TravelChick

Beirut!

Two days after my classes ended and a few days before Christmas, I went to Beirut to visit my friend Nic, whom I met at my going away party in London. He was in Beirut for a month, doing an internship with a human rights lawyer. He's American-British and he's doing his Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS, just like I did last year.

Beirut is a pretty amazing city. It’s amazing because most people there speak at least two languages, Arabic and French, and many speak Arabic, French, and English, and they combine all of them in conversations and with equal fluency. It’s a beautiful city, right along the coast; even though a lot of it is rocky, it’s still stunning. There’s a long pathway that winds along the waterfront and in the evening fishermen stand out on the rocks, people are jogging, tea and coffee vendors meander along the path clanging cups, and people bring their shisas and sit on benches and smoke. Nic and I walked along the coast the first night I was there and shimmied over some rocks so we could stand near the water and watch it crash just below our feet as waves came in.

The city itself is pretty interesting because it’s so different from Damascus, which is just one country over. It’s cosmopolitan and clean, and the city seems to be rebuilding and renovating pretty quickly from the civil war. You still see a lot of buildings with bullet holes and other war wounds and often they’re right next to buildings that have been beautifully restored, but there are just so many gorgeous areas in Beirut. The city was particularly festive, since I was there just before Christmas. I think I really liked that the city is pretty and, although chaotic, significantly less chaotic than Damascus. Damascus definitely has its charms (although I struggled to explain them to Nic), but Beirut is pretty wonderful, too. I think I’ve added Beirut to my list of cities I’d like to live in.

I spent a lot of my time in Beirut walking around and enjoying being able to do that. You can walk around in Damascus, but Beirut is a bit different because you can walk along the ocean or just walk around neighborhoods and the air isn't quite as polluted or hazy as it is in Damascus. I did some really American things, like go shopping (I needed new sneakers, and you can only get Adidas in Damascus) and go to Starbucks for a nice, strong cup of American coffee. I was also craving some non-Middle Eastern food, so Nic and I went out for sushi one evening; he also took me to a blues/tapas place which was quite nice. It was nice to once again have chorizo after eating chorizo quite often last year because of the steady supply of it from my Spanish landlady. Nic had planned to visit me in Damascus while he was interning in Beirut, so in anticipation of that, I showed him how to play backgammon one night while we were at a traditional Middle Eastern coffee shop.

posted by Travel Chick @ 4:57 PM