Apr 03 2008
A beautiful day in and around Beirut
When the weather is as nice as it was today it is criminal to be stuck in the office or sitting around the house. So Alex took the day off work (with the boss’ approval of course) and we took Nanna for a drive up to the hilltop town of Harissa. There we explored the immaculate statue of the Lady of Lebanon, took in the spectacular views of Jounieh, and did some shopping for relics and icons in the gift shop (the best find being a 3d picture of the Last Supper. Classy.)
Harissa is a major tourist and pilgrimage destination and is packed at Christmas and Easter. Interestingly though, most visitors this morning were from an Iranian tour group. It was an unusual but reassuring sight to watch chador-clad ladies posing next to a giant Virgin Mary.
From Jounieh we drove back to downtown Beirut, parked ourselves at La Posta Italian restaurant on the terrace and had a damn fine meal overlooking the Roman ruins and the collection of Maronite, Catholic and Orthodox churches and the Mohammed El-Amine mosque (commonly referred to as the Hariri mosque).
Then we picked up Mitchie from daycare, bought ice creams on Bliss Street and sat on the Corniche slurping down our creamy confections watching the beautiful people parade past.
Finally at the end of the day Daddy barbequed up some marinated lamb cutlets for a tasty conclusion to our food extravanza.
