Beirut, Lebanon

Today we did a walking tour from our neighbourhood to downtown. The vibe changed as soon as we left Mar Mikhael and got closer to the core, much more business-like and sterile. We were glad we ended up booking a hotel where we did!

The highlights of the city centre are clustered around a single block, with churches and mosques and Roman ruins. (Much of the original old Beirut in the downtown, including the old souks, was bombed during the war). For us, the highlights were the catacombs and the remains of an ancient church, discovered by accident under St George Orthodox Cathedral by when it was bombed.

We were tired and didn’t feel like continuing farther west to Hamra (another cool neighbourhood) or to the Raouche Rock, so we just headed back toward our neighbourhood for lunch.

We found a nice little restaurant at the top of a long flight of stairs (Beirut rises up from the Mediterranean into hills). The kitchen wasn’t yet open (it was noon, but people generally don’t have lunch until 2pm), so dropped by the Sursock Museum first.

The museum was interesting, Samer’s aunt and cousin have a prominent exhibit on display, which Heather recognized immediately from her style (Samer also has a piece by his aunt at the hotel).

After the museum, we went back to the stairtop restaurant for lunch. It was a little Italian bistro. We tried their pizza, which was pretty good. Pita bakeries are very common here. It’s the same set up to make pizza, so it’s not surprising that they have an excellent crust.

We browsed the ateliers on the way home, but nothing struck our fancy.

Relaxed at the hotel and then went out for what would be called a sundowner if we were on safari. We tried to get into a couple restaurants, but everything was fully booked, so we made reservations at a couple of spots for the next two nights (Friday and Saturday).

Ended up at the Kalei coffee shop, close to our hotel, on Samer’s list of recommendations. Had a sandwich and split a salad. Both the food and atmosphere were great. It was also a short walk home :)