We went to Majdel Anjar (33°42’42.84” N & 35°54’05.87” E on Google Earth) in the Bekaa Valley. The place doesn’t get a whole lot of visitors, I get the impression. It doesn’t have any signs directing towards it (in English, that is). And I couldn’t find any information on the temple other than that it is Roman. 
View of the Beqaa Valley
View of the Beqaa ValleyI got in through the back, it seems. There is no real fence around it, no ticket booth, nothing. It is funny how you can climb all over a 2,000 year old Roman monument undisturbed. No guards in sight.
I bet that if I offer the right amount, nobody would object to me passing by at night and hauling one of those wonderful capitals away. 
Would do wonderful as a base for a table. I sometimes see beautiful Roman pieces in people’s houses. I understand that during the (civil) war, it was quite easy to get your hands on priceless pieces like that.
Visitors must be so rare in fact that - as we were visiting the ruins - some townspeople came by and checked out the visitors.
I bet that if I offer the right amount, nobody would object to me passing by at night and hauling one of those wonderful capitals away. 
Would do wonderful as a base for a table. I sometimes see beautiful Roman pieces in people’s houses. I understand that during the (civil) war, it was quite easy to get your hands on priceless pieces like that.Visitors must be so rare in fact that - as we were visiting the ruins - some townspeople came by and checked out the visitors.
I was talking to a farmer, while the two boys that were with me met up with some local boys. They were aged 9, 11 and 13. I think it was quite a cultural experience for my two simple city slickers. All three children were smoking; a fact that so shocked my two that they ran to tell me. None of the three boys were in school. They all worked as mechanics in a local garage of the uncle of one the boys. They made $40 a month, except for the oldest, who got $45 a month. They were quite proud of that fact. $40 obviously is quite an amount. 
I could hear the numbers crunch in my son’s head. $40 is about what he gets in a month as pocket money, and all he has to do for that is go to school.
Child labor is still pretty rampant in certain areas. Education is compulsory in Lebanon just to the age of 12.
I was pretty impressed by this temple. I tried to interest the kids in the back of the car about the importance of knowledge about the Roman empire, and how it has shaped our civilization.
I could hear the numbers crunch in my son’s head. $40 is about what he gets in a month as pocket money, and all he has to do for that is go to school.Child labor is still pretty rampant in certain areas. Education is compulsory in Lebanon just to the age of 12.
I was pretty impressed by this temple. I tried to interest the kids in the back of the car about the importance of knowledge about the Roman empire, and how it has shaped our civilization.
But on the way back to Beirut all the boys could talk about was the smoking and the $40 salary.
1 comment:
It looks beautiful out there. You have probably been to more places in my country than I have!
Ofcourse, I am totally jealous.
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