I spent two half-days exploring Beirut, whereas one day probably would have been enough. Beirut is known as the „Paris of the Middle East“, but to be honest – I have no clue why. It certainly does not compare to Paris, not even close. Most buildings are ugly, and apart from some bar areas, there’s also no cozy Paris-style cafe-vibe around. Don’t get me wrong – Beirut is still a cool place to explore, but I completely disagree with the „Paris of the Middle East“ thing.
My hostel Saifi Urban Gardens (very much recommended) was located in the cool Gemmayzeh area, so this is where I started my walk from. I walked towards the West of the city, passing through downtown Beirut first. This is the old part of the city, which has mostly been renovated and contains some nice buildings such as the big mosque. However, streets feel strangely deserted everywhere – there is no „life“ in this district, just old buildings and fancy shops.
I then passed by the former Holiday Inn which stands covered in bullet holes as a reminder of the violent past not too long ago. There are plans to do something with the hotel, but nothing seems to be working out in terms of agreement yet. From the hotel, I continued to Zaitunay Bay – a small harbour filled with fancy boats. Then I started my looong walk along the Corniche all the way to Pigeon Rocks (uhmm… maybe don’t copy me). It was long and hot. But of course, it was good to see the Corniche, feel the sea breeze in my face and finally arrive at Pigeon Rocks – two rather photogenic rocks in the ocean in the West of Beirut.
On the way back to the hostel, I opted for a bus instead of my feet (which were getting tired), and also to be quicker since I had agreed to hang out with another girl from my hostel in the afternoon. Nanna had the idea of visiting a Palestinian refugee camp – but more about that in my next post… Let me just point out that Beirut is not a very walk-able city. Distances are rather far and sometimes there’s road blocks set up by police and areas you cannot enter, making you do an even farther detour. Shared taxis drive around the city and are a good option if there are no traffic jams. The flat rate is 2,000 LBP anywhere in the center, but if you want to go a bit farther or to out-of-the-ordinary destinations, expect to pay a bit more.
Next day, I had wanted to rent a car with two other backpackers, but we wasted a lot of time in the morning and frankly it did not work out. So I chilled in the hostel for a bit and then went off to see some more of the Western part of Beirut together with them, for example the American University campus (AUB) and the streets in the Hamra district. While these places were nice to see, it did feel a bit like a wasted day to me – but that’s just how it goes when travelling: things don’t always go as planned.
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