[Scroll down for pictures]
One of our taxi drivers in Damascus described Beirut as the Paris of the Middle East. That's far-fetched (although maybe not if you are from Syria). Nevertheless, before the Lebanese civil war between 1976 and 1991 Beirut was the most sophisticated and cosmopolitan city in the Middle East, a regional capital of sorts with international banks, a vigorous and diverse press, a vibrant cultural and intellectual life, and the best universities in the Arab world. Alasdair did his doctoral dissertation research here in the mid-1970s and testifies to the accuracy of this wonderful description from one of our guidebooks: "Prewar Beirut was enlivened by a kind of eczema, its itch for deal-making and its suppurations of money bandaged in a Frenchified veneer of strip shows, smart shops, bars, and bikinis. Here both Arabs and Westerners could meet and breathe easily and sell their guns, butter, and bodies to one another."
The civil war, and Israeli invasion of 1982, put an end to all that, at least for a while. During the war, an estimated 125,000 died, an extraordinary figure in a country with fewer than 4 million people. Beirut was split down the middle by a 'Green Line' that separated mostly Muslim West Beirut from mostly Christian East Beirut. Whole neighborhoods were abandoned, as militias fought their battles from building to building.
Images of Beirut's physical destruction and casual violence, its protracted hostage dramas and massive car bombs, are so ingrained in anyone who remembers the war that present day Beirut comes as a genuine surprise. The dissonance between image and reality is great indeed. Certainly it has lost some of its glitz, but it has also made a remarkable, if perhaps fragile, recovery. Beirut is now a very pleasant place to visit and quite safe (that is if you ignore the driving, which is emphatically and without any exception the worst in the world).
The first two pictures show the waterfront Corniche, where Beirutis of all sects and classes come to stroll, skate, jog, fish, snooze, and chat every evening. Globalization being what it is, there is a Hard Rock Cafe and a McDonald's here (although the nearby Holiday Inn is still pockmarked with bullet holes and shell craters). Perhaps you can sense from the top four pictures something of the beauty of Beirut's physical setting. In truth, we enjoyed Beirut perhaps more than any other city we have visited, mostly because of its veneer of sophistication and, at least in West Beirut where we stayed, its easy, tolerant atmosphere. The restaurants are absolutely extraordinary (the Lebanese seem to run all the best restaurants throughout the Arab world) and we ate delicious inexpensive food at every meal (prompting Alasdair to throw caution to the wind and break his own injunction never to praise a meal in the Middle East for 24 hours; sure enough, he got very sick).
The first two pictures in the second row were taken on the grounds of the American University of Beirut, which has one of the loveliest campuses anywhere. During the civil war a car bomb destroyed one of the buildings and the president was assassinated walking across campus. It seems very different today.
Many Lebanese fled the country if they could during the war. Many Christians left for the safety of what had been a small village, Jounieh, a little up the coast, and it quickly became a kind of new Beirut with explosive urban development in all directions. The last two picture in the second row show Jounieh today.
Beirut still has deep scars, far deeper than can be detected by tourists with their "eyes wide shut." Large neighborhoods in south Beirut, particularly the Palestinian refugee camps, are definitely Third World in appearance and a far cry from West Beirut. The city is still littered with damaged buildings, particularly in the center and along the "Green Line" (in the third row). But central Beirut is being rebuilt according to an extremely ambitious, comprehensive, and controversial plan. Large areas have been bulldozed clear of their damaged buildings to make way for new construction. Although the plan has been criticized on all sorts of grounds, we were most impressed with what has been accomplished. Some of the streets are thoughtfully designed and the buildings really elegant. If the plan is ever complete, downtown Beirut will indeed be the most attractive city in the region. The last four pictures show some of the reconstruction in progress. And just to emphasize the point that Beirut has changed greatly since the days of the civil war: one of the new buildings in an area obliterated during the fighting will house a Virgin Megastore (Starbucks arrived in Beirut long before it came to New Hampshire!)
PLEASE CLICK TO ENLARGE AND SCROLL VERTICAL IMAGES
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