I have recently found material somewhat related to Mark Twain’s visit to 
“The Holy Land”, a part of his journey aboard the steamship the Quaker 
City – and related in his book The Innocents Abroad. He and a few other 
pilgrims took “the long trip” through what was then Syria and Palestine, 
horseback. One of their first stops was Baalabek, possibly the holiest 
site for the ancient Romans. One wonders what a touring group of 
American Christians was doing visiting a site of little or no Christian 
significance. What puzzles me is their apparent lack of knowledge on 
what this site was.
/At eleven o’clock, our eyes fell upon the walls and columns of Baalbec, 
a noble ruin whose history is a sealed book. It has stood there for 
thousands of years, the wonder and admiration of travelers; but who 
built it, or when it was built, are questions that may never be 
answered. One thing is very sure, though. Such grandeur of design, and 
such grace of execution, as one sees in the temples of Baalbec, have not 
been equaled or even approached in any work of men’s hands that has been 
built within twenty centuries past./
It was, in fact, fairly well known what this site was and who built it. 
Richard F. Burton and his wife Isabel were there just a couple of years 
later. Burton was there to offer English assistance in restoring the 
site, removing the Saracenic rubbish and stabilizing the columns.
Isabel had written:
/For some months past my husband has been making interest with Rashid 
Pasha, the Wali, or Governor- general of Syria, to take certain 
precautionary steps for the conservation of old Heliopolis. In the early 
Saracenic times the temple, or rather temples, had been built up into a 
fort; whence, as at Palmyra, they are still known to the Arabs as El 
Kala'ah (the Castle). Of late years the moat has been planted with 
poplars, dry walls have divided into garden plots; and thus the visitor 
can neither walk round the building, nor enjoy the admirable 
proportions, the vast length of line, /
Further on she notes:
/Unhappily, Mr. Barker, immediately on beginning work, was summoned to 
Damascus by Rashid Pasha, who, after having kindly offered to carry out 
the improvements, changed his mind suddenly, inexplicably, a la Turque. 
He objected to the worthless building material being given away — the 
why will not interest your readers. /
Of additional interest to my readers is Twain’s visit to Jerusalem. He 
spends more than two chapters on his touring the sites. For those 
interested in greater detail of the history and archæology od Jerusalem 
I have transcribed from a PDF copy of Karl Bædeker’s 1898 tour book of 
Syria and Palestine his rather copious details of this city and its 
environs (as known in 1898).
https://twainsgeography.com/content/innocents-journey-through-holy-land 
<https://twainsgeography.com/content/innocents-journey-through-holy-land?fbclid=IwAR1c_BvTckOm4mAMe1P20O110y_H_6kjgWGIDyZf8ij0rUeA2RWXAoejuTQ>