Mexican Food in Lebanon

My last destination in Lebanon was the ancient city of Byblos. This city is said to be the oldest port in the world. I heard people claiming it was around 5000 years old! I don't know the historical validity of that (you know how people tend to exaggerate about their hometown...), but whatever the age of the city it was a beautiful place and probably my favorite of the cities I visited in Lebanon. The picture above shows the a view down into the harbor from the ruins of a Crusader Castle.


There are lots of reasons why I liked this city so much, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that no matter where I was in the city I had a spectacular view of the sea. As I was first coming into the city, walking down this seemingly innocuous street, all of a sudden the sea appeared out of no where and blew me away.


I eventually made my way to the harbor and talked to some of the locals. The Lebanese dialect was a little different than the Arabic I'm accustomed to, but I managed well enough. The locals were more than pleased to tell me about their city while I sat amongst the boats on the edge of the sea.

Before I left for Byblos I had heard from a few people that there was a really good Mexican food restaurant somewhere near the harbor. I was craving Mexican food something fierce; in fact I still am, it's one of the few things I miss from home. Anyway, I made sure I found the restaurant and ordered steak enchiladas. They were wonderful.


And the view from the restaurant was just as impressive as everywhere else. The above picture is what I saw out of the window from my table at the restaurant. Mexican food and that view was pretty perfect.


I continued to wander the city and found a Crusader built church. Named after John the Baptist, it was built in 1150 but damaged by the continued fighting of the Crusades. It was incredible.


Inside the church they were preparing for a wedding that was soon to commence, but I managed to sneak a few pictures before they got mad at me.


The outer courtyard of the church was a nice place to sit and relax. The weather was absolutely perfect the day I was in Byblos, and I probably would've sat there for quite a while had that wedding not been going on.


As I said earlier, there was a Crusader fort built and partly destroyed here during the Crusades. The neat thing is that it was built amongst and around other ruins from times past. This part of the world is so full of ancient history that they practically built their ancient sites on top of each other. Above you can see the remains of some Greek ruins with the later built Crusader fort in the background.


This is a small-ish amphitheater overlooking the sea. Though it isn't big I can imagine seeing anything performed against such a backdrop would be mighty impressive.


Before I left the city I had to go back and sit along the coast. I knew this would be my last opportunity to really enjoy the Mediterranean before I left so I made sure to take my time. You can see the outer edge of the city framing the sea.

I really enjoyed my time in Lebanon. It is a beautiful country, the people are nice, and the food was great. If you're ever in the neighborhood of the Middle East, I would definitely recommend Lebanon as a place to visit.

Saida! Saida! Saida!

Saida is the Arabic name for the city of Sidon. Tyre is in the far south of Lebanon and my route back to Beirut took me right through Saida. I only got to spend a few hours here, but the time was well spent. The city felt bigger and more alive than Tyre. It was incredibly beautiful, as Lebanon tends to be.


The big tourist site to go to is the seaside castle which lies about 100 to 200 meters out into the ocean from the shore. As you can see in the photo there is a long stone walkway that leads out to it.


Almost immediately upon entering the castle I come across two local boys with whom I begin talking in Arabic. This surprised them and we chatted for a while. When I got up to continue on they just followed. I had three shadows that afternoon. One of them insisted that I take his picture; he's the one above, I can't remember his name.


Climbing through the innards to get to the upper ramparts I came across this beautifully lit room. I can only imagine what this might've looked like when it was originally being used.


The view from the top was truly spectacular. The castle, the deep shadows, the coastline, the skyline - it was all too perfect.


Before I left, I made sure to get a picture of myself sitting on the castle walls looking out over the city.


When I got back to the shore I walked a ways down and just soaked it all in. I've noticed I really like to soak in my surroundings. I came across lot's of interesting people, but I seem to always atract younger males. These guys were neat. The one on the bike is actually from Germany but he now lives in Lebanon.


Naturally, there is alot of fishing going on along the shore. As I was walking past I saw this group of kids gathered around a guy about my age. I walked up to find that he had (unintentionally) caught an eel and they were trying to figure out what to do with it. I love the look of almost pained curiousity on the face of the kid in the red shirt.


As I said, there were many groups fishing. I'm not sure these guys were ever even aware that I took their picture. The sunset provided amazing pictures at the harbor.


