Paris of the Middle East
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This trip around the middle east with Kim's parents Pat & Fiona was originally centred around visiting the rose-red Nabatean (Arab) city of Petra in Jordan. However, we decided to re-live our best-loved experiences in Lebanon and Syria ... and also catch-up on things we missed last time. On the other hand, we're also being gutsy by facing up to Cairo, a place we disliked when we first started travelling in 1992. All this during the holy fasting month of Ramadan may seem like a weight-loss programme, but it hasn't worked.
Our adventure started in Beirut (Lebanon), a lovely city by the Mediterranean. Unlike our last visit in spring time when snowy peaks were clearly visible, the smog and haze now leaves LA for dead. We had expected that in the last 2+ years the war-scarred buildings would have largely disappeared, but plenty of reminders still exist. The good thing is that the redevelopment of the beautiful central district has really taken off. The whole city exudes atmosphere.
Also in Lebanon we shared with Kim's parents the Greek / Roman ruins at Baalbek. These are the most imposing we know of (in terms of height). See for yourself ... notice the tiny people? Its the photo captioned "Remains of the Temple of Jupiter ...".
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