First Impressions of Beirut

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Beirut

Well, where to start? We arrived in Beirut on Sunday night, dropped our bags off at Fouad's flat and immediately went out to a bar and had a lock in with his friends and the bar owners. In fact we've done that several times this week at a couple of other bars too, Fouad seems to know everyone! Or rather, everyone seems to know everyone. But it's been really fun and Lebanese people are all very friendly and chatty and want to know where we're from and what we are doing here and have we been to this place or that place oh and by the way have you met so-and-so come on I'll introduce you...

We spent a couple of days dotting around Lebanon in a hired car (Fouad drove, I'm really not up to the crazy driving with almost no rules yet, I'm still learning how to cross the roads!) getting a grasp of the 'bigger picture' of Lebanon as it were (Although it's a tiny country only half the size of Wales, but a lot busier!). I'll put more detail of some of the proper sights another time when we've been back to have a closer look. However I will mention how beautiful and relaxing it is sitting on the edge of an ancient dock looking out over the Mediterranean Sea after sunset, or at a waterfront cafe in Saida with the old port city of Sidon behind us still bustling with people living and working there in hundreds/thousands-year old buildings.

Of course most of Lebanon isn't so historic - most of it is very new, concrete buildings and high-risers everywhere you look. There's no clear gap where one 'town' ends and the next begins they are just the next district of a sprawling urban area that goes right up the coast and creeps up the sides of the mountains. We've not been over the mountains yet but I'm assured there is proper countryside there and 'village' means something more like what we're used to!

Today we walked up the 'Green Line', which equates roughly to the Berlin Wall in that is separated Muslim and Christian sides of Beirut during the 15-year Civil War that ended just last decade. Much like the path of the Berlin Wall now, many of the ruined buildings have been pulled down and replaced with modern, shiny commercial districts, but there's still many shells of bullet-ridden buildings for a few kilometers at least, a very obvious, constant reminder of the war. The thing that has struck us about the Lebanese most is how political everything is - if the conversation isn't about politics itself then politics is soon brought in, or at the least has a strong impact on whatever is being discussed. It is grim but fascinating, and far to complex to go into here in the time I have left (I'm in an internet cafe).

Over the next few weeks we intend to see much more of Lebanon, although next week we are going to go to Damascus for a few days and see some of nearby Syria. One of the guys we shared a room with in a hostel in Istanbul is from Damascus and gave us his number to call him so he can suggest good, cheap places to stay and sights to see etc. And that was only after speaking to him for an hour or so! Everyone in the arabic world seems so welcoming to strangers, it is very refreshing.

Right, my time is almost up so that will have to be all for now I'm afraid.

A x

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Comments

[Fletch]

Woooo!
Looks like you're having an amazing time, guys! I won't lie...I'm pretty jealous of how much you're getting up to! Keep us all posted with everything else you do - am loving the blog! Take care and keep having LOADS of fun! Big love! Fletch xxx