Lebanon

June 2016: We were at the end of our four-year stint in Kuwait and were heading back to Canada, but we hadn’t been to Lebanon yet! So, we decided to take a long weekend and visit Beirut. Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of pictures from the weekend. Not sure why, maybe we were just exhausted, it being the end of the year, and just wanted to chill out and wander the streets of Beirut. Which is what we basically did.

beirut

We stayed at Standard 1 By Beirut Homes. It is in the Hamra area, and is a unique apartment with funky furniture and decorations. The front desk was not very helpful in booking tours, so I suggest finding some on your own. Our time in Beirut consisted of walking along the corniche, wandering around the American University, and eating delicious Lebanese food. In the Hamra district there are a ton of restaurants and bars. We were really close to Neighbors, a great bar. And if you can, you should make a reservation at Motto. We unfortunately couldn’t get a reservation when we were there, but multiple people had recommended this pay-what-you-want restaurant. We also enjoyed Dar Bistro and Books. A very cute little restaurant with a book shop in the back. Ferdinand has some decent food and drinks as well.

jeita grotto

We rented a taxi for the day to take us to the Jeita Grotto and Byblos. We went with Allo taxi based on a recommendation. Our driver was really knowledgeable, spoke perfect English, and was very helpful in guiding our stops. We went to a great deli in the morning to grab some coffee and sandwiches, then we headed to the Jeita Grotto. This was a great stop. There are two entrances, upper and lower. You can take a cable car to the upper entrance if you want to walk through the cave (do it…it’s incredible and massive), and you can take a little train (or walk…like we did) to the lower entrance and take a boat ride. We did both, and were glad we did. You are not allowed to take any photos in the grotto (which explains why I can’t find any photos of it).

Byblos

Byblos is an old Phoenician city, and is an UNESCO site. In this city there are ruins and structures from thousands of years ago, and includes many different time periods and influences, including Persian, Roman, Medieval, and Ottoman. It is really cool seeing all of the different ruins and styles. We ended up taking a tour through some of the ruins, just to get a bit more info about the area. Then we wandered through the Souq, and visited the beautiful harbour where we had a drink before heading back.