I just stumbled upon this list of incredible swimming pools in the world by The Huffington Post and was surprised to find the swimming pool at Le Gray Hotel featured in it.
The swimming pool is truly stunning and has a cool view over the Mediterranean and Beirut downtown. It’s also worth noting that the spa at Le Gray was earlier also ranked among the top 10 spas in the middle east.
I just stumbled upon this really good news about the Ministry of Telecommunications’ plan to upgrade the internet infrastructure by using fiber-optic cables to connect Ogero switching centers to residential and business premises.
The current infrastructures utilizes a fiber-optic network to connect centers together but relies on old copper wires to carry out internet data to the subscribers. The problem with these old wires is that they can handle transferring a maximum of 8Mbps depending on how close to the switching center you live. That’s why 1/3 of internet users in Lebanon cannot get more than 2Mbps to their homes since they simply live too far away from a central office!
The upgrade project will take 5 years to finish as per minister Harb and should allow internet speed to reach 100Mbps. So until that time, expect to encounter a lot of digging around the streets and just pray for the whole thing to finish on time without any major interruption.
So I finally managed to watch Parts Unknown season five finale on Beirut (via torrent download) and was quite disappointed.
The show is actually about food and travel, so I was expecting Bourdain to explore some of Beirut’s hidden gems but instead he went to Burj Al Barajneh refugee camp in the first part of the episode to learn more about the Palestinians living conditions here in the country. He then made several people speak about religious diversity and how the different sects coexist happily in Lebanon (especially Sunni and Shia these days!), and he later visited some Hezbollah supporter in Dahieh all while portraying the party as a mighty beast.
Moreover, he never failed during the episode to stress about the threat coming from the east, that is the Islamic state. So it was basically more about politics than anything else. I believe he could have simply aired some recent report about the political situation in Lebanon and spared himself a trip here.
Every now and then photos like the one above surface on the internet and people start showering the Lebanese police and governmental employees in general with criticism.
No one is sure yet how authentic this photo is since the ISF hinted on twitter that the policeman might have done this stunt on a closed highway as part of some training. It would be really ugly if it turns out to be true, I mean this is the kind of stuff you expect zouzou ebba guys to be pulling on the highway, so having this officer acting the same way is just plain unacceptable…!
But thinking about the photo and the reactions it got for a moment make you realize it actually sums up the hypocrisy in our society…
The man is basically in charge of fining those who violate the law by performing such stunts, yet he enjoys doing them himself! Likewise, we tweet myriads of photos showing ISF officers texting on duty, while we fail to drop our phone when driving. We even argue that the new traffic law should allow us to check our phone on red lights!
We report tens of ISF officers on motorcycles without helmets, yet we also hate to wear them because it’s too hot and they mess our hair! We also break twitter writing about people bruning red lights around the city, but we are of course allowed to do it after 10PM because we know better. Oh and the best of all we also hate when people take advantage on us through “wasta”, but we absolutely have no problem using the same “wasta” to break the rules too!
So yeah, the photo is still ugly, and the officer still deserves to be punished for it, but next time you see something similar, don’t react as if it’s something out of this world, because what you will be seeing is just a reflection of this hypocrite society we live in.
Anthony Bourdain is back once again in Beirut to uncover more of the less known destinations in the city on CNN’s Parts Unknown.
The available photos show him at military the military themed bar Abu Elie, interviewing Michael Elefteriades and exploring Music Hall, as well as going on a tour with a group of motorcycle riders on the corniche.
The first time Anthony Bourdain came to Beirut was in 2006 and he was not able to finish his episode due to the 33-day Israeli war that broke out in July, so he later came back in 2010 and filmed it again. Back then he featured places like Pierre and Friends, Souk El Tayeb, Le Chef, Onno, Chez Maguy, and Falafel Sahyoun. I hope this episode features more places of the unbeaten path.
PArts Unknown airs very late at night our time by the way so you can catch the episode tomorrow morning on CNN’s website.
