It's funny to find a real country (not some Vaticans or San Marinos) that is smaller than Slovenia! It's only half the surface of Slovenia, even though they are more than three and a half million living in here. You can cross it in any direction quite fast, after fifty kilometres you are on the other end of the country if you start in Beirut.
Today I experienced the first snow this winter when I was at 2.725 m above sea level in north-eastern Lebanon. It was cold and cloudy but later on some fine views over the Beka' Valley appeared. I safely passed all military and police posts to come in the evening to Ba'lbek, probably archaeological site number 1 in Lebanon. I met two tourist groups with Mercedes 350 (tourist professionals know exactly what I'm talking about) and something stuck in my throat. Not that I would prefer to be in this moment on a similar bus between Toledo and Córdoba, but still this shows me clearly that I can't live without tourism. Tourist guides exactly know the feeling when you depart from a rest area at 2 o'clock in the morning and some 600 kilometres are in front of you; at the back everybody's sleeping, only the driver and you look into the cat's eyes on either side of the road, while there is a gentle music playing in cockpit and white road-lines disappear under the bus…
RadioOne, one of six Lebanese radio-stations with English program, is torturing us with Christmas since I came to the land. "Christmas is so close, only 20 days to go," you can hear five times a day (and you're not listening to the radio all the time!). Mariah Carey and Jason Donovan sing about Christmas while my eyes are fixed somewhere in front of me as I'm driving 90 kph on the highway. Day 29. Has a crisis arrived?
Now I'm in front of the Arab citadel which protects the ancient ruins of B'lbek, I'm making a fire and preparing dinner. At dawn I'll attack the stronghold and when it's conquered I'll attach some photos of it.
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BA'LBEK - FIRST SNOW
21.08.2015
Lebanon is something special in this part of the world. It reminds me of some negligent parts of Europe, like Montenegro, Portugal Greece. Roads are much worse than in Syria (where they are excellent, by the way), but generally the country is richer and better ordered. You can notice it through western shops, which aren't abundant only in Beirut but also elsewhere, through the car-park and prices. A stranger feels welcome at any moment, they are willing to help you, but only when it's obvious you need help, and not like in Syria, where you just stop by the road only to have a small snack and you're crowded in a moment. Every fifteen minutes you come across a military check-point with machine-guns and sometimes also tanks, where the traffic slows down on a single lane (highways) or even completely stops. They were always very nice to me; when they discover I'm stranger who deals with Arabic a pleasant and surprised smile comes to their faces and let me pass.
