| |
|
| Beirut: the city that rose again | The Telegraph:The Lebanese capital is fast becoming one of the most exciting and welcoming cities on Earth, says Ian Henderson.
Out of my Beirut hotel window the jumble of history is everywhere. A ruined Ottoman fort and an exquisite Maronite chapel are immediately outside. Concrete blocks from the infamous Green Line which used to divide the city are scattered among fallen Roman columns. On the skyline, mosques and churches – there are around 18 official religions in Lebanon – frame the skeleton of the old Holiday Inn, a favourite target for anyone with a rocket launcher during the civil war which ended 11 years ago.
When friends knew I was going to Beirut, the reaction was split between those who see it as the most thrilling place to be right now – the Next Big Thing; and those who haven't got past seeing it as a war zone where well-meaning travellers end up chained to radiators. Both have a point. Style pundits are noisily buying up apartments and rightly singing the praises of Lebanese musicians and designers while Hizbollah and Israel's jets still fight it out around them. The Green Line is rapidly being built over in the shiny new Downtown district, and it's often hard to tell which is a shelled building and which is a construction site.
People I spoke to in Beirut are astonishingly matter of fact about Lebanon's recent past, telling stories of homes and lives destroyed; yet at the same time they are insistent that the world should look at Beirut not through the eyes of the American writer P J O'Rourke (it featured in his book, Holidays in Hell) but as a hopeful, optimistic and thriving place that is fast reinventing itself.
The tiny Maronite chapel is just in front of the huge new Blue Mosque, and there's a perfectly restored Orthodox church next to a Catholic cathedral. Perhaps surprisingly, given recent tensions, the synagogue is being restored too. And all these are within yards of each other, every one getting the same attention from the stonemasons and painters, and all in streets where you might find a Ferrari dealer next to a funky bar or a sharp designer next to a flat bread stall.
Some serious money is coming into Beirut. Sleek steel and glass buildings are rising around Downtown, some people have enough money to risk their Porsches among the beaten-up Mercedes taxis that veer honking across the streets (the horn being preferred to wing mirrors), hoardings around building sites along the Corniche proudly trumpet the return of Beirut's glamorous Sixties heyday with pictures of carefree film stars and Riva speedboats.
The hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray's successes with One Aldwych in London and Carlisle Bay in Antigua suggest he knows an opportunity when he sees one. His latest venture, Le Gray, is one of Beirut's newest and chicest hotels. Gray talks about the "kindness industry" and its positive effects for Beirut and Lebanon, though he's far from blind to the risks. We sat in the comfortable Cigar Bar before dinner and watched the smart young Lebanese mixing with the international visitors – they aren't defined by the conflicts of the past.
Next day on the waterfront we met one of them, Kamal Mouzawak, who calls his brand of entrepreneurialism "gastroeconomics" (motto, make food not war). Believing that in a world of increasing global sameness people and cultures are defined most closely by their culinary heritage, he encourages real farmers' markets where the actual producers (rather than resellers) come in from the countryside with fresh vegetables, preserves, fruits and natural remedies.
He has also opened the wonderful Tawlet café, where each day a different cook will compose a menu from fresh local ingredients in airy surroundings of white tiles, wooden shelves, clever recycled lighting and fresh flowers. It's far beyond the familiar baba ganoush and shawarma street food – from the daunting raw liver and lamb (eaten with a pinch of salt and paprika) through to freekeh (roasted green wheat) and delicious ricotta, coal-tasting Armenian basturma (dried meat cured with spices) and 961 beer.
A stroll past the beach clubs of the Corniche or an evening in the bars and restaurants of Gemmayze reveal more and more people creating the buzz and excitement of a new Beirut. Coffee shops and ice-cream parlours, sports bars and music venues seem to be opening daily among the elegant Parisian-style buildings. And if you're brave enough to tackle the crazy driving on the roads towards Damascus and the Bekaa Valley, you can find more evidence of people building a new economy from the ruins of the old.
Sami and Ramzi Ghosn's El Massaya winery is a good example. Deep in Hizbollah territory (you can tell by the yellow and black flags flying by the roadblocks) a drive down a couple of dusty tracks past industrial units and abandoned buildings takes you into a lavender-scented vineyard surrounded by olive trees and rustling poplars. Starting from scratch in 1998, the Ghosns set themselves the task of rivalling better-known Lebanese wineries like Château Musar. With help from well-known French winemakers and undaunted by conflict, they've done
it – you can find their excellent wines at merchants like Berry Brothers and on exclusive London wine lists.
The brothers' shady garden and little restaurant is a perfect place to enjoy a sunny afternoon, especially if you've been touring the extraordinary ruins at Baalbek on the way. The ancient city of Heliopolis is one of the best-preserved and most important ancient sites of the region, and despite earthquakes and almost two millennia of looting it is still breathtaking.
