Baalbek
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- Best time to go
- October–April
- Budget
- $$
- Coordinates
- Open in maps
The temple columns at Baalbek are among the tallest the Romans ever raised, and the trilithon blocks beneath them weigh hundreds of tonnes each. Known as Heliopolis in Hellenistic times, this city in the Beqaa Valley drew pilgrims to its sanctuary of Jupiter for centuries; the temples of Bacchus and Venus complete an ensemble of imperial Roman architecture at full stretch. UNESCO inscribed Baalbek in 1984, and its ruins still dwarf every visitor.
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