As far as travelling to Lebanon was concerned, I painted myself into a bit of a corner by coming to Aleppo. The quickest way to Beirut from here is through the North Lebanese city of Tripoli, but there was heavy fighting there on Sunday and several people died. It's been calm since then, but I read about a motorist being killed by a stray bullet as he drove along the road - he was exactly my age, and I took this as an omen to avoid Tripoli altogether. This meant returning to Damascus by bus, taking a taxi to a different bus station, and playing it by ear from there. Basically it puts anything between 4 and 6 hours on to the journey.
With the words of the guy from the Foreign Office still ringing in my ears (to paraphrase: "You're free to go wherever you want, but if it all goes tits up don't expect any sympathy from us"), my Damascus taxi driver was absolutely no help whatsoever....
When he found out where I was going he started making machine gun impressions, laughing hysterically and shouting "Boom! Boom!" - and not in a Basil Brush style either. When he spotted an ambulance, he was delighted and drove alongside it for a while, jabbering away in Arabic and gesticulating madly. I got the message: "You're going home in one of these" - cheers mate. When I reached the Lebanese border things didn't improve much either. Option 3 for "Reason for Visit" on the Immigration Form? "Hospitalisation" for crying out loud.
Immigration itself was comedy central though, and I started to like Lebanon before I'd even got into the country. The officer dispensing visas was looking harassed enough already, before the cleaner decided to sweep up under his feet, stand in front of him and generally get in the way - he went out a lot quicker than he came in. One guy's passport was completely full, with no room for even a single stamp - his passport was literally thrown back at him, and he was sent back to Syria with a flea in his ear. And to me? They were pussy cats.
There's an incredible difference between Syria and Lebanon. The first thing you notice is how green the countryside is, and the Lebanese scenery is just fantastic. In some places it reminded me of Croatia, in others the French Riviera. In yet others it's Middle Eastern, but with a Lebanese/Mediterranean twist, and it's one of the prettiest countries I've ever visited. The other really striking thing after Jordan and Syria is just how relaxed the whole place feels. Aleppo is a very conservative city, and the burkha is a common sight - in Lebanon there are billboard advertisements for lingerie. After only a short time in the Middle East I found this quite shocking.
The other thing that you will notice in Lebanon straight away is the driving - forget Mongolia, this is the Premier Division of crazy drivers. Fancy making a left turn? Then go as far to the right as possible, and then cut straight across three lanes of traffic at the last possible moment. Don't worry, they'll be expecting it. It's a reversal of UK driving - I was in a service taxi with four others when another driver refused to let us cut him up at high speed. Cue genuine astonishment, and much shaking of heads.
My hotel was in the Hamra area of Beirut, which was a very fashionable area before the civil war. I enjoyed my stay there very much, and had an excellent night out which included watching the Spain/Russia match in a bar near the hotel.
The following day I went visiting!
Long time Axbridge resident, and top bloke, Jim Ramadan lives in the mountains above Beirut with his partner Nicole in a village called Beit Mery. We'd been in touch on and off by email since I was in Russia, and I'd arranged to stay overnight before I had to return to Damascus. I travelled up there by bus, and before you even arrive, the views over Beirut to the Mediterranean and over the mountains are just stunning. The "view from my room" was the best since Isla Del Sol, Bolivia.
I was a bit overwhelmed by Jim and Nicole's hospitality, which included driving me round some of the local sights, and there are lots of them, a night out at a local restaurant with fabulous food and beautiful views over Beirut, and a genuine Lebanese breakfast in a mountainside cafe the next morning - heartfelt thanks again to both of you.
Something that Lebanon is famous for is being one of the very few places in the world where you can ski in the mountains in the morning, and swim in the sea in the afternoon. Jim took me up to a nearby ski-resort (I think it was called Zaarour, but I may be wrong) to look at the ski runs. It was so hot up there that it's hard to imagine snow in the mountains, but Jim has kindly provided a photograph of the same place in winter as proof (see below).
I have two regrets about coming to Lebanon: a) I should have come here sooner, and b) I should have stayed here longer.
Fantastic country......
More thumbnails ...
12 votes 
