My Diary Travelogues | The Levant | 1996 | May 15 - May 18 | Part 3 – Lebanon
Hi Friends, this is the third part of an account of some of my travels from 1996. I kept diaries for many years and they are now enabling me to revisit the past and bring it back to life on the pages of Steemit. It is a most enjoyable undertaking for me.
If you are just joining in, you may first wish to read:
- Travelogues | The Levant | 1996 | May 05 to May 08 | Part 1 – Egypt
- Travelogues | The Levant | 1996 | May 09 to May 15 | Part 2 – Jordan
If you are following along from previous parts, I appreciate your company and I thank you for your attention.
Namaste.
Wednesday, 15th May 1996 | 17:35 | Beirut (Lebanon)
Arrived in Beirut around 10am. Had to fly over Syrian territory of course1, and then over the sea and around for the descent into Beirut, so I had a wonderful view. Customs, security etc was absolutely no problem. I changed £10, avoided the taxi drivers wanting 6000-8000 Lira (£1 = 2400), walked 500 metres and got a bus for 250!
The bus dropped me off in the 'Riyad-El-Solh' area, and I had expected to be able to find a cheap hotel or pension there. From the bus I saw a fair bit of construction work, but a lot of burnt, bombed or shelled buildings, some with people still living in them. We passed through the southern, Hizbollah-controlled area, where the Israelis had concentrated their aerial and naval bombardments2. There were billboards of Mullahs and large painted plywood cutouts of someone who was probably the Ayatollah! But the Riyad-El-Solh area must have been the worst hit. There didn't seem to be any inhabited buildings and although lots were still standing, there were huge areas filled with rubble and craters in which endless construction or excavation work seemed to be going on.
I wandered round with my backpack asking for cheap hotels and being told there were none. Met an Egyptian worker and an Indian, who told me that lots of people had come over to work, and I can well imagine! Most people were friendly, some sceptical, but I got directions to a pension near the sea. Walked through another devastated area, with the odd building standing shakily amongst the rubble. The Hotel Continental a 20-25 story shell, with holes and shattered beams everywhere.
Found the pension – 8000 per night, in a room with 3 others, but friendly. Slept for 3 hours, woke up, showered and walked 3-4 km along the sea front. There it's all very different; glittering new hotels, almost finished buildings, cafés, joggers, roller-skaters. Definitely a looser-moralled, more western atmosphere about the place, and a corresponding lessening of the friendly Middle-Eastern vibe; although I suspect that what I was seeing was the inevitable elite, for there were lots of exceptions – mostly workers in cafés!
Beirut is beautiful though, very much so in its location – hills all around, cliffs, the sea, and lots of spots from which to enjoy the view. I've seated myself in a café/restaurant 50 feet directly above the sea and directly in line with the sunset – for which I'm going to wait. I can see the planes descending over the roof-tops. I don't know how expensive this place is – I've ordered a coffee and Shisha3. Hope no more than 6000! (came to 8500).
1. ...the direct flight-path over Israeli airspace being closed.
2. During the Seige of Beirut, 1982
3. Oriental water-pipe.
Friday, 17th May 1996 | 10:35 | Beirut (Lebanon)
Spent most of yesterday walking, simply walking. Asked in a few travel agencies, most of which seemed reluctant to give out info for some reason. Flights out are extremely expensive! One-way to Istanbul approx. $280 USD + $32 airport tax. The boat to Cyprus doesn't seem to be running either and even if it does in a weeks' time, there's no guarantee of my being able to get to Turkey due to the political situation between Greece and Turkey! Also went to the British embassy who couldn't really help with getting me a visa. So, I could take the chance and try for a Syrian visa at the border, but that would mean getting an exit stamp from Lebanon first, and if the Syrians don't give me a visa, I'm stuck in no-man's land! Might end up taking the risk as the only realistic option, for if they don't give me a two-week visa they might at least issue a 24 hour transit visa, which would get me to Turkey and would be a lot cheaper than flying out. Let's see!
The Hamra area of Beirut is such a contrast to the bombed out Riyad-El-Solh, or the Hizbollah-controlled areas. Here you have posh shops and tightly-clad women walking the fancy streets, little different from a European or rather a French city - there seems to be a great French influence. Along one sea promenade (where I sat yesterday and the day-before, between 9 and 10pm, listening to the BBC on my short-wave radio and eating my dinner), you get lots of joggers, roller skaters and health people about!
I'm meeting Carl in town between 12 and 1pm – that's if he has been able to obtain a visa and flight from Amman!
Saturday, 18th May 1996 | 15:00 | Amchit les Colombes, Byblos (Lebanon)
Left the bombed-out facades and bullet-ridden houses of Beirut behind and am 45-50 km further North, in a really picturesque campsite near the ancient town of Byblos (Papyrus → Byblos → Bible). Met Carl yesterday and spent an enjoyable day walking round with him, sitting on the beach and cruising the promenade, talking. We drank a bottle of wine in the evening and poked our heads round the doors of five or six 'night-clubs' near the hostel. They were really brothels, and the initial smiles of invitation changed to irritation or indifference when it was realised we weren't going to stay.
Found that I could fly to London or Amsterdam for $240USD (+$35 tax). I have exactly £170 in traveller's cheques; £35, $76 and 140DM1 in cash, approx £300 in all left – as well as around £35 in Lebanese money. The ticket would be almost £200, so I've really no more than a week to decide at approx £10/day. Looks like going to Odessa to meet Cams is out!