The "small temple" is bigger than the Parthenon and has exquisite carvings still in amazing condition, while the six columns still standing of the vast temple of Jupiter are the tallest ever discovered. Even on a Sunday morning the only other visitors were a group of women, their black hijabs stark against the vast white stones.
We took a longer route back to the city, avoiding the swerving trucks and maniacal motorcyclists of the main road, passing over the mountains (where Beirutis come to ski in winter) through pines and cedars. One side effect of the country's entrepreneur-ialism is that there are a lot of unplanned and often unfinished building projects dotted randomly across the hills, while driving into the city takes you through some areas where the benefits of a restarted economy have yet to be felt – cheap shops, broken pavements and unfixed buildings. But despite vintage US army tanks and well-armed soldiers being part of the street furniture in some areas, there's nowhere that feels unsafe.
Nevertheless, it's a pleasure to be back in the quietly sophisticated comfort of Le Gray to reflect on the Beirut experience – maybe with a visit to the spa or over dinner in one of the fine restaurants. The hotel is an expression of confidence in the future, just like El Massaya, the glossy shops of Downtown, the bars of Gemmayze and the Souk el Tayeb farmers' market.
Leave your preconceptions at home, and you'll find Beirut to be one of the most exciting and welcoming cities on Earth.
From the British Telegraph newspaper: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/artsandculture/8997663/Beirut-the-city-that-rose-again.html
| | | | Express yourself! | Do you want to share your thoughts? Do you want to express yourself and share your ideas with your alumni friends?
If so, please send your article(s) to info@asgalumni.com | | | | Alumni Delegates Info | Your Alumni Delegates Contact Info
Name
Class
Phone number
E-mail
1
Dany Aoun
1994
71/973060
aoun.dany@gmail.com
2
Adel Koussa
1994
03/745327
adel.koussa@hotmail.com
3
Carol Daoud Zwein
1995
03/442449
carolmdaoud@hotmail.com
4
Rami Matar
1995
03/097000
rami.matar@noortech.net
5
Marc Reaidy
1996
03/494003
marcreaidy@inco.com.lb
6
Roland Awaida
1996
03/468530
roland1312@hotmail.com
7
Johnny Matar
1997
03/591983
johnmatar@hotmail.com
8
Roméo Ghazal
1997
03/565927
rghazal@gmail.com
9
Najla Ghobeira
1998
03/588783
najla.ghobeira@hotmail.com
10
Charbel Azar
1998
71/115863
c.azar@yahoo.com
11
Rosine Zgheib Abi Rizk
1999
03/418979
rosinezgheib@gmail.com
12
Antoine Zgheib
1999
03/041195
antoinezgheib.alico@gmail.com
13
Fadia Hanna
2000
03/930019
fadia@aleaconcept.com
14
Tarek Zein
2000
71/636223
zeintarek@gmail.com
15
Layal Estephan
2001
03/287314
lestephan@hotmail.com
16
Jack Salamé
2001
03/112779
jack_salameh@hotmail.com
17
Josiane Khalifé
2002
03/948267
josianekhalife@hotmail.com
18
Karim Dagher
2002
03/629816
karimndagher@hotmail.com
19
Rita Oueiss
2003
70/877055
oueissrita@hotmail.com
20
Nassima Tabet
2003
03/601808
nassimatabet@hotmail.com
21
Hiba Trad
2004
03/423173
hibatrad@gmail.com
22
François Nader
2004
03/143458
franader@gmail.com
23
Cynthia Akiki
2005
70/875189
cynthy87@hotmail.com
24
Samer Hayek
2005
03/942699
hayek.samer@hotmail.com
25
Nathalie Tamer
2006
03/447844
natalie.tamer@hotmail.com
26
Edmond Tarek Khairallah
2006
03/952777
etk.com@hotmail.com
27
Sela Abboud
2007
03/086394
selaabboud@hotmail.com
28
Jad Daoud
2007
03/137538
daoud.jad@gmail.com
29
Serge Korkomaz
2008
70/314754
serge-korkomaz@hotmail.com
30
Jana Azour
2008
03/342986
jana.azour@hotmail.com
31
Nissa Zeinaty
2009
03/559561
nissazeinaty@hotmail.com
32
Camille Succar
2009
70/356224
camil_asuccar@hotmail.com
33
Rajeanne Chami
2010
70/216772
rajeanne.chami@live.com
34
Ralph Reaidy
2010
70/538086
ralphreaidy@gmail.com
35
Mia Cherfane
2011
70/579100
miacherfane@hotmail.com
36
Roy Aoudé
2011
03/585426
roy_aoude@hotmail.com
| | | | picture upload | Important
Please note that all uploaded pictures that are not being saved under your first and last name (ex: charbelKHALIL.jpg) are being deleted. | | | | | | |
|
|
