Lebanon!

This past weekend, in honor of Ataturk remembrance day (or at least the four day weekend it provided), my friend and I traveled to Beirut, Lebanon. It took a little convincing, but, as Iassured my family, it isthe Number One Safest Place in the World, according to some pretty reliable sources.

In any case, it was completely worth it, and we felt surprisingly safe, despite of the hordes of gun-toting policemen/military (/civilians? We couldn't read the uniforms...). The one part our guide book warned us to avoid was the Hezbollah tent city, south of the Place de Martyrs. We weren't entirely sure what "tents" or "city" they meant, but we spent the whole trip going out of our way to avoid it (it was a couple blocks from our hostel) only to find it had been dismantled three years ago.

Some of the highlights:

The Food

Of course, one of my favorite parts of traveling...between the Lebanese labneh, zaatar, baba ganoush, and our guilty indulgences in French baked-goods, we were in heaven. Definitely different from Turkish cuisine, though the markets contain all the same produce.

The City

Absolutely gorgeous. Very clean, very aesthetically pleasing. Really beautiful architecture, lots of trees (like home!), churches and mosques everywhere. It was very striking seeing the difference between the new areas (downtown) and other neighborhoods that were still damage

d from the wars. It seemed like for every destroyed building two more were being built.

AUB

The American University in

Berlin was great. They have a vibrant student life and an awesome campus. We saw their archeology museum and attended a music festival that featured all the student c

lubs, from the interfaith dialogue club to the civil engineering society.

The Water!

I love the sea and Beirut is right there. That is all.

Lunch with the locals

My neighbor at home is Lebanese, and she kindly put us in touch with some of her friends in Lebanon. My friend and I had coffee with one of these women and her daughter on our third day. It was fascinating to talk to her. She is a Maronite Christian, and told us all about the sectarian differences among some eighteen religions or so. Apparently she rarely makes it to the west side of the city (the Muslim side, divided by the Green Line in the civil war), and considers it much more conservative. We found the opposite to be true, at least around AUB, but we also had a lot of fun in Gemmayzeh, closer to the East side.

We badgered our friend with questions, and she told us how Lebanon functions without a government: everyone goes to work just long enough to perform bare essential functions that keep the city running, but no policy-making. She told us every day they promise "In a few hours, we will have formed a government!" but it hasn't happened in five months. She told us they had settled everything except for the position of minister of the interior. She predicted that if that position, or the presidency was allowed to pass from Maronite control, many Christians would leave the country.

We were also struck by the attitude she described towards war. It seems the residents are so used to it they consider it more of nuisance, and are anxious to get back to their lives. My friend noted that everyone seemed to be trying very hard to continue living life as though nothing was wrong. I suppose they must carry on this way, and in many ways I think it is a good defense: show no fear. She also told us how they'd awoken one morning in 2006 to the sounds of gunfire and bombs in the city (they live in a suburb of Beirut). She had told her kids it was just the lightning and thunder, and even when her daughter asked what we were discussing (she speaks Lebanese and French but only some English), her mother merely said we were discussing Shakira (she's coming to perform in Beirut soon). Her daughter seemed to have a vague idea that there was fighting, but was clearly removed from it. As safe as we felt, our friend noted that everyone in Beirut was living with this constant fear that fighting could break out at any time.

After a hefty discussion of politics, our friend left us with the sound advice to "Never skip a meal while you are in Lebanon. Eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and something in between." We made sure we did.

Day trips

We spent a day visiting Saida (Sidon) which is south of Beirut and has a really cool soap museum, and some other sights.

We also went north to the Jeita grotto, which was incredible. It's this huge cave with amazing rock formations and stalactites and stalagmites. It goes into the mountain for a half-mile or something, and has made it to the final round for the new 7 wonders of the world! You can vote for it online. After Jeita we proceeded to Byblos, a very historic beach town with ruins from the crusaders as well as ancient times. One of those instances in which we should've gotten over our stinginess and paid for a guide. We also tried white coffee (hot water with orange blossom) which was slightly less than palatable.

Besides the white coffee, our only disappointment was our hostel--Talal's Hotel. If you go to Beirut, avoid it at all costs. I suppose it was worth saving the money so we could spend on food, but if I went back I'd splurge for somewhere nicer, safer, and more welcoming.

All in all, a lovely trip. I wish peace to the country for obvious reasons, but also for the selfish reason that I hope to return some day for a longer visit.