10 Hours in Beirut
What do a large chai latte, a breakfast sandwich, a bag of Reese's Pieces, banana chips, and a Snickers before noon have in common? Beirut, Lebanon of course!
Ten hours in Beirut was a day full of adventure, fun, and drama.
The scheme came about through two friends who work in the library. One of the librarians is leaving at the end of the year to go home so that she can finish out her public teaching career and gain her state retirement. (Like I did before embarking on this adventure.) She had wanted to see Beirut for awhile, and with her husband home making preparations for their return, she decided that now was a good time.
I was invited to travel along with them for the day. The invitation was extended; I had to make my decision and buy my ticket within 24 hours. Another spur of the moment adventure taken up.
LJ, the other librarian that went with, had made arrangements for a friend of a friend's father-in-law to meet us at the airport and be our driver for the day. When we got through immigration and customs to the outside world - there was no driver. We walked up and down the exit aisle a couple of times looking for our names on a plaque, but there was none. That is when the adventure began.
Thankfully a wonderful lady at the airport tired to help us find a taxi driver for the day. Luckily we stumble upon Michelle, an elderly gentleman, that we ended up hiring for the day. We were a little uncertain about the guy at the beginning, but in the end he turned out to be a great guy that was very helpful and did a wonderful job of showing us Beirut.
Our first stop was at the Grotto. We did both the upper and lower Grotto. The upper Grotto was fantastic. The formations in the cave were breathtaking! It was interesting to walk through the cave and see the formations while being dripped on by water. The lower Grotto was a short boat ride that was nice, but again was cold and wet.
Our next major stop was at Our Lady of Beirut. This is a scared Catholic site that contains a statute of Mary. The statute is on top of the mountain overlooking the valley and the bay. The only way to get up to the top is by cable car. Ugh! I do not like cable cars. I bit my tongue and held on for the ride. It wasn't that bad up or down. The car didn't sway too badly. The view from the top of mountain was incredible! We were able to see down the valley, across the valley, and over the bay. It was cool to stand near the top of the statute and see the sites especially since an afternoon storm was rolling in. Watching the fog come in and surround the area was mystic.
We then went to the Old/New City for dinner. It was very interesting to drive through the old sections of Beirut; we got to see some damage from the civil war. We were able to see the Beirut Holiday Inn which is now just a shell of a bombed out building. We wondered if the people of Beirut just left the ruined buildings from the civil war because it was cheaper than to rebuild.
The cornice looked beautiful. The area was fancy and looked like a gem. We had dinner at a local diner called Abo Hassan. We had a traditional Lebanese dinner of salad, tubal (sp), humus, bread, and grilled meat. We had waited way too long to eat. We stuffed ourselves. The meal was very good. And I'm glad that we skipped the sheep brains!
We made one final stop at the Hard Rock Cafe to buy T-shirts. We hit a sale and made a steal.
Then it was off to the airport to catch our departing flight back to Dubai. Many of the officials at the airport were a little confused as to why we only spent a day in Beirut. We explained that it was due to flights schedules and having to teach on Sunday.
Our flight back home was not crowded and it was nice to be able to move to a row of seats and stretch out and sleep for the return flight. We walked off the plane at 3:45 am and caught a taxi home.
Ten hours in Beirut - yup I would do it again. The adventures that I've had this year have been remarkable.
