Cre8mania staged a cool 3D mapping show on the National Museum of Beirut as part of La Nuit des Musées last Saturday. I personally missed the event but fortunately for us here’s a video to show how it looked like.
Make sure to watch it in high defintion.
I’ve been watching for a while now what the parliamentary candidates have to say about their electoral programs and the amount of literal bullshit you get to see and hear is sickening. The promises almost everyone is making are so ridiculous and fanciful that I can’t believe there are real people supporting them and their programs.
Take for example this video by Nicolas Sehnaoui which promises a solution for the chronic traffic congestion.
In parallel with the above plan, this gentleman named Nazih Najem wants to also build 13 dams covering the whole country.
We live in a country where a pothole takes forever to get fixed, yet this candidate wants to convince us that 13 dams can be built with the flip of a switch.
I really have nothing personal against Sehnaoui or Najem, the above two ads just happened to have appeared on my Facebook feed and I’m pretty sure other candidates are promising similar stuff. The thing is, why can’t they keep it real? First of all, members of the parliament are in principle supposed approve laws and governments expenditure. Initiating projects on the other hand falls under the duties of each ministry, so how on earth can these candidates promise projects?
Anyway, I personally don’t care who wins and who loses, and I’m not interested to see new faces winning because thank god neither my life nor my income depend on any of them. In fact, I won’t even bother voting for anyone because I’d rather put the energy for going to the polling station into something more useful for myself. I just pity those who actually believe such campaigns and waste their time and effort supporting these candidates.
The Ministry of Culture is organizing the 5th edition of La Nuit des Musées which will take place this Saturday April 14th. This year, 13 museums around Lebanon will be open for free to the public starting 5:00PM until late at night.
Free shuttles will be available at LibanPark parking in Mathaf area for people from Beirut who wish to visit the museums in the north and south, but reservations are mandatory through Virgin Ticketing box office to secure your place.
I highly recommend you use public transportation to visit the participating museums in Beirut by the way because it tends to get very crowded around them on this day.
Here’s the list of the participating museums:
MUSÉE NATIONAL DE BEYROUTH
de 17h00 à 23h00
“Mathaf”, rue de Damas
MIM, MUSÉE DES MINÉRAUX
de 17h00 à 23h00
Campus de l’innovation et du sport, Université Saint-Joseph
MUSÉE DE PRÉHISTOIRE LIBANAISE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ SAINT-JOSEPH
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue de l’Université Saint-Joseph, quartier Monnot
VILLA AUDI
de 17h00 à 23h00
Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh
MUSÉE NICOLAS IBRAHIM SURSOCK
de 17h00 à 00h00
Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh
MUSÉE ARCHÉOLOGIQUE DE L’AUB
de 17h00 à 22h00
Université américaine de Beyrouth, Ras Beyrouth
MUSÉE DE LA BANQUE DU LIBAN
de 17h00 à 23h00
Locaux de la Banque du Liban, Sanayeh
SENTIER CULTUREL À SAÏDA
MUSÉE DU SAVON
PALAIS DEBANNÉ
KHAN SACY
KHAN EL-IFRANJ
KASR OLA
de 17h00 à 23h00
MUSÉE DU CATHOLICOSSAT DE CILICIE
de 17h00 à 23h00
Antélias
MUSÉE DES ORPHÉLINS DU GÉNOCIDE ARMÉMIEN “ARAM BEZIKIAN”
de 17h00 à 23h00
Jbeil
MACAM – MUSÉE D’ART MODERNE ET CONTEMPORAIN
de 17h00 à 23h00
Alita, Jbeil
MUSÉE ETHNOGRAPHIQUE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE BALAMAND
de 17h00 à 22h00
Koura
I lived my whole life in Beirut and never knew you can actually buy a boat ride around the coast and the Pigeon rock until last year!
I always knew about the two small fishing ports in Dalieh (Raouche) and Ain El Mrayseh, but a friend last summer told me that people can pay the fishermen in Dalieh for a cool boat ride around the area. So back in October I decided to take my kid and do it and we absolutely enjoyed it. I’ve been to a few similar rides in Byblos, Saida and Tripoli but to be honest they’re quite dull compared to what you see in Raouche. And now that the weather is getting nice for such rides, I recommend you plan it because it gives you a very nice perspective of the seaside and pigeon rock.
First of all, you should know how to reach the Dalieh fishing port which is located right next to the Movenpick Hotel. On your way to Movenpick, slow down before reaching its entrance and you will notice a small unpaved road to the right, stop your car there and ask one of the fishermen you will find there to assist you for finding a parking spot at the port entrance. Don’t try driving further down the road unless you have an SUV because it can seriously damage your car.
Going down to the port by foot takes a couple of minutes, but make sure to negotiate the price for the ride with the fishermen before you go. I recall we paid around $50 for 4 adults and 3 children on a ~20 minutes ride. And more importantly, make sure to also have a mosquito repellant because you will definitely need it on the way down.
Don’t be surprised with the port state once you reach it though. It is very ill equipped because the government was supposed to revamp it in 2012 but it unfortunately never delivered and even tried to privatize it, hence why you see the fishermen who live there complaining on the news every now and then. Add to that, the water surrounding it was full of trash coming from the Costa Brava when we went.
So, once ready, hop into the small boat (no life jackets by the way), enjoy the views, and make sure to talk with the guy steering the boat because all fishermen there have so many interesting stories to tell (our guy was called Mohammad Itani). You will see several sea caves, among which is the one below Dbeibo Cafe where a seal supposedly lives. The boat will also go a good distance into the sea for you to see the coast, and on the way back you will approach the pigeon rock and sail inside the hollow part in it.
