When most Americans hear the words “Beirut” or “Lebanon” their minds immediately flash to images of destruction, bombings, and Islamic radicals. During the 1980’s and early 90’s, Beirut, along with the rest of Lebanon as a whole was destroyed by a civil war involving Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, Syrians, and Israelis. The fighting was only ended by a peace treaty that basically just returned everything to the prewar status quo, meaning that there is still a lot of tension between all these groups. Hezbollah doesn't help of course. Because of all this, there is a travel warning for Americans about going to Lebanon. This made all us a little nervous going, especially when you see all the other things that are going on in the Arab world.
Fortunately for us, Lebanon did not explode (no pun intended) while we there, and it was the perfect way to end our trip. In the two decades since the end of the civil war, the Lebanese have rebuilt almost their entire country, especially Beirut. If you are looking for reminders of the war, you will be hard pressed to find them. In many ways, the Lebanese try to erase all memory of the war because when it ended most of the perpetrators simply became politicians and there is always a chance that fighting may start up again. That may explain why Beirut has so many bars and clubs, the people want to enjoy as much of life as possible because it could all lie in ruins the next day.
The hotel that we stayed in was called the Embassy Hotel. It was located in the middle of the very trendy and student-friendly area of Beirut called Hamra, which is full of cafes, restaurants, bars, and shops. Embassy is a legit hotel, we had trouble finding a cheap hostel in Beirut and after the lunacy that was our Jordan hostel, we had decided to splurge and treat ourselves to an actual hotel. It was about $700 for four nights for five people, not a bad price for being in such an amazing location and after Jordan, the comfy beds, spacious rooms and working hot showers made this place feel like heaven!
While Amman has a distinctly Arab feel, Beirut had a much more Mediterranean feel. In the nicer sections of Beirut, most of the signs are in English only and it’s common to hear Lebanese talking amongst themselves in English. It is very common to see unveiled Lebanese women. Almost everywhere you go, when you ask for the bill it will come in both Lebanese pounds and American dollars, which can be helpful since the Lebanese pound is very inflated and $1 equals about 1500 Lebanese pounds.
Lebanon in general does not have an abundance of tourist sites, unlike Jordan. In that way, we planned our trip perfectly, first Jordan with all the tourist sites, and then Beirut where we could sleep in everyday, then stroll over to a neighborhood coffee shop, walk around the city, and then go out to eat and then hit up a bar later. Beirut is a large city of about two million people, but the nice parts are easily walkable. One of the downsides is that there is almost no public transportation, so you will have to take a taxi if you want to go to place that are farther apart. The thing about Lebanese taxis is that they are ALL unmetered, so you have to negotiate a price, and they come in all different colors and car types, the only thing that marks it as a taxi is the red license plate. However, you will have no problem finding taxis because whenever you set foot on the streets every single one will honk at you to see if you want a ride. I’m pretty sure I spent half of our time in Beirut shaking my head and waving the taxis on!
Like I said, we didn’t see many tourist sites while we were in Beirut, but we did travel throughout the city. The American University in Beirut has what may well be the most beautiful campus in the world! The buildings are all Mediterranean neoclassical style and it is right on the ocean. We walked along the ocean for a long time, and saw Pigeon’s Rock, which is group of rock formations. We also went to the city center and saw Martyrs Square, where the main statue still has bullet holes in it from the war.
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| AUB campus |
The Lebanese people themselves are very friendly and like meeting foreigners and showing them that their country is not a crazy, destroyed third-world nation. The one thing you have to remember is that this is a country with a siege mentality and they take their security very seriously. Even before you get on the airplane, someone will ask you if you have ever been to Israel and go through your passport to check if you have any Israeli stamps. Once you arrive in Lebanon, you have to fill out an arrival card stating why you are coming to Lebanon and then the people at passport control will process you and again check your passport before stamping it. Once you clear that checkpoint, there will be one more security checkpoint where you must present your passport. If they find any evidence of you having been in Israel, they won’t allow you into the country; they’re afraid you may be a spy. Another thing you MUST know is that it is illegal to take pictures of the military or police in Lebanon, and you shouldn’t take any pictures even of the general area if you see police or army. If they see you taking pictures of them or of installations that they are guarding, they may simply tell you to stop or they might make you delete the pictures. All of this is out of fear of foreign spies.
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| Jeita Grotto- I cannot claim to have taken the picture |
On the last full day that we were in Beirut, we did our one really tourist thing outside of Beirut and went to the Jeita Grotto. The Grotto is a series of above ground and underground caves where the rock inside has naturally been shaped into thousands of often massive stalagmites and stalactites (thank you Earth Science). The grotto is about 45 minutes outside of Beirut and you’ll need to take a taxi to get there, don’t pay more than $50 for the full journey. Although it should only take you about two hours to see the grotto, it is a breathtaking site and well worth the trip.
It was with a heavy heart that we had to leave Beirut. Lebanon is truly a beautiful and widely misunderstood country. Its reputation is one of the main things holding it back. The time between when we decided to go to Lebanon and when we actually arrived we very stressful because people and the news made us feel like we were about to go to a dangerous country where we might get caught up in a civil war and get killed or kidnapped. Once we got there, we forgot all of our previous worries. I would highly recommend travelling to Lebanon, though there are of course areas you should avoid and you might want to use some sort of travel agency to arrange your trip if you want to see the country outside of Beirut.
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