Chouf district - sun 26 Nov 2006

Chouf is a remarkable region in South-East of Lebanon, heartland of Druze community and theatre of violent clashes between Druze and Christian during lebanese civil war in 1983, after which most part of maronites left the district.



The road from Beirut to Chouf was obviously hitted by bombs, and here you can see a temporary bridge built by french army (enlarge the second pic to see the detail of the 2-way bridge)





Beiteddine is the administrative center of Chouf, 50km far from Beirut, famous for its magnificent 19th century palace complex, with a style between traditional Arab and Italian baroque, as best craftsmen from Damascus and Aleppo as well as Italian architects were invited to adorn it. During the Lebanese civil war it has been heavily damaged. Today parts of the palace are open to the public while the rest is the official president's summer residence.



The palace hosts the Beiteddine Festival (fitted for 5,000 persons) every summer...unfortunately, not in 2006, and lot of music stars were guest in its magnificent square: Ricky Martin, Goran Bregovich, Fairuz, Marcel Khalife, Shakira, Ute Lemper, José Carreras, Chick Corea, Youssou N’Dour, UB40, Elton John and many many others



We had a break in a wonderful palace used as restaurant and hotel...it was really a pity to find out that the war made the area empty, no tourists at all, and keeping so, there's no good perspective for the future. This is a new "gift" of the war. But i'm here also to witness how beautiful is Lebanon and, if there was no tension in this period, it would be again one of the most charming place of the world. Funny note: at the Hotel's reception three men were enjoying an old comic movie broadcasted on a older TV...it reminded me when i was young and liked to see Totò's movies :)





Note the Star of David on the door, which is just a geometric layout very used by craftmen to symobilze the divine perfection.




After a fast "pit-stop" to have a typical lebanese lunch of the mountains (please don't blame at me if i like so much the lebanese cuisine :-) )which was very heavy but so so tasty and yummy (i suggest a cream of onions, it looks like hommous or mutabal)



The lunch ends as usually with a cup of turkish coffee and the un-missable rite of bottom of the cup reading,



The trip continued laying up for a small town called Deir-al-Qamar (=Monastery of the Moon), 5km from Beiteddine, famous for having been the center of Arab literary tradition and as birth place of many well known personnalities, like presidents, artists, writers,etc. It displays very well the ancient Lebanese style in architecture.





Declared World Heritage by UNESCO, Deir-al-Qamar preserved its grand feudal architecture, old stepped streets, its stone houses with red roofs, and walled gardens. In the square itself is Fakhreddine's Mosque, constructed in 15th century; behind the mosque is a leather-worker's souq, which today houses modern shops, giving evidence of the importance of the village in silk manifacturing. Nearby there is the synagogue (yes, a synagogue!)built in the 17th century to serve the local Jewish population.







Look this pic: it shows a fountain in the courtyard; my architect friend explained me that the fountains were often built not in the centre but rather shifted to the right side, where there was the living area of men. The aim was to (unconsciously) appeal the guests toward men area, thus avoiding to "disturb" women. Moreover, the sound of water was useful to "cover" men voices during their speach, in order not to be heard by women eheh



Church of Saidet at-Talle (Notre-dame de la Colline) is another example of how it's possible to , by respecting of traditions, history and culture. United we stand, together with our differences... Note: Padre Pio's image in the Chruch, they told me he's very respected in Lebanon too.





I like this photo, i have slightly modified it 'cause i think the ochre shows better the right union you can breath here, between modern ("Welcome 2006" lights on the top of a central building) and classic, between christian, muslim and jewish, between Shams (Sun) and Qamar (Moon), between day and night, day and life



Preparing labneh (for shankleesh?)



