Schlagwort-Archive: Lebanon

Lebanon, World Trip 2018-19

Lebanon – Summary & Pictures

Juni 12, 2018 Just Booked A Trip Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

People: I really like the Lebanese! Open and friendly, without being too pushy like the Jordanians sometimes were. I could browse around a souvenir shop without being bothered. At the same time, our car rental guy just rolled his eyes briefly at us when we arrived 1.5 h late and then asked us how the day went. I liked the mix of people you get to see: next to me in the table in a cafe there were 2 women and 2 guys. One of the women wearing a hijab, one wearing tight pants and a rather revealing shirt. She and the guys were having beers and all four of them were smoking shisha together. I felt welcome and safe at all times! There are barely any backpackers, but I always met some cool people to hang out with.

Food: Lebanon brought a little more variety to the Middle Eastern food again. There was still too much hummus, but there was also fattoush (a salad) and Manoosh (a kind of pizza) that I had not had before in Israel or Jordan.

Weather: There were some more clouds here and there, but mostly in a rather photogenic way so I did not mind 🙂 It was also a bit cooler than Jordan, but in a nice way.

Costs: I spent a bit more in Lebanon than I had to, since I treated myself to some beers and shisha and also didn’t take advantage of Couchsurfing, but rather stayed in a hostel the whole time. Also the rental car was expensive to rent just for one day. So in the end I spent 49€/day which was still below my 60€/day target.

Accommodation: I spent my whole time staying at Saifi Urban Gardens hostel in Beirut, which I really really liked. Potentially one of the best hostels I have ever stayed at. I met great people there to hang out with, and the attached cafe serves good, cheap food. There’s one more hostel in Beirut, but that’s it for hostel accommodation in Lebanon unfortunately. Luckily, the country is close enough so that you can stay in Beirut and go on day trips from here, but it would have been nice to stay in different places, like Byblos, Tripoli or Tannourine. Maybe this will change in the future though and there will be more hostels popping up!

Infrastructure: There is a good bus system which does go to many places, but not all of the interesting spots. To see Tannourine and the Baatara waterfall, we had to rent a car for example. However, if you stick to the coastal towns, there is good and cheap busses all the way North/South, and also Baalbek is well connected to Beirut.

Illnesses: Healthy & happy.

Safety: Never felt unsafe.

Itinerary: I stayed in Beirut and did day trips from there. I would have loved to see many more places, especially Baalbek, and spend more time in the mountains around Tannourine and in Tripoli. 4 days were simply not enough for this amazing country! I would recommend 10 days and a rental car to fully enjoy Lebanon’s sights and landscapes.

Highlight: The road trip to Tripoli and Baatara waterfall.

Lowlight: Beirut.

Click here to see all my pictures of Lebanon:

Lebanon, World Trip 2018-19

Road tripping Lebanon – Tripoli and Tannourine

Juni 8, 2018 Just Booked A Trip Ein Kommentar

When researching things to see in Lebanon, I stumbled across a picture of THE most amazing waterfall I had ever seen. From then on, my mission was clear: I needed to see this place! Similar case as with the Hexagon Pool in Northern Israel. Unfortunately this time getting there by public transport was even more difficult – or shall I say impossible. There’s no buses going to Tannourine, the town closest to the waterfall, not even anywhere close by. So I tried researching tours from Beirut. Crazy prices and almost no choice. I almost gave up on my idea (very reluctantly), but then I met Nanna and Tadhg. Once I showed them a picture of the waterfall, they were sold and we decided to rent a car together.

Since Nanna really wanted to see Tripoli as well, we decided to combine the two places in our road trip – which made for a really long day on the road, in hindsight a bit too much. It would definitely better to spend a whole day at each location. Also, renting a car for just one day proved to be quite difficult and rather expensive. Lebanon is a great road trip country – so if you’re at least 2, it certainly would be worth renting a car for the entire stay.

Anyways, in the end we managed to get a car and the drive up to Tripoli was quick without too much traffic. In Tripoli we first headed for the coast, but with nothing much to see continued to the old town straight after – a good decision. The old town is a maze of little alleys with shops selling anything and everything. And completely tourist-free apart from us! I loved walking around there and chatting with the locals, trying some local sweets and drinks.

Unfortunately we were short on time, so only able to spend about 1.5 h walking around in Tripoli. Not enough in my view! But we had to get going to get to Baatara waterfall up in the mountains, another 1.5 h drive or so. This drive was very nice, leading through some pretty mountainous landscapes, so we stopped for photos quite often. Tannourine is a cute little village where I would have again loved to spend the night – but again: no budget accommodation. It would be amazing to spend a couple of days hiking in the area.

The highlight though was the waterfall! Baatara waterfall did not disappoint – it really was as spectacular as it looked on the pictures I had seen!! I was so happy I had made it there – something that seemed near impossible when planning. Sadly, the sun was shining directly into my photos, so they did not come out too well. I definitely recommend checking out the ones on Google picture search here! This is how it actually looked!!

We took our time admiring the waterfall and had a little picnic before hopping back in the car – for a very scenic drive back to the coast. Seriously, I did not know Lebanon has such beautiful mountains!

If only the whole drive would have been as relaxed and beautiful… Only a couple of km away from Beirut, we got stuck in one of the biggest traffic jams I’ve ever been in. We tried different routes since time was ticking for handing our rental car back in, but nothing worked. It was just all jammed up! I also needed to pee desperately but we really didn’t have time for that. Lol. In the end we arrived at the car rental 1.5 h late, and I basically just ran into the office, and with a quick apology past the team there to the toilet. As the Lebanese are, they were not too upset with us though about being so late. No question of paying extra or anything like that. Friendly Lebanese!

And with that it was already time to say goodbye to Lebanon – a country that really surprised me in a positive way. I had not expected much, but everything I saw was more beautiful or amazing than expected (well maybe except Beirut) and the locals were warm and welcoming. I really did not want to leave already, and promised myself that I will return one day with more time to explore.

Lebanon, World Trip 2018-19

Beirut – Paris of the Middle East!?

Juni 7, 2018 Just Booked A Trip Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

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.

Pigeon Rocks

Corniche

Former Holiday Inn

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.