Le Commodore Hotel Beirut

... and abandoned construction of a building but.......no problem.

We visited the cedar mountains (spectacular view), went to Tripoli (not very special but there´s a great (really great) pastry shop), Byblos (beautiful harbour) and Baalbeck (amazing). A small country with such a variety. Friendly people, great food (fresh ...

... take a little pod that is suspended by cable all the way up the mountain till you reach the top. Let's just say that for someone that's afraid of heights, it was a challenging thing to do by myself, but totally worth it! I will post a video of it as well to show exactly what I mean. But the view of Beirut from the top was totally awesome, really amazing. Once it was all said and done I was back in the hotel around 6pm and taking a shower to go out for ...

... la tranquilité de la corniche, la beauté du bord de mer ; l'énergie de la ville. Ces mots pourraient être ceux utilisés pour Nice, Venise ou je ne sais quelle autre grande ville européenne bordant la Mediterranée. Là où Beyrouth sort une nouvelle fois de l'ordinaire c'est dans son quadrillage par l'armée, les tanks et ...

... into Mary, the Irish girl I met in Esfahan and later on in Damascus. It was the third time we ran into each other. She was on her way out of Beirut which was too bad as it would have been nice to chat with her again. I ended up taking a city bus to a town called Jounieh. This is where I was supposed to meet up with Jacquie and Nadine. When I entered the bus, I told the driver where I needed to go. I could tell he didn't understand me. People on ...

... to the COLA, which is where the buses to Balbeek stop. From there we took the local bus to Balbeek for another 10,000 LL. The Phoenicians named the city after their god Baal. This is the same guy the Israelites of the Old Testament got so incensed about. The Greeks called it Heliopolis or city of the sun and the Roman really built it up with several monumental temples the biggest of which was the Temple of Jupiter. What really impressed us, as unsophisticated wannabee ...

... There were basically 2 grottos to visit, the upper one which you just walk through and the lower one where you get boated around. As you are not allowed to take pictures in the grottos, I found all these cave shots on the web.

... the centre the super rich zip around in their Farraris, the Kataeb "political" headquarters just over the road from my hotel is very swanky (although using mirrors on trollies to check for car bombs is scary!!!!) in the west side of the divided a Muslim "political" party probably have equivelant buildings. But this is just for the social elite, I didn't hear any grand designs for the rebuilding of the Palistinian refugee camps???!!!!

... boasts its own well preserved Roman ruins, and the trip to and from this remote outpost gave us a chance to appreciate the country's diverse countryside. We must have a thing for Roman ruins because Baalbek blew us away. Although it is significantly smaller than Jerash, Baalbek is reputed to be the best preserved example of Roman monument anywhere in the world. The Baalbek complex consists of three large temples surrounded by several sets of large walls that were erected by its ...

... to reel in an octopus!!). theres no beach along this stretch of coast, but that doesnt stop teenagers diving into the water to go for a swim among the rocks! theres vendors selling coffee, hot nuts, hooped bread... its a great place for people watching. at the end of the corniche are the pigeon rocks, (beiruts only natural feature) spectacular natural rock arches, where many tourists and locals gather to watch sunset, while drinking beer, eating ice ...