Beirut, Lebanon

Our flight to Lebanon sounded reasonable at 11:20am, but, by the time we factored in traffic and getting to the airport two hours ahead of time, we still had to get up early and rush breakfast.

Had another trip through the new Istanbul airport. We could write a book on it by the time our big trip is finished :)

We flew to Beirut on Middle East Airlines; it took just over two hours. I used the time to catch up on my blog.

Canadians get a free 30-day visa on arrival, which is just stamp in your passport (no fancy sticker). It took us less than an hour to get through everything and into a cab. Our driver from the hotel was waiting with my name on a sign, and in thirty minutes we were at the hotel.

We booked at Baffa House before Christmas based on the reviews. It’s in Mar Mikhael, a happening part of town with lots of bars and restaurants and cafes spilling to the sidewalk.

The hotel itself is like an art gallery (the owner’s family include several well-known Lebanese artists).

Samer (the owner) gave us a quick overview of places to eat and see in the neighbourhood and in the rest of Beirut. We booked an excursion for the next day and went out to explore.

There’s a definite buzz to the streets in the neighbourhood. We walked around for a bit and picked a random bar to have a drink (Mar Mikhael is in the Christian part of Beirut, and there’s no issues with alcohol).

Later, we had dinner at Enab, one of the places recommended by Samer. We were there at 7ish, about two hours before the locals eat. There were a handful of other people, mostly expats or tourists. We made the mistake of sitting outside and were pretty cold by the end of dinner (it was about 18C outside). There were a few heat lamps, but none near us. Dinner was pretty good. Made our way back home, turned on the heat in our room for a bit, and went to bed.