Galleria Hotel Beirut

... that much
of their masonry had disintegrated - inches deep in places. The
museum's sarcophagi were only protected from ongoing looting by
encasing them in huge concrete coffins. You re-enter the museum in a
completely different context. It is a beautiful place – but one
which is still haunted by an incredibly dark past.




In the
museum it was possible to painstakingly restore every last artifact
so that ...

... slow process of repairing and replacing damaged buildings from the civil war. One day, I took a walk down the Green Line that once separated Christian and Muslim Beirut during the height of the civil war. While the main street showed no evidence of the violence that once racked the area, a few of the side streets remained in shambles. Many buildings were barely more than rubble, riddled in bullet holes of all calibers. Martyr posters abounded. Near the end of the Green Line stood ...

Leaving Syria i made my way by taxi to Tripoli in northern Lebanon. Im glad i went for the shared taxi option as i would been confused to buggery if id done it by public bus with all the border formalities. Anyway, i got in fine and headed into the city of Tripoli, not to be confused with its namesake the capital of Libya, It was a major port city for decades connecting the middle east to the med and north africa. I checked into this pension which was descibed in my guide book ...

... me well in Beirut. If I didn't come to Beirut, I would have hit a serious wall. I decided not to go out tonight since I had an early start tomorrow. I went to the bus station to see what time the bus to Damascus was leaving at and it was going to be 730 am. The only thing I did before I went to bed was go to an ATM machine and take out what I thought was just enough money to get me out of Lebanon. Hopefully there will be no surprise expenses tomorrow. Dino Vagabond

... an Israel stamp in your passport you can't enter into Lebanon, so they check it very thorougly). In the gate lounge, an announcement came over the speakers "Emirates will be operating flight EK954 to Beirut, Lebanon this afternoon. However, owing to the general strike in Lebanon, Emirates takes no responsbility for any inconvience experienced in Beirut". This should have been a second hint... We boarded the plane and sat for quite a while. The pilot let us know that some ...

... his legs. Walking up quiet avenues past tiny shops riddled with bullet holes and seeing gorgeous hotels next to bombed-out ruins are stark reminders of how recently Beirut has suffered through the horrors of war. Mind you, none of that was quite as horrifying for us as inadvertantly coming across the guy having his back and shoulders shaved in the picture window of the local barbershop. We didn't stick around to see if his Speedo-line was next. Anyway, a fitting example of Beirut ...

... and for the excellent diving/jumping spots off the surrounding cliffs. As we made our way down to the shore, we stumbled upon a bunch of people jumping and diving from great heights off the cliffs and decided we'd come back again the next morning to have a go for ourselves. The sunset when it came was wonderful, seducing us into a captivated silence as it painted Pigeon Rocks in early evening light then surrendered itself to the sea. That night, with our budget ...

... are because it's built into an extremely steep hillside that drops into cliffs not far below the village. The fountains directed all the water from snowmelt that later collected into waterfalls, which we could see from across the canyon while we drove there. The churches must have been because no one could see mountains as breathtaking as these and not have some kind of faith in whatever created something so incredible!

... of singing, dancing, drinking and sex with drums and flutes. The "luxury habits" of the town shocked even Roman contemporaries. It's little wonder really that Baalbek was the Roman settlement to hold out longest against Christianity. The Temple of Jupiter, built behind the site of Baal's temple, is immense. Due to changes in religious orientation of various emperors, sackings and earthquakes the temple is more full of pieces of itself than intact. The stones are ...

Flying in to Lebanon, I was oddly very calm. You would think flying into a strange new country and meeting my in laws would have me unnerved! The M.E.A (middle east airlines) plane glazed over the water onto the runway, a smooth landing. We taxied on over to the airport. It was only 2 hours from Kuwait to Lebanon. On the plane, they served shish kabobs, curried rice, cheese, pita bread, and fruit. I gathered my carry ons and ...