In 2011 I was able to realize an ambition I’d had for decades: to visit the great Roman-era temple at Baalbek in Lebanon. I’d tried to visit it in 1983, but the bombing of the American barracks in Beirut sealed me up in Syria and I couldn’t cross the border. I thought I’d never get the opportunity to see this wonder. The scale is breathtaking. To get a sense of it, see the people walking on the path on the far left of the picture.