Beautiful Beirut

A typical building in the Soldiere.
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We stayed at the Intercontinental Vendome which is probably the most luxurious hotel I've ever been in, and the staff took such good care of us we never wanted to leave.  We also got to use the Spa at the Intercontinental Phoenicia, its really stupendous and relaxing.

Food was great! The first evening we arrived late, walked out and had a snack at the Hard Rock Cafe next door, had great nachos and chili just like home!  That sounds so American, but we get lots of good Lebanese food in Amman but haven't had American for almost 3 months.  We had great food in Beirut, our favorites:  absolutely wonderful sushi at Yabani, the local yellowtail from the mediterranean is to die for (we also tried sushi at Osaka and Shogun, but Yabani is far far superior, and I'm very picky about my sushi); and Mandaloon restaurant, a Parisian bistro that really is one of the best restaurants I've ever been to, between decor, food, and service.  We had some fair Mexican food at Pacifico's (great taquitos, chips and salsa, only fair enchiladas).  We also had a surprisingly great lunch at Scoozi Cafe in the Soldiere District downtown.

best of the Middle East

A shopping day at ABC Mall.
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The people in Lebanon are so much fun!  They are really outgoing and gregarious.  We really enjoyed all the people we met, and Shazzam particularly enjoyed making friends with all the taxi drivers.  I decided that if you were a particularly anxious, serious kind of person, with all of Lebanon's troubles you would have either gone crazy or emigrated, so all that's left are the happy go lucky, carefree people who can survive decades of conflict and still laugh easily.

The city's about half Christian and half Muslim, it was interesting to see churches and mosques right next to each other, peacefully coexisting for the time being at least.  In the downtown areas, there's only about 25% of women covered, and its not uncommon to see women in shorts and spaghetti straps.  I have to admit it felt pretty free to be once again among the uncovered.

The most beautiful mosque I've seen.
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And the city is beautiful, mostly highrise buildings I'd say about 4 to 8 stories high.  Some other entries will show the sad side, but here I'll show you the beautiful new buildings being constructed.  The greatest part is the Soldiere District downtown.  This area was almost completely destroyed during the civil war, afterwards the owners got together, created a company that owned all the land, razed the buildings, rebuilt them exactly the way they had been, and everyone shares in the profit.  Its mostly a pedestrian area now, with high-end shops and sidewalk cafes.  We also went shopping in the Verdun area, and at the ABC Mall.  Oh, and had to buy Halloween costumes since there's nothing like that in Amman!  And we bought a couple of hundred dollars of books at the Virgin Megastore, stocked up on some clothes.  Princess Jasmine had a friend in Beirut, so they got to hang out and shop and stuff.

View from Our Lady of Lebanon.
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The shoreline is all rocky, all is private and all private "beaches" were closed for the winter.  So we didn't get to dip in the Mediterranean.  There is a walkway all along the waterfront, called the Corniche, Eagle and Zahra walked almost the whole thing.

All in all, as long as bombs aren't dropping this place is fantastic!