Beirut, Lebanon
بيروت، ٱلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱللُّبْنَانِيَّةُ

Driving around Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon — July 3, 2021


	/tirana_water_fountain

Dinner at Abd El Wahab, ABC Ashrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon — June 30, 2021


	/tirana_water_fountain

Driving by Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, Beirut, Lebanon — July 1, 2021


	/tirana_water_fountain

Coastline view, Lebanon — July 2, 2021


	/tirana_water_fountain

I love Beirut, Lebanon — July 4, 2021


Driving down the wrong side of the road to avoid a gas queue, Lebanon — July 3, 2021


Lebanon 2021 Journal

Wednesday, June 30 — Beirut

Our Cyprus Airways flight CY 120 lands at BEY Beirut Lebanon Rafic Hariri International airport at 15:50. We somehow clear immigration, customs and are gratefully met by our nice tour guide, Albert, who drives us to the Park Tower Suites in Ashrafieh. We check in and our room is on the eighth floor, looking toward the ocean. The late-afternoon views are amazing. I go up to the roof for 360° views of Beiruit. The views are breathtaking. For dinner, we head over to the ABC Ashrafieh mall and eat a wonderful and well-deserved at Abd el wahab. I previously was never a fan of mall food, but I think the middle east is changing my mind here!


Thursday, July 1 — Baalbek

Baalbek, Breakfast at hotel
Drive from Beriut into the mountains to the east, on the Mdeyrej road, through a checkpoint and into the Beqaa Valley
Street road blocks in Zahlé, where we had to drive around. Also the home of the winery.
Tour Baalbek
Tour Anjar
Restaurant Al Shams
Wine tasting @ Coteaux Du Liban?
Sannine mountains to mehten town on the way back from Baalbek
Mayrig restaurant had Arak
Walked around Mono street

Visit St michael (mic-kai-el) and Gemeyze for pub life


Friday, July 2 — Tyre

Tyre ruins: Al Bass necropolis (Necropolis - city for the dead) and hippodrome (Acropolis - living city); then Al Mina site next to the water. Afterward, we drive by Sidon, and visit the Sea Castle crusader fort. The Friday mosque reading is echoing in the distance. Then we drive into the Chouf mountains, have lunch in the square of Deir el Qamar, visht the Serail of Youssef Chehab and then visit the Beiteddine Palace. The drive home amazing and we stop in a village for some water.

Breakfast
Raouche Rocks
Tyre (Necro polic, Hypoderom)
Bysantanin 400 after Jesus
Tracoda and lime stone for byzantine tiles base

Phoenician period includes
⁃ Egyptians
⁃ Asyrian
⁃ Babylonian
⁃ Persian

Greek period (Macedonian)
Roman period
Byzantine period
663 Islamic ottoman and crusaders
Crusaders
WW1

Canonite in Siden
Phoenician period includes
- Egyptians
- Asyrian
- Babylonian
- Persian (Cyrus)

Sidon Sea Castle
Shouf (Chouf) mountain
Lunch Al midane ( it was very bad)
Deir el Qamar municipality
Beiteddine Palace (Maranite church )
Dinner at Al Falamanki, Sodeco

AL Falamanki

Saturday, July 3 — Kadisha Valley

Breakfast at the hotel. On our way, we stop at Halab 1881 for a konafeh and Moladar bakery for manoshi zatar. We drive up the mountains and down into the Qadisha Valley where we take a nice hike.

We then drive further up the mountain to the Forest of the Cedars of God, and take a walk around the ancient cedars, the symbol of Lebanon. The air is cool and crisp, the views are fantastic and the cedars are ancient.

Lunch at Restaurant Challita
Batroun
Dyaspora

Hazmiyeh


Sunday, July 4 — Byblos

Jeita Breakfast at our hotel, drive to the Jeita Grotto. Visit Byblos and take a swim in the harbor.

In the late afternoon, I take a long walk to the Corniche, eventually ending up at the Manara Palace Café کافی شاپ. Ristorante ShorelineSet squarely in West Beirut, the scene is quite surreal where many fashionable Muslim Beirutis are dining and watching the sea and sun. The vibe and food are wonderful and I hope to retun here one day with more people to enjoy the ambiance. I exit the restaurant and walk east along the Corniche, where I catch a beautiful sunset. People are on the beach, some are swimming, even with religious coverings, some are running around and many just sitting watching the day come to an end. I walk until I can walk no more, and then I Uber back to the Park Tower Suites.

Leila Min Lebnen Achrafieh wine at ABC mall
Dinner at Kahwet Azmi Sodeco

Kababji one of the best kabab in Beirut; Boubouf shawarma best in Beirut Sah Hun falafel; Spinees supermarket.

Marhabah (anytime)
Bon jour, bon swa,


Monday, July 5 — Flight to Malta

Our flight was scheduled for the ill-timed hour of 4:30a, meaning sleep was rather elusive. Around 1:00a, I managed to snatch a brief bout of shut-eye only to be stirred awake an hour later. There was initial concern as our driver hadn't yet appeared downstairs, but he soon arrived. To my surprise, the driver was Hussein, the owner of Lebanon Tours and Travels, whom I had been coordinating with through a series of about 30 emails. He drove a forest green Subaru Outback.

We reached the airport in a swift 10-minute drive, finding it buzzing with activity despite the early hour of 2:30a. We cleared immigration and customes and boarded Aegean Airlines flight A3 947. Our Airbus A320-200 (SX-DVL) took of at 4:40a, flying through the dark skies towards Athens, Greece. This was to be our transfer point en route to our ultimate destination of Valletta, Malta

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