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>