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Lebanese Cooking and Optional Garden Tour with a Local Family in Beirut - Day Trip

Price: Please call for rates - # of Days: 0 days
Tania is an agronomist and food safety specialist who loves singing, playing the piano, and traveling. Her parents will also be part of your Traveling Spoon experience and will help with the cooking and hosting. Her father is a former butcher and is very serious about his meats! Now he is retired an...

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Overview

Introduction

Must See or Do

Sights—Downtown architecture, excavations and city life; people-watching on the Corniche; sunset at Pigeon Rocks; a day trip to Baalbek.

Museums—A physical time line of the country's history at the National Museum of Beirut; ancient artifacts at the American University of Beirut Archaeology Museum; contemporary Lebanese art and lovely architecture at the Sursock Museum; Armenian sacred relics and art at the Cilicia Museum; beautiful Syrian interiors and antique jewelry at the Robert Mouawad Private Museum.

Memorable Meals—Meze at Al Mijana; a delicious Lebanese lunch buffet at La Tabkha; typical Beiruti bar-restaurant fusion at Centrale; a relaxing seaside snack, coffee or drink at a Corniche cafe.

Late Night—Going club to club along Rue Monot (Ashrafiyeh); experiencing the high-profile design and party ambience of B 018; listening to a live band at Music Hall (downtown); enjoying a drink and narghile (water pipe) near the water at Manara Palace Cafe.

Walks—A sunset stroll along the Corniche; window-shopping in downtown or Saifi Village; a walk through the Ashrafiyeh or Hamra neighborhoods.

Especially for Kids—Biking or in-line skating along the Corniche; Planet Discovery; amusement centers with electronic games and rides at any of Beirut's shopping malls.

Geography

Beirut enjoys a spectacular setting: It doesn't so much lie on the Mediterranean as it juts out into the blue-green sea. Its shape resembles a big right triangle, bordered on one side by the foothills of Mount Lebanon and on two sides by water.

Addresses are not a simple matter in Beirut. The few street signs are usually in Arabic and French, but locals often refer to streets by names other than those posted. Maps are usually printed in Arabic or French, but in print and speech you'll often encounter Anglicized versions of street names (for example, Hamra Street instead of Sharia or Rue Hamra). Outside of downtown and a few other neighborhoods, you won't find many numbers on buildings, either. When giving directions, most locals refer to nearby landmarks or hotels or, in the case of a commercial address, to the name or owner of the building. It's less complicated than it sounds, and most taxi drivers will understand what you're looking for and where it is. It's useful if you have someone write the name of your destination in Arabic.

It does help to know the names of neighborhoods and where they are in relation to one another. Downtown, or the Beirut Central District (BCD), is at the center of the peninsula, near its northern side. Beirutis also refer to the area as Solidere, the name of the private entity created to rebuild downtown. Directly to the west of downtown is Ain el-Mreisseh, which is also the beginning of the hotel district. Stretching a bit farther west and south is Hamra, the heart of West Beirut. Ras Beirut (also known as Caracas) is at the westernmost tip of the triangle. Continuing to the south, along the coast, are Manara, Raouche and Ramlet el-Baida. Inland from Raouche is Verdun. East of downtown is Gemmayzeh, with the port to the north and Ashrafiyeh to the south. The Corniche, a wide, bustling promenade, hugs the northwestern and western coast from Ain el-Mreisseh to Raouche. In this report, the name of the neighborhood is listed after the address.

The eastern outskirts of the city, beyond the Beirut River, ride the flanks of Mount Lebanon, a series of gently sweeping peaks. Sprinkled with towns and villages, Mount Lebanon provides the concrete jungle of Beirut with a lush green backdrop by day and a glittering curtain of lights by night. Jounieh, a crowded seaside suburb, is north of Beirut.

