BAALBEK and KSARA

Today we hit the road running....with yet another driver. He picked us up early and we traveled thru the Bekaa Valley, to the ancient ruins of Baalbek. It was a long winding road...literally...about 2 hrs from Beirut. We were met by a wonderful guide....Olga, who was really from Belarus, but had married a Lebanese man and moved to Baalbek, and was fluent in Arabic. It was a very WARM morning, but we tromped all over the ruins and learned so much, and took too many pics! Everything was a photo op, so now I have to cull many pictures.

We traveled thru many “checkpoints” in the picturesque Bekaa Valley, seeing Syrian refugees working in the fields....some reports state that Lebanon has taken in over 2,000,000 million of these neighboring people into their very small country, so there are refugee camps many places along the way.
After a long morning learning so much history we were fried...intellectually and physically, and needed a cool respite. Our driver took us to a beautiful Lebanese hotel, overlooking the whole valley, where we enjoyed a most fabulous lunch, along with refreshing Arak. We rested and ate and relaxed and were waited on like VIPs.  When we left ,we traveled a short distance to a winery called Ksara. Lots of people and a popular place. It was using old Roman caves for wine storage, and we toured, tasted, and bought some of their wonderful wines. On the way home, we stopped at local fruit stands and loaded up. The drive back .....because of the Lebanese style of driving.....was just as exciting as the ride to Baalbek. I think I will have to do a separate blog just on Lebanese Drivers, to get full picture...but yes....I don’t know how they do it!
Day 7, still no luggage for Suzy.
One note. We are using “Living Lebanon “ trips and travel to plan some of our excursions and get drivers and guides. They have been awesome so far, and quite a bargain, we feel. I just want to give them a shout out!