This is the third Lebanese WHS displaying mainly Roman remains. And there is another one (Anjar) heavily influenced by Roman architecture. It does not make me feel very happy that I still 'have to' check out dozens more of them around the Mediterranean - in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya for example. Roman remains have withstood the test of times so much better than that of other civilizations, so it seems.

I visited Tyre on a day trip by public transport from Beirut. Although it is only 80km away, the bus took about 2 hours (including a change at Sidon). Tyre lies south of the Litani river, which means that is in the former danger zone between Lebanon and Israel. UNIFIL troops in their white tanks still patrol the streets. There is some ostentatious flag-waving and billboards with political/religious leaders going on, but nothing too aggressive. I only saw my first billboard featuring the head of Ayatollah Khomeini, and a medical clinic named after him.

Daily life in the streets of Tyre is as laid back as anywhere in Lebanon. I started my sightseeing at the Al-Mina ruins in the center of town. I was the only visitor. The site consists primarily of rows and more rows of columns. After about 15 minutes you have seen it all.

Then it's a further walk of about 20 minutes to get to the other archeological site, Al-Bass, at the edge of town. You can see the hippodrome from afar, but unfortunately, the entrance is on the other side of the complex. I arrived at the same moment as two busloads of schoolchildren, so this was not a quiet experience.

Al-Bass covers quite an extensive area, starting with a messy necropolis dotted with Byzantine mosaics. After that, you end up with the almost completely restored and gigantic triumphal arch. And then there is the vast hippodrome, quite a hike to do a full loop there in the blazing sun.

Although I was a bit fed up with Roman sites at the start, I must say I was impressed by the scale of this site and keeping in mind the notion of how far this is from Rome.