Too dangerous? Nonsense, although the driving is a bit
crazy! Welcome to Beirut?
Beirut is an incredible melting pot, shia shiite, druze, alawite,
maronite christian, not to mention armenian.
However this massive melting pot blew over
in 1975 and the country then descended into 15 years of anarchy.
But how long does it take for a country and a city
to regain its international reputation well apparently
more than 20 years because despite that passage of time every time I've always
said I'm going to Beirut I've had the same
reactions - "crazy... dangerous" - well I'd say it's more like Paris by the sea but with amazing Lebanese cuisine. Things
have changed.
The area where I am now was the green line during the war. It's where Beirut
literally tore itself apart. Now look at it!
Up-market shops and incredible street art -
the transformation is just mind-boggling!
Every capital city has a war memorial, but I don't know any
that are quite as big as this one. This is the bullet-ridden shell of the
Holiday Inn hotel. It was completely destroyed during the
civil war.
But that was Beirut then - This is Beirut now!
Behind me is what's reckoned to be the most beautiful building
in Beirut. This is the Sursock museum, now Sursock was an art collector in the
early 19th century and he had this mansion built to house
his collection. Firstly though it's got a cafe and I'm
really really parched. Ah bliss!
I ordered fatoush and falafel - looks
amazing!
This is Beirut's Mohammed al-Amin mosque, and it came as a surprise to me to find
at the mosque is right next to both the maronite cathedral
and the orthodox cathedral.
This morning I'll be heading high over the rooftops of Beirut to see Our Lady
of Lebanon. Now I had the pleasure of spending yesterday with Fouad on a
fantastic tour of south lebanon which you can see on
another video. Fouad is not only the most careful driver in Lebanon but
also a fountain of knowledge and probably the
most positive person, and he can say that after having
survived three car bombs during the civil war! Here he is -
Good morning Fouad - How are you - Very well thank you - How was your night? - Really good - What's
the plan today? We're going to Harrisa.
So your yacht is over there? yeah - Which one? The biggest one, the biggest one
always!
You are so close to some of these apartments that you can practically jump in.
The symbol of Lebanon, a cedar tree
How old Fouad? About 100 years this one yes...
almost 90.. 100.
We're now ascending to the very top to the statue of our Lady of Lebanon and
we're here on a very quiet Wednesday morning, but apparently at
weekends this place is absolutely packed so
you have been warned!
The view is amazing although I am getting just the
tiniest bit of vertigo up here.
There's a very small church underneath the statue but that couldn't cope with
the crowd so in 1992 they inaugurated
this enormous modern basilica.
It's getting hot now and Fouad has promised me not only the best ice cream
in Lebanon but he says the best ice cream in the whole
world, also sugar free and organic not a single artificial colour.
Here we got rose water, fig, guava, mango, avocado...
I'm trying them all out. I've tried prickly pear, I've tried fig, I'm now going to try
almond. Thank you. Not ice cream - sorbet not - ice
cream - it does not contain butter
eggs or fresh cream - really
only sugar and juice and stabilizer -so it's healthy for you?
yes healthy food, yes. Well Ghasan the
owner made me try about 10 different flavours which,
well, I just had to do, in the end though I settled for
banana pistachio and fig, looks delicious!
So Fouad, how would you describe lebanese driving?
The lebanese are so good so good drivers...
but are a little bit impatient - a little bit impatient?!
yes - I've seen some of the most crazy
driving I've ever seen anywhere here. We are nice drivers here and we do it
like an organizdr chaos like we say - an
organized chaos! Fouad, many people still think that it's
too dangerous to come to Beirut . What do you say to them? I say to them - come back
to my lovely country this is Beirut and all my country
Lebanon is safer then London and Paris and Belgium
then Netherlands than any country of the world so welcome
to my lovely country - it's beautiful - it's like
a paradise!