Welcome to the POST FEATURE of BALKANOPOULOS where I visit Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Cyprus before returning to Greece to farewell relatives and rest.
On the morning of 10 September 2022, Paris and I woke to ominous grey skies above Munich Airport and by 8am we were at the airport and ready to check in. It was hard to believe that I had met Paris at this very place exactly 102 days before. Amazing how time flies. At 1030am I farewelled Paris as he entered immigration in Terminal 2 and I walked back to Terminal 1 to catch my flight to Antalya in Turkey followed by another flight to Beirut since there were no direct flights that day. My Turkey flight was delayed by an hour and by the time I got to Antalya I only had 2 hours to pass through customs, collect my bag, exit then enter again, check-in and re-enter customs. I just made the Beirut flight since once I exited I found out that the Beirut flight was in another terminal 2km away – lucky for me I found a taxi immediately and he happened to be a Formula 1 Driver and got me there in minutes.
Beirut is a mad place. I landed in the dark just after sunset and the place is ablaze with lights – there are apartments, houses, shops, markets, and businesses everywhere. There are no spare spaces. My builder and now friend Paul Afram organised his Lebanese girlfriend to escort me through customs and skip the 30min queue – I felt like a true VIP. Paul was there to drive me to his seaside holiday rental in a small village called Kfar Abeida, 58km north of the Airport and just 15km north of ancient Byblos.
After a shower and a few beers we were off to Byblos to celebrate Paul’s birthday in true Lebanese style. Meze and non-stop drinks from 10am to 3am with non-stop Lebanese live music and singers. Terrific. Reminded me of the Bouzoukia in Athens and it has been a long time I have hung out all night. I met Paul’s friends (all around my age) and enjoyed their company very much with plenty of dancing to boot.
Woke 10am the following morning all ready to visit the Ancient City of Byblos. Byblos (Pop 40,000, Sea Level, Founded 5000BC) is a remarkable place and will probably be the best place to visit in Lebanon. Byblos is believed to have been first occupied between 8800 and 7000 BC and continuously inhabited since 5000 BC, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. During its history, Byblos was part of numerous civilizations, including Egyptian, Phoenician, Assyrian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Fatimid, Genoese, Mamluk and Ottoman. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The centrepiece is a well-preserved Crusader Castle of Gibelet surrounded by Phoenician and Roman ruins. The castle was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century from indigenous limestone and the remains of Roman structures. The finished structure was surrounded by a moat. It belonged to the Genoese Embriaco family, whose members were the Lords of Gibelet from 1100 to the late 13th century. Saladin captured the town and castle in 1188 and partially dismantled the walls in 1190. Later, the Crusaders recaptured Byblos and rebuilt the fortifications of the castle in 1197. I also visited the Old Souk with Paul and met his friend Jacqueline and the Old Port or Marina where we enjoyed cold beers after a humid 35C trek in the Old Town. A 3pm lunch followed and finished the day with a 6pm sunset swim back at the seaside rental. I saw the sun literally disappear into the Mediterranean as I emerged from my 1.6km swim cut short by the darkness and a building swell.
My first impressions of Lebanon and the coast reminds me of a huge Greek Island overrun by buildings. The coast is very crowded and haphazard but the Mediterranean is just like Greece – super blue and clear. The hills and mountains are covered in scattered white marble just like Greece. There are cars everywhere and the place goes crazy at night with loud music, dancing and drinking until morning. Everyone smokes in the bars, cafes and restaurants and most people speak French as well as Arabic. It is divided into Christian and Muslim zones and relations at the moment are good. There are multiple checkpoints on the roads around Byblos since it is closer to Syria and subject to heightened security given the huge explosion in Beirut some 2 years ago – Paul will take me to see it. One of Paul’s friends is a fireman and was off duty that day – all his close work colleagues died that day. This is life in this part of the world. The other immediate surprise of Lebanon is their currency. Everyone here is a millionaire and many billionaires. One US Dollar buys you 34,000 Lira !!! I exchanged 200USD and received close to 7 million Lira all in 100,000 Lira bills and I could not fit them in my pocket – everyone carries handbags or man bags just to go shopping or out to dinner. Amazing. A new Government has been elected and later this year a new President will be elected – both promise to fire most of the public service and rebuild from scratch. Only time will tell of they will deliver on their promises – in the meantime I have a country to cover with Paul over the next 5 days…
What a terrific first day in Lebanon – enjoy the site of it…
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