This is the last picture I took of Sidon before I loaded the bus back to Beirut. I would absolutely go back to Sidon any time I have the chance. It was too much to get in one trip.

$8 to Tyre and Back

(The above shot is a panoramic wide shot of the city of Tyre following the curve of the Mediterranean sea ; I am standing on the ledge to the far left of the shot.)


As promised, this post will focus on my day trip to Tyre. To get there from Beirut required me to take a minibus about 2 hours south. I know some foreigners would dread the thought of having to be crammed into a minibus with locals for a 2 hour journey, but things like that excite me. I feel like I'm not really experiencing a culture unless I'm doing things how the locals are doing it. Anyway, it was really cheap; like $8 total for there and back. (Oddly enough, they use US Dollars as much as their own currency in Lebanon; the exchange rate is static and fixed so everyone will accept either currency or even a mixture of both.)


The first thing I noticed and was drawn to was the amazing harbor. It was so picturesque, like a postcard almost. I just sat on a ledge and took it all in for a while.


While sitting there I noticed a guy decked out in scuba gear slowly wading into the water. I have no idea what he was trying to do in the harbor, but it was fun watching him. Also check out the father and son fixing up this old boat. It always amazes me when I consider how different life must be like for people growing up in these different locales.


Directly behind me, overlooking the sea, was an old building that was in the process of being restored. It was incredible.


I began to walk around and explore the city and it's inner streets. I came across this neat little alley way where a group of kids were playing. I believe it was in the old Christian area.


I came out onto a little path that ran along the shore. There was a little peninsula jutting out into the water connected to the path by means of a sandbar. It was too inviting not to walk out onto it. I sat there and again just soaked it all in for a good while. The above picture was the view I had from the rock I was sitting on. (See my knee?)


I kept walking and made my way to the first set of ruins. These are the remains of an ancient Roman promenade which extended out to the sea.


Here you can see the mosaic tiled street which lined the walkway. Pretty incredible.


I continued to explore the city and see all its intricacies. It was a blast. This last picture is a shot of me with the sea and the rest of the city in the background. It was crazy how windy it was by the shore.

The next post will highlight my stop over in Sidon. Highlights will include a castle on the sea, local children galore, and an unwelcome eel.

Beirut-iful, you read that correctly

Last week I was gone. Where'd I go? Well I had the opportunity to travel around Lebanon for a few days. It was amazing. The next few blog posts I do will focus on different parts of the country I saw. (I promise that at some point in the future I will get around to writing the promised post about the Dead to Red Race; right now I'm too anxious to share about Lebanon.)

I started out my trip in Beirut so that's what this post will feature pictures of. Lebanon is so different from what I'm used to in a wide variety of ways. First of was the amount of GREEN things.


Being in the Middle East I've grown accustomed to not seeing much plant life, but Lebanon was full of it! It was beautiful and a nice change of pace. The above picture is taken from the campus of the American University of Beirut which I was kindly given a tour of by a student I met while near the campus. And yes, that IS the Mediterranean Sea in the background. Speaking of the Mediterranean...


The Sea was incredible. Coming from a country where we have mandated water rationing, I was dumbfounded by the beauty of the sea. Other places definitely had prettier views and vistas of the Mediterranean which I will show in a later post, but this was my first look. And I was mighty impressed.


Walking up and down the Corniche I got to take in a lot of the seaside sites. (From Answers.com: the word (corniche) typically describes a waterfront promenade usually paralleled by a main road, such as the renowned Corniche Beirut. I didn't know that either, but that's what all the locals called it.) There was a lot to just sit and take in on the Corniche. Admittedly I was a bit sad I didn't pack running shoes as a run up and down the coast would've been great.


These old boats were just littered along the rocky portions of the beach at points. They had a lot of character that I couldn't ignore; they were practically begging me to take their pictures. Later at other places I got kind of "boat obsessed" as you'll see in later postings when I post several harbor shots.


Something that I always have an eye out for is anything with a distinctly non-Arabic origin but which has been appropriated INTO Arabic culture, whether that be language or something else. Let's call it a melding of the foreign with the familiar. So, I suppose that's why it really interests me to see things like "Henry Ford Street" transliterated into Arabic.


This building was along the shorefront and looked like it had seen better days, but it still had so much life to it. I love the older architectural feel combined with the plants and palm trees. It kind made me feel like I was in a movie.

Alright, I have much more to come from Lebanon. Next time will feature scenes from Tyre.