Our final day of the
trip had arrived. Upon leaving the
delightful city of Zahle and our excellent hotel, we arrived at the
archeological site of Anjar. It is on
the Damascus Highway, and less than a kilometer from the border with
Syria. This is also one of the only
archeological sites in Lebanon that does not involve layers of time and
different occupations. It was built
around 714 AD by the Umayyad Dynasty, and overrun and abandoned by 744 AD. Here are some photos. Note the brilliant blue sky, the first of our
whole trip!
The ridge in the background of this photo is on the Syrian border. We were that close.
Our last and most
fabulous lunch of the trip was at the local tourist restaurant Shams. In addition to more food than could fit on
our table, the restaurant featured indoor gardens, a bowling alley and even
sushi. It was quite a place.
On our way to the
Beqaa Valley a few days previously, some of us noticed a huge sodalite pillar situated
near the edge of the highway.
On our way
back over the mountains, we were looking for that pillar so that we could stop
and take some photos. Our Lebanese guide
directed the bus to pull over, and we jumped out to find not only the larger
pillar near the highway, but another one in addition to a large rose quartz on
either side of the doorway to the “Gemstones of the World” store.This turned out to be a very large gem and mineral store owned by a Brazilian family. What a surprise. As some of you may know, I collect crystal skulls. I am always on the lookout for them, but none had been found at all on this trip until today. I was thrilled to find two great ones here. That made my day.
Upon arriving back
in Beirut, I walked the Corniche with two friends from the trip. What a delightful way to end the journey.
All in all, this was
a very action packed and challenging trip, and I do not regret going. However, this is why I won’t be traveling with
Megalithomania in the future. This is
the second trip that I have taken with them, and I would definitely not travel
with them again because of some very unprofessional behavior from Hugh Newman
and Andrew Collins (and Brien Foerster).
The way that they run their trips is this. They hire a tour company that makes
arrangements for the transportation, retains a local guide, and makes all of
the arrangements for food and lodging for the group. Then Hugh and Andrew carry on as if they were
fellow travelers instead of the leaders of the trip. This included being late to the bus numerous
times and holding up our departure, standing in front of something that people
were trying to photograph, Hugh's constant filming of everything, and Andrew’s
ongoing obsession with the incident at Gobekli Tepe.
I am not alone with
the complaints. We had many disgruntled people
there at the end. The trip to Mexico was
even worse. Megalithomania failed to
assist in making sure that people got to the airport on our final morning, in
addition to other issues, so that there were many very angry travelers upon departure.
Bottom line, what we paid for the trip enabled
Hugh and Andrew to travel for free, and they spent most of the time filming and furthering
their own research instead of guiding us through the various sites. In addition to all of that, they use their research
and photography to earn extra money for themselves after the trip is finished.
As our “employees”, they should have been focused on us, instead of themselves. If you can tolerate all of this, by all
means, travel with them as they go to some interesting places. I will not be traveling with Megalithomania
again.
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