This was a day in three parts.
First came a couple of requests for quotes, which is always nice as it gives me hope that work will continue and I won’t starve, a perpetual fear for a freelancer. One of these was from an organisation in Kenya, so I was especially pleased as I do need to find clients in that region. I have sent off quotes to both, so fingers crossed something will come of it.
Second, we decided to go for lunch outside the old town, to the place where Jbeilis actually live. We walked down the sunken space between the main roads leading in and out of old Byblos, which are strewn with Roman columns and modern art installations, and found a staircase going into what seemed to be a parking garage but was actually a staircase leading up to the old coastal highway. There was a conveniently located pedestrian bridge, which we took, to come onto the side of the newer motorway. Across the motorway was a staircase leading up, but we had to dodge passing cars to reach it. Hopefully they plan to make some sort of arrangement for pedestrians, otherwise both the tunnel and the bridge seem pointless. At the top of the stairs was Jbeil proper, with a nondescript market area and a petrol station. The French restaurant was there, and I ordered a plat du jour to get six fried fish and a dish of hummus. It was nice enough, though I covered myself in inglory by thinking that poisson meant chicken. It’s just that the word is shaped like chicken.
On the way back we found a greengrocer and bought supplies to cook at the flat for dinner.
Third, at around 5.30, we went for a walk around the old town, again through narrow streets lined in golden stone and down to the harbour. We popped into the fossil shop and got a little formal introduction to it from the owner. The seven year old who came back from a trip to Brazil with a suitcase loaded down with fossils thirsted after them, my adult self wondered about the fossils’ provenance and if there were any palaentologists involved. We also went into the chapel of Our Lady of Deliverance, a tiny stone room overlooking the sea with a few icons inside, and only space for a couple of benches, with the remainder in the garden outside.