History

Commerce and conquest, destruction and reconstruction have all played pivotal roles in Beirut's 5,000-year history. The city most likely began as a fortified city for the Canaanites before becoming a Phoenician port. A succession of empires and armies—Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians and Greeks—later conquered the city. The Romans then colonized Beirut (calling it Berytus) in 64 BC. They gave the city a distinctively Roman organization, building streets, temples and other public structures (such as the Roman Baths). Under Byzantine rule, Beirut continued to develop as an important cultural and commercial center, but in the sixth century a massive earthquake, followed by a tidal wave and fires, destroyed the city. An estimated 250,000 lives were lost.

The next round of conquests began when Arab Muslims captured Beirut in 635. Over the next 500 years, the city fell under the rule of various Islamic dynasties (Umayyad, Abbasid). Then, in 1110, the Crusaders invaded and assumed control of Beirut. The Mamluks supplanted the Crusaders in 1291. In 1516, Beirut became part of the Ottoman Empire. Some of the city's most famous buildings, such as the Grand Serail, were constructed during this period.

Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the French took control of Beirut and made it Lebanon's capital. The extensive building program that took place under French rule gave rise to a new style—or blend of styles—generally referred to as French Mandate. In 1943, during World War II, Lebanon became an independent country, and Beirut continued to serve as its capital.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Beirut was known for sophistication and elegance, even though the bulk of its inhabitants—many of whom were Palestinian refugees who left Palestine after the creation of Israel in 1948—shared in neither its prosperity nor its optimism. Class and religious tensions came to a head in the mid-1970s, plunging the city and the country into a bloody civil war that Balkanized Beirut into separate, hostile zones, each controlled by its own militia.

In 1982, a second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this time aimed at ousting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from West Beirut, escalated the violence and led to the aerial bombardment and occupation of the city. International peacekeeping troops deployed soon after were unable to reduce hostilities or mediate among the numerous factions. Bombings in 1983 of the U.S. Embassy and, later, a U.S. Marine barracks and a French paratrooper barracks left 300 soldiers dead and hastened the peacekeepers' departure.

Neighboring Syria had sent troops into Lebanon as early as 1976, and they were an important factor throughout the conflict. In October 1989, Lebanese members of parliament meeting in Saudi Arabia signed the Taif Agreement, which eventually put the conflict to rest but also virtually legitimized Syria's control over the country.

On 14 February 2005, a massive bomb exploded in Beirut's Ain el-Mreisseh neighborhood, killing Rafiq Hariri, Lebanon's popular former prime minister, and 19 others. Local and international pressure, which already had been building, coalesced into calls for Syria to withdraw its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon. It reportedly complied with these demands by the end of April 2005, but there have been allegations that the intelligence agents are still present.

In July 2006, Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, and Israel then invaded Lebanon for the third time. In the next 34 days, some 1,200 civilians were slaughtered, thousands of homes were destroyed and Lebanon's infrastructure was devastated before Israel withdrew.

Peace returned to the country, despite Western and Israeli intervention, and Lebanon is now controlled by a democratically elected, 30-member ruling body, led by President Michel Aoun and his majority party, the Free Patriotic Movement. Various other factions, including Hezbollah, which continues to have the wide support of the majority, make up the rest of the government; the divided cabinet often faces opposing views on foreign policy.

Potpourri

Almost half of the population of Lebanon lives in Beirut, and nowhere in the country is more than a couple of hours away by car.

Beirut was the site of one of the most famous schools of law in the Roman Empire. The remains of it have yet to be located and excavated, but it's believed to be somewhere near today's Nejmeh Square.

Few cities can match Beirut's religious diversity. There are 18 official denominations, including Shiite, Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Sunni, Druze, Melkite Greek Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations. Most of the city's Jews emigrated to the U.S. at the outbreak of the civil war.

Though much of Beirut has the feel of Europe, Lebanon's other coastal towns have more in common with the rest of the Middle East. The souks (old marketplaces) of Sidon, Tripoli and Tyre resemble Syria or Turkey, while downtown Beirut could be in France or Italy but for the mosques.