored and that the caves and tunnels prvided an excellent, stable environment as a cellar. We saw the expensive wines in the metal cages and where private people had bought and stored age-old vintages as an investment.

We were allowed to wonder and take photos and it actually turned out to be a very interesting and informative part of the tour – actually good to get away from architecture. I decided I did want to go to the shop although we were happily not pressed to do this. The display area was marvellously merchandised and the range and prices really good.

An average, good bottle of wine from here was cheaper than what I would pay for a cheap bottle in my supermarket back home. The most expensive one was not more than what I would pay for a really special gift as a birthday present. The value was thus astocishing.

I bought one of the wines we had tried (about 4 years old) as I did like it and it even came in its own box and carrier for £4 – I would pay £5 for a cheap bottle in a UK supermarket so felt this was a bargain.

If you do go on this site tour keep in mind the possibility of buying some good cheap wine here. I had mine later back at the apartment and really enjoyed it …. just wish I had bought another bottle as it was so good!

We now headed back to Beirut after taking our last photos of the Chateau.

I would thoroughly recommend using this tour company for day trips. They give great value for money as all the entrance fees, substantial lunch and wine tasting are included, the coach is clean and modern, has an expert guide and a safe driver.

This would not be possible by public transport due to it’s non existence and car driving would be awkward with the check points and lack of signage. I saw three major Lebanese tourist sites in one day and did not feel rushed or needed more time there. We left on time and arrived back in time for rest and our evening meal.

March 2019