Lebanon

“Though our accommodation was in the Christian quarter, the music which blared over our breakfast was 100% Arab, while the orange juice was maybe 10% orange (and judging from the taste, mostly the rind.)
The street signs were mostly written in the Latin alphabet, with Arab letters used only here and there. When our car crossed over into the Muslim Arab quarter, however, the ratio was reversed. What struck us most, however, were the billboards featuring scantily clad women advertising the latest lingerie fashions. That sort of this is hardly ever seen in other Middle Eastern countries.

It was a Friday, a holiday for Muslims, and also Easter for Greek Orthodox Christians, who are numerous here. A few decades ago, the Christian population was still the majority, but an influx of immigrants and the more prolific reproduction of the Muslim population has shifted the balance.
Officially, seventeen churches are represented here, and of course each one keeps its own holidays, so work is constantly being interrupted. None of this is very visible on the street, however: most of the shops are open, and cars throng the two-lane road in at least three lines.

Beirut, with its million inhabitants, is just waking up. This seaside capital, which has seen many better days, is no longer a place I’d call ‘The Paris of the Middle East’ as it was even as recently as the 1970s. The city was battered by a fifteen-year civil war, and is only beginning to recover.
The railway line built by the French, which once bisected the country, has disappeared without a trace – no tracks, no stations – as though it had never existed. With the exception of a few minibus taxis on fixed routes, public transport is non-existent, so the constant traffic jams are hardly a surprise. Gas is extremely cheap, at under a dollar a liter, so gas-guzzling SUVs are popular among the wealthier set. (Phica, 2019)

Transport

Driving style:

Yellow light normally means slow down. In Lebanon, it means "Let's race"

Public safety

“Personally, I consider both the city of Beirut and the country of Lebanon as a whole to be safe. Many soldiers stand at street corners with machine guns, but anyone who has visited Israel will quickly get used to this. Terror attacks are not frequent and are universally condemned. It is permitted to take photographs, but it’s still sensible to be cautious when waving a camera around – it’s always possible that after taking a photograph of an ornate but seemingly innocent building, only to be approached by a soldier who asks to see what photos we have just taken. We never had a problem, and after the soldiers were satisfied we had nothing confidential, they let us go. Nothing ever had to be erased. (aá, 2019)

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“You don’t have to worry – it’s been four years since the last terror attack. Well, ok, there was an exchange of fire at the Israeli border not long ago, but there’s no reason to go down there (actually we did end up going there, It was with rationalizations like these that I reassured myself about visiting Lebanon, all the more so since I had been kicking myself for years for not visiting Syria when it was still safe and beautiful.
The State Department website mentions the Bekaa Valley as an area to avoid, but then that’s where Baalbek is – possibly the country’s number one tourist attraction.” (2019)