After our trip to Baalbek, Zahle, and Anjar on Tuesday, today we spent our morning in Beirut. We took an Uber downtown to have breakfast on the patio at a French cafe.
From the cafe, we went for a little walk, past the Mohammad Al Amin Mosque, which I assumed was old, but was actually built in 2008!
You get a sense of Beirut's history and religious diversity here, because next to the mosque is the old Roman forum, which is partially excavated . . .
. . . the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral . . .
. . . and the Saint George Maronite Cathedral.
We continued working our way into the Foch-Allenby district, which is a very pedestrian friendly neighbourhood (unlike much of this city!). We saw pictures of what it looked like during the Lebanese civil war, and it has certainly come along way since then!
Really, though, we have been somewhat disappointed with Beirut, and so rather than continue our day here we caught an Uber out of the city and to Jounieh. Jounieh is a major suburb north of Beirut, and as far as tourism is concerned it is famous for its cable car that goes up to the statue of Notre Dame du Liban.
At first we were especially interested in the cable car ride, but in the end we found the shrine very meaningful to visit, too. Today the round trip cable car ride is 300,000 pounds--but apparently it was only 200,000 last week!
The cable cars have a fun "retro" feel to them and seem to be a popular leisure activity for lots of people. We met a tourist family from Iraq as we waited in line.
You get some great views of Jounieh, Beirut, and the Mediterranean as you ride the cable car.
There is more climbing to do once the ride is done, although there is a funicular you can take, too. We walked up and took the funicular down.
They have done a really nice job with the shrine around the statue--it is peaceful, nicely shaded, and there is calm music playing. There were many people sitting and praying and reflecting here. I climbed up to the base of the statue for the view from the highest point.
It was around 13:00 when we came back down, and we were not ready to go back to Beirut yet. We had heard good things about Byblos, and it was just another 15 minutes up the highway, so we figured we could head there for lunch. The same Uber that had brought us from Beirut was waiting in the parking lot and picked us up. The driver suggested he wait in Byblos for us and that we pay him the Uber rate directly for the trip back to Beirut and cut out Uber. This seemed reasonable and convenient, so we agreed.
Byblos is one of the oldest cities in the world (continuously inhabited since 5000 BCE, and perhaps originally settled as early as 8800 BCE!), and apparently the birthplace of the Western alphabet. The Uber dropped us off by the fishing harbour, just outside of the old city.
We walked up from the waterfront into the old city.
We did not visit it, but we walked past the Byblos citadel, which crusaders built in the 12th century.
There are lots of fun and interesting shops and cafes lining the streets of the old city.
We ate lunch in the shade on a patio and enjoyed the laid back atmosphere. Byblos has a much different vibe than the hyper bustle of Beirut!
We met our Uber back down by the harbour, and he encouraged us to walk out on the pier for some pictures back towards Byblos before we left.
It ended up being something like an hour from Byblos back to our hotel thanks to Beirut traffic. We drove by the site of the 2020 explosion which was so devastating to Beirut and the Lebanese political and economic situation. The photo isn't good, but you can see the roof-less warehouse and destroyed storage silos over the concrete barrier below.
I paid the driver $10 USD for the trip from Byblos to the hotel, so Uber is a super affordable way to explore Lebanon!
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