Ya Allah Shoo Bitjanin!

I went to Lebanon a few years ago and didn't really enjoy myself. That was mostly because we didn't know where to go or what to do. We did some touristy things like go to Jeita Grotto and walk around Solidere but frankly that wasn't all that fun for me. I decided to give it another shot this past weekend and this time one of us really knew Beirut quite well and ilhimdilla I had a blast.

One of the things I could not help but notice and admire is that the place was swimming in creativity. There were beautiful furniture stores and lots of clothing stores and designers and it was clear that great attention was paid to detail. There was also a vast array of restaurants with interesting settings and atmospheres. Generally Beirut was just so creative and edgy! If you see the picture below even the this thing they put on the side of the street had Beirut written on it in a nice way.


This picture below was the view from the Movenpick. We went there and sat in this open cafe that looks on to the water. The view was stunning.


I was advised to go to a restaurant called Mounir in the Broumana area. The food was good but, aside from the meat shawarma which was really good, it wasn't much better than any decent Lebanese restaurant in Kuwait. I actuallt liked Mayas in Kuwait (bidi3 area) better. But the view from Mounir was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't take a lot of pictures there because there were too many people and I had to say hi to some of them.


The picture below was the lemon sorbet we shared at a restaurant in an area called Gemayze. That area was full of restaurants and young people that were out and about. Someone even showed us this staircase where there was an open air art exhibition held before. We didn't catch the exhibition but I think the idea of having an art exhibition on this long staircase was brilliant. The restaurant where the picture below was taken was Japanese and if my memory doesn't fail me it's name was Soto. The food there was absolutely delicious, especially the seared tuna. Anyway I loved how they presented this sorbet because it was such a simple and easy way to present yet so smart and fun. They basically chopped off a bit of the bottom of the lemon and off the top, scopped out the lemon from the inside and replaced it with lemon sorbet so the lemon was sort of like an open ended cup holding in the sorbet.


I went to the Hariri memorial and although I don't really know the area I felt that this tent was smack in the heart of the city. It was weird for me that a memorial would be placed there instead of a commercial site. But anyway I guess it's a good choice if they really don't want people to forget.



Some pigeons drinking out of a puddle in Solidere.


Other things I noticed:

• A distinctly high number of exceptionally good looking people, mashala.
• A scary amount of army men with blue uniforms all over the place with these huge guns. They weren't even standing far away they were right there near us in crowded areas. I know I was supposed to feel comforted by that but it felt dangerous. It was like there's this lava simmering beneath the surface and they were just there to keep it at bay.
• There was a place recommended in Saifi Village that sold dararee3. The nice ones were around $2000 which I thought was absolutely ridiculous so I didn't end up buying any dararee3 from Lebanon.
  
• Beirut is a magnificent place for furniture shopping, especially for Arabesque designs, but do not expect cheap prices. Then again, maybe that's because we were only checking out the expensive places because we didn't know any better.
• Excellent restaurants I went to were Soto which I mentioned above and another place called Margherita-Pizzeria del quartiere dal1959. Guys my favorite pizza in the world is the Arabica that is served in the pizzeria in Harrods. This pizza in this restaurant can almost compete with that one which says a lot. Do not DO NOT go to Beirut without trying out this restaurant. It is both charming and tasty.
• I bought Arabic sweets for our house and for work from a place called Taj Almilouk which my freind recommended. It's near the AUB campus and it's deserts are amazing.

OO 3aslamit'ha lubneen shoo bitjanin!