This lovely mountain resort town is perched above the eastern end of
the beautiful Kadisha Gorge and at the foothills of the Cedars of Lebanon.
It is the brith place of Lebanon's most famous author
Khalil Gibran. It has a small museum which pays tribute to him.
Beiteddine palace was built over a period of thirty years by Emir Bechir Chehab II.
It's architecture reflects the typical oriental architecture of the 19th century Ottoman Era.
It is remarkable for its glamorous
arcades, multicolored mosaic floors, reception rooms, harems, hammams
and even by its guest house "Diyafa" where passing guests were lodged
(French poet Lamartine stayed once there).
Detail of the Sarcophagus of Ahiram, king of Byblos, seated
on a cherub throne, before an offering table, 13th century B.C (National Museum of Beirut).
Around 1200 B.C. the scribes of Byblos developed an alphabetic phonetic script, the precursor of our modern
alphabet. By 800 B.C., it had traveled to Greece, changing forever the way man communicated.
Located in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, Baalbek is an ancient city
that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Originally
Canaanite (3rd century BC), the Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines,
and Arabs successively occupied Ba'albek and left their imprints on the
place, often modifying what existed previously.
www.kaftoun.com
Share this
Digg
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
I missed the Friday Morning Run, but still enjoyed the relay - June 10, 2011
I had the best partner - Christian James! He combines strength and thoughtfulness – I did not know people like this still existed! I was very nervous on Thursday and this morning thinking about the relay. I did not want to disappoint him. As soon as he arrived on the track and spoke to me my nervousness eased! He said “we are going to have fun!”, and we did! Thank you partner! These Aussies are strong! Ace!
I was sorry to see George fall at the end of his run! I felt as if I was falling myself, but couldn't do anything about it. He taught me this week how to use my Timex laps watch. I had this watch since the beginning of the year, but was too afraid to have the coach find out that I still didn't know how to use it. So it was a relief to see that George had on Tuesday the same exact watch on; I asked him to help me. George was so patient and methodological in his instruction that I felt as if I was Hannibal of Carthage in the presence of his Greek touter Silenus of Caleacte. Silenus used to teach Hannibal philosophy and horsemanship from the works of Xenophon of Athens (c. 430 – 354 BC). Xenophon was a Greek historian, soldier, and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He wrote his horsemanship manual for the instruction of his own sons. The Greeks and the Lebanese have a long history together, as all of the Eastern Mediterranean was under Greek influence for a very long time. The Greeks were the philosophers and teachers and the Lebanese were the traders. When the Lebanese established Carthage, it was for the purpose of trading, but the Romans would not let them - they had to have it all! If Hannibal had won the war, perhaps we would have had the Greco-libano culture instead of the Greco-roman culture. The world would have been a different place! Mind you even during the height of roman empire, most of the culture was still Greek and the Lebanese did a great deal of the building such as the temples at Baalbek.
Thank you coach and all of you who timed, facilitated and supported this event!
Thank you Tony and Ray for running the warm up laps with me!
Thank you Vera for timing me and encouraging me!
Congratulations to everyone! I was watching and admiring everyone of you! What a great group!
