Wish we were here: Lebanon
I got more than I bargained for on my first trip to Lebanon in 2019. Nationwide unrest broke out midway through, and a friend and I found ourselves nudging burning tyres off roads and smoking shisha with locals on the outskirts of the 24-hour protests which – at the time – felt like the beginning of a revolution.
The tourist stuff was great too. Lebanon is a gorgeous country inhabited by some of the most generous people I’ve ever met. I was offered motorcycle rides, books, cigarettes and worldly wisdom without even asking. I tried to buy an apple and two bananas from a tiny fruit shop and was waved away – I could have them.
Lebanon is tiny – half the size of Wales – so it was easy to scoot around while basing ourselves in Beirut – the vibrant, hectic, cultured capital. It used to be called the Paris of The Middle East, but the city’s faded colonial grandeur made it feel a bit more like Havana.
Crumbling Art Deco houses lay abandoned with trees twisting through their windows. They were bombed during the civil war but restoring them is too expensive. Their historic worth means they’ve been given protected status, preventing high rises from springing up in their place. So they sit there, sadly decadent – too beautiful to destroy and too impractical to revive.
The country’s stunning landscapes, a wealth of cultural treasures and its rich and complex history made it a mesmerising place to spend a fortnight. When the pandemic blows over, I’ll be back there, pronto.
Things to do:
Beirut
We would start the day near our hostel in Armenia Street, the centre of Beirut’s vibrant bar scene, an area with a southern European feel and plenty of quirky eateries and drinking holes. We wandered west past the stunning al-Hussein Mosque, through the bustling residential district of Hamra – picking up some kibbeh, fattoush and tabbouleh on the way. We eventually reached the Raouche rocks, the perfect spot for a dip in the Med, sipping a drink and watching the sunset.
Baalbek
Baalbek is home to some of the most impressive Roman ruins globally, including the magnificent Temple of Bacchus. We visited Baalbek’s beautiful turquoise and silver Shia Mosque which housed, among other things, a Hezbollah RPG in pride of place behind a glass screen.
Bsharri
Bsharri felt like a little alpine town in high summer, perched on the Kadisha Valley’s hillside. We went on long hikes through cedar forests and Maronite Christian villages. We got lost on an arid mountaintop trying to find the highest point in the Middle East. Disused ski lifts would come into view over the dunes, surreal against the sand.
