family

Day 14 – Beirut

Posted on April 6, 2018

And we will come back home, home again.

Our final day in Lebanon started fairly slow, with a bit of a sleep-in, then breakfast at the hotel. We heard that Fadi’s family had decided to drive to Beirut to see us one more time before we left which was a nice surprise.

We booked a nearby restaurant for a late lunch (on the hotel’s recommendation), and got ready and rested for their arrival. It was around 4pm when they arrived, and after some greetings, we all walked down to the restaurant, which was a seafood place down on the water (crossing busy streets with over 20 people is fun!).

It was good to have one final meal with everyone, though the restaurant wasn’t great. Probably the worst meal we had on our trip, so that was a nice way to end things! Afterwards we walked back and hung out in the hotel lobby, while chatting and ordering some sweets for dessert.

Once it reached 9pm, our taxi arrived to take us to the airport, so we had another extended goodbye, followed by the dreaded beginning to our long journey home.

Our first flight, from Beirut to Doha (4hrs) was at 1:30am, and I somehow managed to sleep through most of it (rare for me). Then we had a few hours wait until our Doha to Sydney flight (14hrs), which again I managed surprisingly well (slept for maybe 6 or 7 hours of it). I think it’s because on both flights there was an empty seat next to me, so there was a lot more space.

Lastly, we had a couple hours until our Sydney to Sunshine Coast flight (supposed to be a little over 1hr, but delays made it 2-3hrs). It’s good to finally be home though!

Overall, not a bad holiday. In fact, I would go as far as to say it was a good holiday.

Day 12 – Baalbek

Posted on April 3, 2018

How do you take a photo?

Today was one of our biggest days yet. We left our hotel bright and early around 7:30am, and met up with some of our Sydney family who are also visiting at the moment. We packed ourselves into a big van, and drove out of Beirut, towards our cousin Fadi’s house, who was going to be taking us around for the day.

We drove away from the city, through the scenic fields and mountains once more, before arriving at the house which he had built entirely himself, from the ground up over the past few years.

We got to meet his family and see his house, located in what seems like open farmland, with the mountains surrounding on all sides, where just over the mountain top is the Syrian border.

They bought a whole lot of munoosh, and laid out a range of cheeses, labneh, olives etc. for our breakfast – all locally sourced. We ate, and talked, and relaxed, before piling up in two cars and driving to our main destination for the day, Baalbek.

First in Baalbek, we were taken to The Sayyida Khawla Shrine, where locals come to pray and pay their respects. It is a beautifully built shrine and has a quiet peace to it. Apparently it is where the prophet’s granddaughter died so they built this shrine here, around her grave and tree she was buried under.

From there, we walked the short distance to the Baalbek Roman Ruins. They are some of the best preserved Roman ruins in Lebanon, including a huge temple at its center.

We had a tour guide of sorts, showing us around and explaining the history of various things, but since I couldn’t understand what he was saying, I wandered off to explore myself and take photos.

Fadi’s son came with me and became my new bestie. I mostly followed him around as he climbed over the ruins and rocks, and took a few photos when I could.

After exploring the main area, we went down to the main temple to have a look there and take more photos. It’s pretty incredible how many of the ruins are preserved.

It was incredibly hot and sunny though, so we headed off to the final underground area which was a sort of museum with different artifacts and information.

By the time we left Baalbek, it was late afternoon, soon to be sunset. We drove further up the mountain, climbing up towards the peak for a while, before arriving at the cliff-side restaurant where we were going to eat dinner. The owner had built this himself too, and although there’s not much to see at the entrance (which is a pretty hidden door next to a petrol station), once you walk in to the main restaurant, it opens up and you have an amazing view looking down over Lebanon, with snowcapped mountains all around.

A big selection of mezze was soon brought out, followed by the usual meats. It was a great way to end the day, and what felt like, to end the trip. This would be the last we would see our Lebanon family on this trip, so we all enjoyed eating, talking and taking in the view as day turned to night.

When we had finally finished eating, and drinking various teas and such, the owner of the restaurant took us down to his collection/museum he had set up under the restaurant. He had built these tunnels and filled them with items he had either bought/collected, or made himself. There was a lot of stuff, from a lot of different periods of time, so he just gave us a quick walk-through.

At last, it came time to say goodbye and head our separate ways. It was sad to be leaving so soon, and my new bestie was very sweet as we left. After our extended goodbyes, we drove off back down the mountain, towards the glowing lights of the city far below. It was a pretty long drive, so we all tried to sleep until we made it to the hotel.

Once there, we said goodbye to the driver and his family, before turning in for the night. It was maybe 11pm or 12am at this point, so I just downloaded the photos from my camera and went straight to bed. Doing the sorting, processing and uploaded in the morning, hence the late post.

We have two more days in Lebanon before we leave, and it seems like we won’t be doing a whole lot, as we need today to recover from yesterday, and then tomorrow we need to be ready for our flights (oh god…).

Day 10 – Tripoli

Posted on April 1, 2018

I bid you all a very fond farewell.

Today was a pretty quiet day, as it was our last day in Tripoli, before we head back to Beirut (another 3 or 4 nights there before coming home). Zena and co. went ahead to Beirut a day earlier to meet up with some other family there, while the parentals went out in the morning for breakfast and to do so some shopping. This left me some time at home to catch up on my photos/blog, as well as some other internetings.

In the afternoon, we met up and headed out to meet some family for dinner, at the Falafel House. We had falafel wraps (shocker) which were probably the best I’ve had yet. After dinner, we walked a bit to surprise my great aunt at her shop.

We sat down and had some juice, as everyone chatted away. I didn’t understand much, but it was nice to have a bit of time with everyone before we leave Tripoli tomorrow.

It was one of those no-photo days unfortunately (just an old photo from the street), but we have two days of tours upcoming, so there will likely be a lot more to come.

Day 9 – Tripoli

Posted on March 31, 2018

Your team are noobs.

A late start for us today, while the others were out doing god knows what. They did order some lunch for us though (wraps) which were delivered and consumed with great delight in the afternoon.

Then we got ready to go to another relative’s house for dessert and a catch-up. Another lavish home with a great view of Tripoli, with both the ocean and the mountains visible. I saw my first proper sunset here (usually it’s obstructed, or we’re busy doing something else).

After many sweets, cake and fruit, we said goodbye and drove a short distance to another relative’s house for dinner, followed by even more dessert. We finally met some cousins who were our age though and spoke English well, so we could actually hang out and have conversations (and a sneaky OW game). What a strange feeling.

After our meal, they took us youngens out to a swanky underground bar, which had live music (English songs tonight!) and we had even more food and drinks.

It was nice to go out at night and do something different for a change. This post is late because we got back late and I was too tired. It won’t happen again (haha…ha).

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