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Here comes the summer

TRAVEL LEBANON

For travel ideas for the summer in Lebanon, make a beeline to the Travel Lebanon event, held simultaneously with The Garden Show & Spring Festival (the-gardenshow.com) on 24-28 May, at Beirut Hippodrome. Exhibitors from around the country will be present to showcase the beautiful rural destinations and stunning landscapes on offer. Meet traditional craftspeople, local cooperatives and associations, food producers and regional municipalities to get deep inside the varied culture and traditions around the country; then plan your summer exploring the wealth on offer at home.

SUN, SEA AND SURF

Take a break from beach bronzing and immerse yourself in Lebanon’s surf culture. Over the last few years, an active community has developed with surf schools and passionate surfers up and down the country offering lessons. North Lebanon often has the ideal weather and waves for surfing. Board ‘n’ Surf (03 734601, 03 283413, C-flow Beach Resort, Jbeil) is the first surf school in Jbeil and offers everything from surf lessons to stand up paddle, even yoga sessions out at sea on the board. Board ‘n’ Surf founders Karim Flouti and Andre Dargham are experienced surfers who instruct children, teens and adults. “We are keen to teach skills and expertise and to share our passion for surfing,” says Dargham. Flouti insists that while he wants his students to have fun, safety is a high priority. “We provide a safe environment combined with thorough safety guidelines to start enjoying surfing stress free,” says Flouti. And if you’re a stressed out parent dreading the long summer holidays, you’ll be happy to hear of Board ‘n’ Surf’s summer camp in collaboration with Bouddha Club for all levels. Looking for a board to call your own? Check out the work of Paul Abbas, Lebanon’s first surfboard shaper at P.A. Surfboards (03 947256, P.A. boards, thesurfboardproject.com). From his workshop in Bouar, the passionate surfer handcrafts beautiful surfboards for the country’s growing surf community.

For lessons in windsurfing, get in touch with Samer Abi Saab (70 090048, LL25,000 per session, LL15,000 with instructor), who instructs at White Beach, Batroun. “I have been teaching windsurfing for the last 10 years. It became a passion to let other people share the rush behind this great water sport,” he says.