The "ambassador" of Italy in deir-al-qamar :-))

Questions on Baalbek ; Kefraya - Sat 25 nov 2006

Questions:
1- where's the government? where's UNESCO? I think one of the biggest problem in baalbek is to preserve the site, which has an impressing and maybe (because am italian and i over-take care of such OPERE D'ARTE) even under-estimated importance, and to implement systematic activites of maintenance. But nothing of that was done. The answer is that there're no found, no money to do that: i don't know, but in my humble opinion UNESCO as well cannot answer like this, "washing its hands", as their mission is for definition to take care of World Heritage (and Baalbek is here listed since '80s). Consequences: the guide leaded us to a "private museum", which was nothing other than a small shop here they tried to sell us ancient roman, greek and byzantynum coins; vases; and many other objects taken (=stolen) in the site.
2- in the shop i bought small souvenir of Lebanon, like pins, iron cedars, and a big flag which i was looking for since long time, thinking to put it in my bedroom, and each time i need to hold it as much i'd like to hold Lebanon land. Curiosity: i asked for Lebanon flag and the shopkeeper: "Do you want the HA's one, or the red&white one?"......WHAAAAAT????? is there any doubt about which one is THE lebanese flag ?!? funny, but not so much, if you don't forget that this area is a main (rather hidden) HA's headquarter...





A great idea after Baalbek was to visit and have lunch in the area of Kefraya, very famous for its high-quality wines. In particular we went to Château Kefraya, which in the opinion of my friends has one of the best ratio quality of wine/beauty of the place. Château Kefraya vineyards are not yet fifty years old, and winery is barely twenty years old! Notwithstanding, its wines acquired several prestigious awards in Lebanon and abroad.

Nice to see here also a small area of Cedars, although they differ from the most famous area as they grew up in height, while a "normal" Cedar have a wider trunk.



The good perspective to enjoy a delicious late-lunch in the Kefraya Dionysus restaurant was confirmed by the presence of our "friends" of UN (perhaps from Norway). And in fact the tasty mezzes (as usually: hommous, batinjane, mjaddara, ftayer, kebbeh, manakish, tabouleh and fattouche) was greatly accompanied to red BRETECHES DU CHATEAU KEFRAYA 2004, with variety of 80% Cinsaut, 6% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 7% Grenache and 7% Carignan, vinificated in Barrique vats, which expresses itself through its cherry-red robe with a purplish shade, typical of its youth and character. The perfume of wild flowers, the scent of black cherry compote and ripe cassis, as well as the spicy kirsch aromas, favor the fragrances emanating from a whole botanical garden (am i ready as conductor of Gusto on Canale5 TV? :)))

Baalbek - Sat 25 nov 2006

We were supposed to call a taxi driver to bring us in Baalbek, but as proof of extreme lebanese kindness, we found two friends which offer to bring us there by car (youhouuu!) to that city, 85 km East from Beirut, the most important center of Bekaa Valley. The road to Bekaa is quite good, except some deviation you have to take because of wasted bridges



Bekaa is a fertile valley in Lebanon and Syria, situated between the Mount Lebanon to the west and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the east. From the 1st century BC, under Roman domain, Beqaa Valley served as a source of grain for the Roman province of Syria. Today the northern end of the valley is used primarily as grazing land by pastoral nomads, while the southern one supports crops of wheat, corn, cotton, and vegetables, with vineyards centered around Zahlah. Note: the valley is said also to produce hashish and cultivates opium poppies, which are exported illegally...Such "products" find their origin since roman rule, as we'll see in Baalbek site.



Zahle is the largest city in Beqaa Valley. It lies just north of the main Beirut–Damascus highway, which bisects the valley. My friends told me that most of Zahle's residents are Christian Arabs (Armenians, Greek Catholics, Maronites) but due to the wars and the strong presence of the HA in the valley, many of them have left the Bekaa for the coastal cities of Lebanon or emigrated abroad. On our way, we passed through villages where traditions want that meat is still "freshly" barbecue served :)



but i have to say i had the best brekfast ever had: not croissant, not jam, but delicious Bekaa's dairy products. Khabbaz Markouk, which is a thin kind of bread (it seems "piadina"), with fresh creamy labne (yogurt) spread inside: i had a sweet version (with honey inside), and a salty one with pikles (Kabis Khyar), tomatoes and olives: SIMPLY GREAT!!! It was really a shame for me not to taking a bag fullfil with those products, i just bought a medium recipe of Shankleesh, an appetizer(mezze) made from cow-yogurt(Laban),slightly acid (Arisheh), drained in cheesecloth(Labneh) and finally warpped with herbs or spices (i choosed mint); subsequently, the new mixture produced is turned into small balls and are exposed to the sun to let it dry out slowly in order to keep the balls quite soft. I swear they are fabulous with our durum wheat bread and dried tomatoes, yummy!



