Lebanon

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had never been so close to a country with an active war zone - well, here I was in one. Lebanon's recent history has been a very difficult one, and the recent conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah group has left it reeling in many ways. The first evidence of the impact of the war was the fact that we were forced to take a fairly circuitous route down to the coast, as bridges on the Damascus-Beirut motorway had been targeted by Israeli air operations. We drove under one of these, with tangled steel protruding from the shattered concrete. Checkpoints throughout the journey, usually including an armoured vehicle or two (another first for me) were further signs of the state in which the country existed.

However, that which truly drove home the impact of these events for me was reaching Beirut itself. Planning on going out for a night out in the "Paris of the Middle East", we were shocked to find the entire central business district deserted at 8:00 PM. Café-lined streets, along which, Mo told us, it is usually impossible to find a seat, were only accessible via armed blockades. While we could enter, it was clear that a curfew had been set due to political unrest. Just outside the city centre, the base camp of the protesters (many homeless due to the war in the south) was the most lively spot in the area. This was a truly eerie experience, and a glimpse into a world to which I have had very little exposure.

Much of which I saw in Lebanon was far more heartening. Trips to beautiful seaside towns and gorgeous mountain national parks (where the last of the Cedars of Lebanon, pictured above and featuring on the national flag, cling to existence) had us seeing a country where people know how to enjoy life, and are always eager to welcome strangers in to enjoy it with them. Here is a place that has a huge amount going for it, and I feel quite privaleged to have experienced it while so many others are avoiding what is essentially a safe (as long as you exercise common sense in staying away from dangerous areas and being sensitive to the problems in the region) and hugely appealing country and people.