We made another attempt to visit Onno, the famous little Armenian restaurant in Bourj Hammoud, under a filthy flyover. We took a car this time, and of course the maps were confusing so the driver took us over the flyover instead of under it. We had to do a long loop through traffic, and he […]
Go west
On Saturday we explored a bit more of West Beirut. We got dropped off at Raouche, on the corniche, where there are two rocks in the bay, and walked down the smelly, gravelly path past bushes and concrete pieces of a breakwater, to where the waves were striking the cliffs and the rocks. There were […]
Down south
Our second ex-Beirut expedition, postponed from last weekend, was a lengthy one, but much, much nicer than our first. We were picked up by our guide at 7.30 in the morning and drive down to Sidon for a breakfast of fuul and hummus in a little old shop that felt like it could be in […]
Generally secure
On Friday the Gentleman Friend and I went down to Lebanese General Security, which issues visas, to get our 1 month visas extended to a a full three months. It was simple and quick, but also rather more fun than expected. We went in, were given a token by a security officer (the token was […]
Eid
Eid was its usual understated to the point of non-existence self. I spoke to my father who was in a cheerful mood, but couldn’t face speaking to my grandmother which I shall no doubt regret. I did send her a message. My schoolfriends’ whatsapp group, which is normally an annoyance full of stupid forwarded memes […]
The lazaretto
The morning started late. We decided to go down to Karantina which lies just across the big road from us. If one Googles it the main thing that comes up is a massacre of Palestinians that was one of the sparks of the civil war. Once, appropriately, it was a lazaretto, where travellers were kept […]
Bollard antibollard
On the way out to dinner, without noticing, I walked into one of the bollards that are strewn liberally down the narrowest Beirut pavements. I must have strode out particularly vigorously as it is really quite painful. Fortunately it was low enough to get me on the thigh rather than in the groin. Our dinner […]
Half an hour later
Or thereabouts. The power today goes from 3 to 6 and moreover the internet at the flat is throttled, so I have made my usual pilgrimage to one of the cafes. My preferred one is Urbanista, about a seven minute walk west of the flat, where the waiters now recognise me – though I am […]
Tusk
I was to meet the Gentleman Friend at the Kalei Cafe, where he was taking advantage of their superior internet connectoin to make some work calls. I went first to the Tusk Bakery just around the corner and bought a loaf of focaccia (thinking that given Lebanese proclivities a bread that rises and falls on […]
Up to the hills
A busy and very pleasant weekend. On Saturday we stayed in Beirut, first going to find some knafeh, a sweet cheese breakfast sort-of-pastry, then strolled through the rather odd Villa Audi museum. This is a merchant’s mansion that has a display of mosaics, but there were a couple of temporary exhibitions up that were just […]