...later | 18.40
Byblos certainly has a pretty side to it – surrounded by hills and the sea, with the old port and Roman ruins. The campsite is 2km from town and it's excellent. I've spread my mat on top of a cliff, 50 feet above the sea and directly in line with the dying sun, an hour before sunset, with food and beer and my radio; but also a restlessness, a dissatisfaction somehow, and I know not what! I want too much from life, I want the inexpressible, the infinite to fall into my ken, and I'm not satisfied with half-realised Truths that I'm not even sure are Truths!
The sky has cleared up, awaiting the reverse drama of sunset. It struck me in Luxor that sunsets are dramas in reverse! The bright star - the hero, slowly waning - deepening in intensity and colour and character, but disappearing, being swallowed up by a far greater depth than himself, slowly receding and finally fading away. Melancholic, but profound and emotive; more realistic and touching than a fake-happy ending of newly awakened prosperity and awareness - when all awareness seems to lead down into the all-powerful darkness, and meaninglessness2.
1. Deutsch Mark - currency of Germany before adoption of the Euro.
2. The view expressed here amounts to: sadness and pain are the only real things that endure. The 'happy' ending is just an illusion, behind it the all-powerful Dark Meaninglessness. Modern-day @barge sees things differently!
Good for you that you have a diary of your travels. :) I don't keep tabs on mine. Lol
Hey @dawnsheree, I posted about my diary-writing if you're interested. Great resource now, years later :) ... am now following a fellow traveller 👍 - thanks for stopping by!
Yes. Enjoyed the read and to travel back in time with you experiences. Looking forward for more. ^^
You really paint a picture with your words. It's fascinating to read this and follow along. Shame for Cams in Odessa though!
Thanks @camuel, working on the next bit :) - and yeah, had wanted to make my way up around the Black Sea and visit my pal Cams, who was similarly on a year out - but in the Russian-speaking world. He came over to Heidelberg that summer to visit, so I did get to see him eventually 🌟
I see we have another travelling guru in our midst :D
You have a touch at this, I would be careful @dawnsheree, the guy will compete with you :P
^^ Would love to know someone who has the same passion as me.
And look... it's St. Valentine's day :P
Thanks for the compliment @spiritualmax - however, competition? There's space on the blockchain for an infinite varietiy of expression no? And since you refer to possible bargebehaviour, let me assure yawl that I consider myself to be neither more nor less, not bigger nor smaller etc etc than any expression of life - human or otherwise, and as such find there to be no real basis for comparison in a universe filled with an infinnity of unique expressions (feel like I wanna add ...'of the same One' :).
Bit of a serious response for a light-hearted statement, just felt the need to clarify!
Peace 🕉
Hi Barge
Such devastation in Beirut! It was illuminating to read about the beauty you found there, spliced with the more westernised cynical tone.
I love shisha. Had my own until the bulb smashed. Double apple is my favourite. What's yours?
It seems a very expensive place. Those flights! And a lot of faffing about with visas and uncertainty. I'd have been terrified.
Thanks for that.
Aha, the journey to truths. Nice!
This is gorgeous and I'm intrigued to hear how the modern-day @barge sees it now.
Great piece of work, man!
Cheers
Anj x
Hmm, yeah apple def. my favourite and what I would always ask for. I brought one back with me from Egypt in 98, but it's long gone now! There are a couple of places in Ed. that serve shisha - nice and chilled :)
I hadn't been able to obain a Syrian visa in Cairo, so it was always going to be that way. I kinda liked it though, the uncertainty and unknown was also accompanied by a lot of spontaneity, and although I didn't fully realise it at the time, this made for a lot of interesting experiences.
Thanks Anj 😳 - I guess, starting from:
...well, for md@barge, sadness and pain seem to endure only because they remain unacknowledged (and unprocessed)...bargetheyounger hasn't looked inside - look at how he writes, there's very little emotion to be seen....the poor guy's got it all bottled up inside, so he sees it as enduring :). For MDB, happiness in a certain sense may still be an illusion 😌, however, behind it all is the spectrum opposite of Dark Meaninglessness. The experience of this Bright Significance (!?) today is at least as intense as was the experience of its opposite in the past! 🕉
You still have the shisha cafes in Ed? We had quite a few in Liverpool but they closed not long after the smoking ban. A few remained (maybe still do) but you had to sit outside in wind tunnels with a bit of tarpaulin keeping the rain off. I like shisha, but don't wanna suffer for it :D
I see how the spontaneity opens up possibilities. I drove around Europe for a bit with no fixed destination in mind. We had 2 car accidents which were pretty spontaneous :P. It was a great adventure. Yours sounds epic though. Beirut!
Looking back at your younger self with compassion. Nice. Yes, the entire spectrum is there to experience depending on where you fix your gaze, I suppose. Wish I knew :D
cheers
Anj :)
Oh yes, still a few places to smoke shisha here, but same as Liverpool - have to sit outside. Best in sunny weather of course :)
LOL at spontaneous accidents, but oops :(
Sounds like you're close to/or have given up thinking that the finding is possible? Dunno if I'm reading it right, but just to say that you can find out if you really want, it's all there, laid out in multi-colour..........all there Anj :)
All where? Gimme a map :D
I haven't given up looking. You know how it is -- distractions, habits, repetition, eBay... I look, think there's something there, look away for a fraction of a second, it's gone.
:D
Hmmmmmm, what can I say? 😏
Lol. I probably need to shroom :D
...sure....and how about another 'M'...editation? Also said to be the cure for all ailments - quote being ascribed to ET (not the German dude) again :D