Day 2: Churches, Christmas Trees and Vomit

Waking up in order to vomit is not a fun way to start the first full day of vacation. Yet, I didn't speak enough Arabic the night before to know what kind of street food I was ordering. It was delicious and there was a lot of yelling and pointing involved but it didn't settle quite right in my stomach.

We went on to have a few more stomach churning experiences that day. The first was that we hadn't all gone to AUB instead of AUD. The campus was beautiful, it was in a lively part of town and the students we saw looked happy to be there. After a little exploring Jean Paul met a professor and she showed us the private AUB Mediterranean beach. As we passed the the beach guard the professor, a cute little woman, says "They're not with me," and the guard let us swim and enjoy it anyways.

The Guys and the Amazing AUB

We got picked up by Jean-Philippe and headed North out of the city. The drive, itself, to Harissa, an area that includes a Maronite church, a Catholic church and another small church all on top of a mountain, almost made me a believer. The scariest aspect of Beirut, except maybe an Israeli invasion, is the driving. People in Lebanon are the most insane drivers I have ever come across and I thought there were some crazies in Boone. More on that in another post though.

The (In)Famous Jean-Philippe

After being thoroughly frightened by our resident driver Jean-Philippe on the way out of Beirut, he proceeded to tell us about the gift Uncle Sam gave to Lebanon. A fleet of brand new Dodge Charger police cars, one of which, lights flashing, he just passed.

“Don't worry about the police here. Even if they come up behind you with their lights on. They always have their lights on, like a Christmas tree.”

How comforting.

Then about the military checkpoint ahead:

“No talking, no laughing, no taking pictures. Just look straight ahead. He might make us stop and get out of the car too. There might be too many people in the car and one of you may need to get out.”

Telephrique on the Way Up

As we slowed down, turned off the music and gazed gravely out the windshield, the guard waved us through without even a 'bonjour'. We got to the bottom of the mountain and took a lovely, yet somewhat rickety cable car or 'telephrique' up above Beirut and into Harissa. The view of the city combined with the Mediterranean and sweeping mountains was astounding. Until that moment I hadn't really enjoyed the natural beauty of Lebanon. The mountains reminded me of home, they were hugging me the whole way up.

Beirut from Above

On top of the mountain, after passing through a snack bar, juice shop and gift shop we entered the grounds of the churches. Here an ugly Maronite church clashed with a beautiful statue of Mary and the incredible view. It was very reminiscent of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. We reached the top the spiral staircase that led to the feet of Mary and Jean-Phillip showed us that if you rubbed a coin on the base of the statue and it stuck then your prayers would be granted. His stuck.

The Mary and the Maronite Church

After another stomach churning drive we arrived at a monastery that overlooked the Mediterranean. Here I tried to climb a tree but Jean-Philippe informed that the nuns would come yell at me. Angry nuns yelling at you on the edge of cliff is a fun thought but not one I wanted to experience.

That evening the six of us ate at and explored Byblos, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. It consisted of Phoenician ruins jutting out into the ocean as well as shops and restaurants tucked away in a truly ancient city. We frolicked down narrow cobble alleyways and lively squares as techno pulsed from the clubs nearby.

As we pulled into the hotel I reflected on the harrowing drive, intimidating authority figures and so many churches and realized: I need a strong drink...