Beirut was called the Paris of the East and was ruled by the French for a long time (among others). Its history is Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Christian, Muslim, Ottoman, French … And was a very chic, elegant, international, wealthy place. Until the wars. The beautiful shells of old villas and palaces and apartments are everywhere, either being reclaimed by homeless Syrians or filled with tiny urban forests. Or in various stages of rehabilitation.

When I go back I’ll probably stay in Hamra. Its insanely busy and crowded and but better than the embassy/bulgari/soliders neighborhood I was in. Gemayze is a very evening/night time restauranty bar place/ Mar Mickel is all about bars. Achrafieh is nice too.

Beirut is divided into east and west. West is Muslim. East is Christian. Theres a bit of Hezbollah in the middle. And in the southern suburbs. During the war there was a line, the green zone, through the middle of the city. (That where I stayed this time). It was green because there was no traffic, blown up buildings and no one could go there because off the snipers. So the wild figs and forest came and grew all over it. I like that.

The country is tiny. Only 4 million people, but 2 million refugees. (New Zealand is 100,00 square miles. Lebanon is 4,000 square miles and very mountainy). I’m confused about the impact of the Syrians. It’s a very soft border. They come to work on construction sites, laboring kind of jobs, and take their wages back to Syria. Which is hard for the economy. Aleppo is completely destroyed but Damascus is fine. I could have gone there for the weekend.

This is a city I will definitely come back to.