Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
Paul Clammer Beirut: time to rebuild
Currently living in Lebanon’s capital, travel writer Paul reflects on how events in the country’s past and a more recent tragedy may have bent this historic city, but they haven’t broken it
Beirut, the Lebanese are proud to tell you, is an ancient city. The Phoenicians, those great merchant sailors of the ancient world, first set up shop here some 5,000 years ago, and since then Beirut has seen them all come and go – the Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Ottomans and French.
Despite this, it’s a city that tries to relentlessly look forward. The glitzy redeveloped Downtown area is the face that Beirut has preferred to show the world in recent years, with its moneyed
Dubai-on-the-mediterranean vibe offering an optimistic narrative for a country that many still associate with civil war.
For the past two years, I’ve been lucky to call Beirut my home. And I’ve been pleased to discover that when you look behind the curtain there’s still plenty of the old Beirut left to explore.
The heart of my Beirut is Rue Gouraud, in the historic district of Gemmayzeh. It’s an area that sprung up to serve the city’s new port in the 19th century, and still holds plenty of old Lebanese architecture.
It’s here that you can find Ottoman mansions with wide balconies overlooked by triple-arched windows, and buildings from the post-first World War French mandate era, with high shutters and elaborate wrought-iron railings.
At the centre of everything is the Le Chef restaurant. It has been serving its neighbourhood for upwards of 50 years now, and doesn’t appear to have changed its decor once, with its tiny tables packed in beneath an odd 1960s Wild West mural, a dark wood bar pinned with images of the Pope, and steps leading up into the kitchen,
to where orders are shouted through rather than passed via a scribble on the waiter’s notepad.
Those shouts belong to the irrepressible Charbel Bassil, Le Chef’s frontman, who greets all with the rich baritone of his patent ‘WELCOME!’ Only the foolish could ignore such an invitation.
We eat at Le Chef a lot. It’s a short walk from our apartment, but even if it weren’t it’s the sort of place you’d happily cross the city for. The menus are handwritten and, like the mural, haven’t changed in decades. When my partner, who once worked as a journalist in Beirut, returned after an absence of nearly 20 years, she remarked that even the daily specials were still the same. But if you’ve got a winning formula, why change it?
This is Lebanese cuisine at its simplest and finest. We order up a succession of mezze, tearing up flatbread to eat with hummus topped with toasted pine nuts, smoky aubergine mutabal dip, and crisp gem lettuce leaves to scoop up emerald green parsley tabbouleh salad. Perhaps a plate of kibbeh is next – balls of bulgur wheat and ground beef that come to the table too hot to pick up, or a meat-free
AEmbark on a longer Antarctic cruise to the Falklands and South Georgia to spot an array of Antarctic animals…
lbatross glide to the ground to meet their chicks. Whales crash their tails in the icy sea. Two bull elephant seals battle it out against a backdrop of glistening glaciers. Poseidon Expeditions’ Antarctic Wildlife Adventure cruise brings the wildlife of the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica into view. Here are just four wildlife experiences you can expect to have…
The Falkland and South Georgia islands are two of the few places in the world where you can see albatross. Seeing these graceful birds glide across a clean blue sky and standing guard at their chick-filled nests is a sight you’ll likely never forget.
As well as albatross, you’ll see some 100 million species of seabirds on South Georgia alone, including prions, petrels, and terns. Over in the Falklands, bird lovers can admire the endemic flightless steamer duck, black-crowned night heron, rock cormorants and many more.
How could we talk about birds in the Subantarctic islands and not mention penguins? In the Falklands, gentoo, Magellanic and rockhopper penguins can all be seen walking across the sand, exploring the tussac grass and splashing on the shoreline.
As well as the five species of penguin that can be seen waddling around the Falkland Islands, the biggest draw for many visitors is to see the 450,000 pairs of king penguins that crowd South Georgia. From a distance, these grand birds speckle the entire horizon with little black dots. As you get closer, their glossy grey coats, white fronts and the straight backs and golden necks that make them look so regal begin to take shape. Their almost spherical chicks, however, couldn’t be more different, with their fluffy brown coats and tendency to fall over making them a cute and amusing sight.
South Georgia is also home to huge sunbathing seals. The biggest are the elephant seals which can reach five metres wide and during the summer, with some 400,000 packed in together, you can see more giant grey bodies than you can sand. The noise is just as alarming as the sight, as they lift their huge heads to let out loud moans and groans to each other. You’ll hear them from a Zodiac in early summer too, when their ferocious battles make it too dangerous to set foot on shore, and the sound of their four tonne bodies crashing together echoes off the surrounding mountains.
Elephant seals aren’t the only beachmasters to be spotted here.
Small clusters of Weddell seals can be seen sprawled out on the islands. In early November, around 3 million Antarctic fur seals take to South Georgia’s sands while summer brings leopard seals in hunt of penguins.
Whether you’re looking out from the deck with your camera at the ready or you’re paddling past icebergs in a sea kayak, chances are you’ll see a whale or two. The waters around the Falklands are home to many species including the Southern right whale, killer whale and Peale’s dolphin.
Choose a cruise embarking in early March for the best chance of seeing minke, humpback and orca making a splash in the azure waters surrounding South Georgia. Killer and minke whales can be seen from a Zodiac ride around the South Shetland Islands. Also on an early March cruise, you’ll likely see killer, blue and sei whales in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Whenever you decide to visit the Subantarctic islands, you’ll be in for a wildlife treat unlike anywhere in the world.
Poseidon Expeditions has 22 years of experience of providing travellers with comfort and personable service, balanced with maximum opportunities for outdoor adventure.
Using a fleet of Zodiac landing craft and operating different types of helicopters aboard icebreakers, passengers are guided ashore by an exceptional team of guides and educators to observe the wildlife up-close.
And with the Antarctic Wildlife Adventure trips scheduled to embark in early November, early January and early March, you can be sure that you’ll be in the right place in the right time to see as much wildlife as possible.