The good people at Lebtivity have the full program for nearly each and every festival going around the country this summer. So I thought it would be nice to compile them all in one post to help both tourists and locals better know about them and pick the concerts and events they would like to attend. Clicking on each event will lead you to its respective program on Lebtivity.com.
The International Festival has been held annually since 2003, in July. It takes place by the seaside in the historic quarter, in front of the castle built by Crusaders in the 12th century.
The festivals date back to the mid 20th century with the first organizing activities being held in 1955. After one year, presiden Chamoun named it the Baalbeck International Festival, which became a governmental institution whose goal was to promote tourism and Lebanese culture.
The Beiteddine Festival was launched amidst war and destruction in the middle of the 80’s. It came as an act of faith in Lebanon’s cultural specificity and its power of creativity and artistic freedom. It was a call for normality in the middle of the chaos and madness of the civil war. The festival takes place in the large 200-year old Beiteddine Palace.
Jounieh International Festival was launched in 2011 is now famous for the opening ceremony marked by the synchronized fireworks show along the bay of Jounieh. The festival takes place at Fouad Chehab stadium.
Zouk International Festival was launched in 2010 and attracts guests from all over the country and abroad. Zouk Mikael is 10 minutes away from Beirut, perched on a hill of Kesrouwan overlooking the Mediterranean. Its roman styled amphitheatre with a capacity of 2500, built for major events, hosts the festival.
The festival had a shy and amateur debut in the early 90’s until it acquired international standards and earned its place among international cultural festivals. In 2009, the Batroun International Festival was born and started hosting leading local and international artist from all over the world.
Ehdeniyat, which started in 2004, flourished from a local and national event to an International festival of Music and Art. But above all this, Ehdeniyat became an experience of glamour, culture and tradition; “An Experience that Never Ends”.
Beirut Holidays is a series of concerts and shows in the heart of Beirut Souks. Launched in 2012, the festival brings together diverse musical performances and talents, local artists and international performers, from East and West mixing varying genres and tastes.
After almost half a century, the Cedars International Festival will return this summer to Bsharri. The northern town will host several of Lebanon’s top artists as part of an effort to revive tourism in the district. The four-night festival will feature a wide range of musical and artistic performances.
An enchanting event taking place in Dbayeh this summer. An initiative by Tajammo Ahel Al Mahabba for the fifth consecutive year to raise the voice of hope and peace in Lebanon.
Moreover, the below smaller festivals will also be happening.
This Yohan storm might not be as intense and cold as Zina that Lebanon witnessed a few weeks ago, but it is sure bringing massive high waves and very strong wind.
These photos were all taken this morning by Tarek Hajjar and Bilal Soubra and show the damage caused to the cornishe in Ain El Mreisseh due to the high waves. I also heard on the news that part of Dbayeh maritime road close to Nahr El Kalb collapsed due to the storm.
On the bright side, fixing the barrier may now get the municipality a bit busy now and probably distract them from the possible removal of the the cool graffiti around Beirut.
I just stumbled upon this photo by Roadster diner on Facebook announcing that they’re opening soon in Zaitunay Bay.
With Classic Burger Joint and some coffee shops already operating there, I believe it’s pretty good to see Roadster opening as well which helps making Zaitunay Bay more accessible to average people, especially that it was labeled as a spot for the rich people when it was first launched.
Update:
As per Beirutista, P.F. Chang’s is also coming to Zaitunay Bay.
Where else other than Lebanon do you get to see some guy pulling a stunt on a busy intersection and saluting a police officer?
I wish this was about some cool fireworks show in Beirut, but it was the same boring scene here with stupid people firing rounds of bullets at midnight.
On the other hand, Dubai dazzled the world once more with amazing fireworks that lit up Burj Khalifa. And while they’re at it, they broke a Guinness world record by covering the tower with the largest LED display consisting of 70,000 LED bulbs.
