Lebanon - A Lesson on Beirut's History

Day 9 (Dec 29)

We started off with a lazy day, exhausted from our night out. Well, at least I was. Took a walk to the Corniche, in search of an NYT recommended resto called Casablanca. Unfortunately, it was only open at 1pm and we had arrived at 11am. My tummy could not wait, and anyway the menu didn't look so exciting - typical "western" food. I was happy to settle for MhdDonalds by the Mediterranean sea. :D

Then, we had the best lunch ever at Walimat Wadeh (where we got rejected 2 nights before). Shanaz ordered a dish of grape leaves stuffed with meat, but I ordered nothing cos I was stuffed from MhdDonalds. While she ate, I slept. Yup. I literally slept at the restaurant cos I was so sleep deprived. Great conversation and great company.

After lunch, we took a Walk Beirut tour (highly recommended by several major newspapers and by us). The tour guide, Ronnie, painted a very rich and fascinating picture of the history of Beirut. A few (or many) fun facts that we learnt about Beirut:

1) Beirut is a modern day city that sits on top of thousands of years/layers of history - Romans, Greeks, Phoenicians, Ottoman... We visited the downtown area where modern buildings lie side by side with ruins! One does not have to dig too deep in Beirut to discover them, but now the challenge is to move fwd with restoring modern Beirut while preserving its rich history.

2) The appointing of political leaders is based on religion. Depending on what % of the population your religion had during that census, the one with the largest % would get the most important seat, the second largest % would get the second most important seat, etc. The kicker is that the last and only census took place in 1932. Much has changed since.

3) Two reasons that some buildings are dilapidated and others are given spankin' new facelifts: old rent and new rent. Old rent was negotiated before the crazy inflation of the Lebanese Pound. In better times, they printed notes in one dollar denominations. For some reason, these rental contracts didn't have clauses to take into account inflation and these contracts had no end date! Now, the exchange rate is 1500 LBP = 1 USD. Rent that used to cost 3000 LBP still costs 3000 LBPs, but in real terms, 2 USD. The story is that landlords are trying to kick out the tenants that are still on "old rent" contracts by messing with water supplies, electricity, heating etc. The deal's so good though, that many tenants fight through the pain. Hence, landlords of buildings with old rent tend not to have enough money to maintain the buildings. New rent, on the other obviously has more money for maintenance.

4) The Holiday Inn is the most famous building in Beirut. It's a hotel that stopped operating in '75 when the civil war erupted. More than 30 years after the end of the civil war, its big ugly bomb-ridden shell still exists and cannot be removed.

It was (unfortunately) very centrally located (along the Green Line in the city centre), and was a great look-out post for watching enemy movements. It was so prime and so coveted that one could tell who was winning the war based on its current occupants. The various Lebanese factions, Syria, Israel, etc have all occupied it at one point or another. Even Yasser Arafat was king of the Hol Inn once! Apparently, it is still occupied by the Lebanese army. Not demolished because the Emir of Kuwait (who owns the property) and is neither selling nor developing because he doesn't trust Lebanon's political stability yet.

5) There's an entire neighborhood in the city centre called the Jewish quarter but no Jewish people live there! The last resident, and the only one for years, passed away a few months ago (check this out). Most fled during the 75 civil war, even more when Israel invaded in 82. Now the current PM is the only remaining resident in the neighborhood.

6) Many people in Lebanon identify as either "March 8" or "March 14". This refers to protests that took place at Place des Martyrs (where big demonstrations have taken place for decades) after Hariri was assassinated in 2005. On March 8, 600,000 pro-Syrian Lebanese stood their ground at Place des Martyrs. In response, 1 million anti-Syrian protestors made their way to Place des Martyrs on March 14. The jury is still out on who killed Hariri, but when investigations are concluded, who knows what might happen at Place des Martyrs.

7) One of the more random stops on our tour was to an old cinema building that is now very devastated. There, we were made to imagine how people partied in Beirut over 30 years ago. Rave parties used to take place at the former cinema theater on several floors, with pumpin' music and laser lights electrifying even the surrounding areas. Apparently, some older ravers are still living on the former glories of these rave parties and want to raise money to preserve the building). If you see pictures, you'll understand just how devastated the building is and how much it will take to reinstate it. As our guide said, "You know how good these ravers are at raising funds."