On the way back from the port, you can’t not see the small houses where some fishermen live, and the contrast you will see between these poor wooden houses and the adjacent luxurious Movenpick is just awkward… However, the setting of their terrace and the views they have from it is so beautiful.
I personally have no idea if the families living there actually own their properties by law, and I also don’t know how legal are the attempts to privatize the area. However, the fishermen who work there definitely deserve a better port and it is a shame for the government to keep it that way. Elsewhere in the world you would see a whole economy built around such rock formations, but then again this is how things are here…
Anyway again, do not miss this cool ride if you have never done it before.
One of the things I really struggle with every weekend is coming up with a new place to take my kid to for some outdoor fun. The options in Beirut are quite limited due to the lack of public spaces/gardens so most of the times we end up at a closed playground, which I absolutely despise, and sometimes at some place up in the mountains when the weather permits.
However, I’ve been lately thinking that the Municipality of Beirut actually does have the capacity to compensate for this lack of public space during the weekends and holidays at minimum, and they can seriously focus on this instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on what they label as attempts to revive Nejmeh square.
Beirut has a lot of big schools such as Lycée Abdelkader, La Sagesse, Makassed and International College to name a few, in addition to many public schools as well, and most of them have large fields with kids playgrounds. So why not can’t the municipality agree with a couple of large schools in every area to open their doors during the weekends in order for the people to enjoy a casual troll or jog away from the polluted streets or even bring their kids to play and spend some time.
I know the whole thing is not as simple as just opening the schools’ doors and it definitely needs money and human resources to make it happen, but the municipality can take it as an opportunity to provide jobs for part timers who are willing to participate. Moreover, schools can also benefit by offering to rent small kiosks for business owners for example.
So yes, instead of pouring money into pointless projects and initiatives, how about we simply try to make use of what’s already available?
I was searching for some info about Al Murr Tower last night when I stumbled upon some interesting stuff about it. I actually always knew the structure was built by Michael Al Murr back in the 70s but I never knew Solidere had plans for it in the90s.
According to this article from The Daily Star in 1999, Solidere claimed the tower in exchange of shares from Michael Al Murr as part of the reconstruction plan for Beirut cnetral disctrict, and was originally intending to demolish it and replace it with another high-rise building to house their headquarters in addition to office spaces for other companies and a rooftop restaurant on the last two floors.
The whole thing however was called off when Michael Al Murr felt unsatisfied with the terms of the sale and asked for his tower back. You can read all about it here.
Other sources on Facebook also claim that the reason nothing was done with the tower during all the past years is basically due to the damage incurred to the building structure during war days which probably can’t allow for further works to be performed, but I’m not sure how credible is that.
I know the everyone simply just got used to the tower its area was even named after it, but with all the fancy buildings nearby, it looks really ugly now and I don’t mind having it demolished. Doing it with explosives would make a good I guess! Otherwise, allowing graffiti artists to take it over would also be a cool idea.
Second photos via Beiruti Atik FB Page
Check out this video shot inside a 1,400m2 two floor penthouse apartment in Sama Beirut that is reportedly selling for a whooping $27,000,000.
Needless to say it is massively big and sports an amazing 360 degree view of Beirut, with a pond on the 1st floor and a pool on the second. Watch the video and eat your heart out! 😛
via reddit
Banque Libano-Française recently started a blog to engage people with the progress made to build their new headquarter in Charles Helou area, and they’re taking advantage of it to also raises awareness on modern architectural heritage in Lebanon by talking about 12 significant landmark projects which influenced the architecture scene in the country between 1926 and 1997.
As part of this project, the Director of the Arab Center for Architecture George Arbid will be sharing interesting notes, pictures, plans, sketches and studies once every week on a certain building/structure around town.
So far they covered Charles Corm in Achrafieh, Saint-Georges Hotel, Carlton Hotel (demolished in 2008), and Starco building. The presented info are quite interesting and will certainly make you see the buildings that still exist nowadays from a really different perspective.
They still have 8 buildings to talk about and you can follow the series here.
Emirates Airlines announced last month it will be operating an A380 test flight to Beirut Airport on March 29th in order to test the operations and necessary infrastructure to later accommodate a regular A380 service to Lebanon.
This is a (somehow) big deal now for our airport because when the A380 was unable to land in Beirut when it was first introduced 10 years ago since it needs special infrastructure unlike and other plane. So I assume the ministry of transport and the Lebanese civil aviation authority did the necessary upgrades in order to finally make it possible.
The double deck A380 is by the way the world’s largest passenger plane, and I’ve heard a lot about the luxurious experience that Emirates offers on its first and business class from friends who tried the service (check what is it like here on Youtube). I’m not sure though how cost effective will this luxury be aboard the 4 hours Beirut-Dubai, but I imagine people who take long-haul flights will definitely appreciate it. I personally wouldn’t mind a refreshing shower on a 14 hours trip!
Middle East Airlines recently announced they will be operating direct flights from Beirut to Madrid three times a week starting June 16th 2018, and it is a good news to everyone planning a vacation to Spain this summer.
The only way to reach Spain non-stop previously was to fly to Barcelona aboard one of the charter flights operated by local travel agencies, but ticket prices can reach ~$900 during summer season which is a total rip off just like the overpriced tickets to Paphos in Cyprus and Dalaman in Turkey. On the other hand, the advertised price by MEA (starting $358) seems very reasonable even if your final destination is Barcelona since you can simply take a train from Madrid.
Still, the budget airline Vueling is also reportedly in talks to launch affordable Beirut-Barcelona flights so there’s still hope for this route to get cheaper as well.