Not far from Deir-Al Ahmar there's the Church of Saydet Bechweit, with a statue of a Virgin which is said to have cried in the past several times





Known as Heliopolis during the Hellenistic and Roman times (Madina as-Shams in arabic, Sun City), "Baalbek, with its colossal structures, is one of the finest examples of Imperial Roman architecture at its apogee," UNESCO reported in making Baalbek a World Heritage Site in 1984. The temple complex of Baalbeck is made up of the Jupiter Baal (Baal=God, Baalbek=God of Bekaa) Temple and the Bacchus Temple adjacent to it. A short distance away is the circular structure known as the Temple of Venus. Only part of the staircase remains of a fourth temple dedicated to Mercury, on Kheikh Abdallah hill.

First of all, a good news: as my "mission" here was to check the status of the site, as several times i heard from newspapers that Israel bombed Baalbek as well, well, now i can say that there's no evidence of any damage caused by last summer bombing, and this was also confirmed by the men i met in the site. However, it has been reported by UNESCO that during the conflict, vibrations caused by bombs damaged the ruins.



I'm going to show you some picture, after that you'll get by yourself the extreme importance of the site and maybe keep astonished asking why, when at school, any professor of Art History told us about Baalbek existence, although Baalbek could have the same (or much more) importance of archeological sites like Paestum, Agrigento or Athens! Am i wrong? just take a look.

The first view the visitor has of Baalbeck is the six Corinthian columns of the Great Temple thrusting 22 meters into the skyline. Built on a podium seven meters above the Court, these six columns and the entablature on top give an idea of the vast scale of the original structure. The complex of the Great Temple has four sections: the monumental entrance or Propylaea, the Hexagonal Court, the Great Court and finally the Temple itself, where the six famous columns stand.

The Propilea, with an entrance structure fronted by 12 granite columns



The Hexagonal Forecourt, with 30 granite columns originally supporting the entablature





The Great Court, built in the 2nd century A.D., contains the main installation of the cult. Two huge structures stand in the center of the Great Court: a restored sacrificial altar and a tower with only the lower courses remaining, but these structures were destroyed when a Christian basilica was built on the site at the end of the 4th century. Surrounding the Court, in front of the exedrae, was an 84-column Corinthian colonnade of Egyptian granite. A photo shows also how opium was "famous" among romans as well.







Temple of Jupiter measures 88x48 meters and stands on a podium 13 meters above the surrounding terrain, it is reached by a monumental stairway. Originally surrounded by 54 external columns, most of these now lie in fragments on the ground. The dedication of the present temple ruins, the largest religious building in the entire Roman empire, dates from the reign of Septimus Severus, whose coins first show the two temples and in commemoration Severus conferred the rights of the jus italicum on the city. Today, only six Corinthian columns remain standing. Eight more were disassembled and shipped to Constantinople under Justinian's orders, for his basilica of Hagia Sophia.







The Little Temple or the "Temple of Bacchus", constructed during the first half of the 2nd century A.D., it has been remarkably well preserved. It was apparently consecrated to a mysterious and initiatic cult centered around the young god of Baalbeck. Wine and other drugs, such as opium, may have been used by the worshipers and it was the carvings of grapes and poppies on the main door jamb and some carved Bacchic scenes, which suggested the temple's identification with Bacchus Dionysus. It is enriched with refined reliefs and sculpture, included Antonio and Cleopatra (last pic), to remind people which consequences leads a "wrong" love.











The Round Temple or the "Temple of Venus" (Ashart) was built in the 3rd century A.D.but during the Byzantine period it was converted into a church dedicated to Saint Barbara, who is the patron saint of Baalbeck



So now, do you feel like visiting it ???