Blogs from Lebanon, Middle East

I am coming back to Lebanon after three years. The new challenge is coming. Visiting territory that is under control of Hezbollah. Many states consider this Shi´a Islamist political party as terrorist organization. It was created as a reaction to Israeli invasion from 1982 as group of few Shia Muslim parties. I am interested in a life of locals there. Because it is clear that Israel and Lebanon are rivals. Even in 2006, Israel was controlling whole south Lebanon. My next goal is to avoid famous sights, even though I will visit one or two of them. It is easy to forget about this feelings when you are not meeting any tourists. Uncertain permission Main goal is clear - southern and north-Eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah operates and also cares about safety and other services. Surprisingly, you ... read more

Thursday March 14, 2019 – Another good day. I woke up early, as always, and did a little internetting, since it works fast in the morning. Eventually we were both awake and on our way to the Wooden Bakery for a breakfast pastry. I decided to pass, as my stomach felt a little troubled. Kat called us an Uber, which cost twice what we had expected due to it being a “busy time”, but we decided it would be worth it to get on our way to the Jeita Grotto. It was a bit rainy outside which made it a coincidentally good time to hit the enormous cave system. There is an upper cave and a lower cave, and usually you would take a cable car to the upper cave, walk inside, and then take a ... read more

Tuesday March 12, 2019 – Today was a long day. I finally got out of bed at 7:30 and finished up some blogging. It usually takes much longer than I think it will. Add that to bad internet, and hey, you got work. I planned out my day and got out of the apartment around 9:15am. I started walking to the National Museum, which is about 30 minutes away, trying to use my map to be successful. Of course, Beirut has other ideas. I was generally in the right place when I stopped at a little place for a take-away breakfast. I got a pita rolled up with lebnah and vegetables. I couldn’t exactly remember what any of the food optons were, but I’m sure Johanna had mentioned lebnah so that’s what I got. It was ... read more

Saturday March 9, 2019 – I had so much time before my flight left at 4:30pm today that I thought there would be no way to be pre-trip stressed. I was wrong. I did a smidge of cleaning and worked on my packing a bit more. I changed some of the things I was bringing, and agonized over every decision. As always. I don’t know why I’m not an expert packer by now, but there you are. I said good-bye to the boy and the cats and headed out to the bus a little before 2:30pm. Then a tram. Then another bus to the airport. It felt like I waited ages to check-in, but it was really a maximum of 15 minutes. When I had checked in online, for some reason I could print the ticket ... read more

A two hour taxi drive takes us from North Lebanon to South Lebanon. It's a small country but each area is different. Beirut is a cosmopolitan city; Byblos is predominantly Christian; Sidon is 80% Sunni Muslim. Sidon has large Syrian and Palestinian refugee camps on its outskirts; some were established in the ‘50s but refugees still arrive today. Our hotel is run by Palestinians and our map tells us that the border to Lebanon's south is with Palestine not Israel. Yasser Arafat's poster is everywhere. Our hotel is old, all stone arches, high ceilings and wonky doorways. The walls are made of huge stone blocks, the windows are shuttered. We are the only guests; we have breakfast in our dusty, exclusive dining room on the roof. Our room and the roof terrace overlook the port and ... read more