Fanta Travels : Lebanon - Beirut and Harissa

Thanks to a friend of mine who was sent to Lebanon for a few months i got the idea to pay him a visit (thanks Vihren). Just when i found who will accompany me Bulgaria Air announced a direct line Sofia - Beirut. Well this was definitely sign from destiny. Everything happened really fast - we bought two tickets and a week later we found ourselves at Beirut airport. First impressions: 28 degrees at 4AM are a little startling making you wonder what is the temperature like during the day. Well it was the same during day but with shining sun :) During the next few days we discovered that the temperatures are almost the same 24h a day.
As real tourists we started with a walk in Beirut. Vihren dropped us off on the alley by the ocean and said - wander around, there is a map in case you get lost. And we trying to feel the local atmosphere but besides feeling the pouring sweat nothing else happened as there were almost no other crazy people walking in the midday heat. When we were pretty close to having a heat stroke the main attraction Pigeon Rocks just appeared in front of us. and We managed to take a few pictures and hurried to find some cafe and a shade. This relatively easy task turned out quite difficult at the end. It took us almost an hour until finally - the place was found. It's not that we were picky just in Beirut there are neither parks no benches under a tree where you can sit and relax for a while.

Very tall buildings on very tall rocks. Their favorite place to build was on the edge of a rock.

The Lebanon coffee and the relaxing shadow gave us some energy and we were ready for Harissa. The town was very close to Beirut but the time needed to get there was quite long due to the unimaginable non stop traffic. And as i said traffic i really have to mention a few things and explain the madness on the road:There are almost no rules or at least there is no one that follows them. The traffic lights are somewhat obligatory during the day but i really wonder why they still work during the night as nobody gives a sh** what color the signal is. The markings on the road are just for beauty as if they show three lanes this for sure means that there will be five lanes with cars, and if you have to go through a city then the sidewalk is the perfect place to drive and pass everybody else waiting in the traffic jam on the road. As far as for the motorbikes even the direction of the lane is of no meaning - you can drive in the opposite direction, perpendicular of the traffic or on the walking alley. And despite all this chaos i did not see a single driver getting mad, there was no beeping with the horns and everybody was driving really calm and looked relaxed

In order to get to the cathedral on top of the hill in Harissa you have to take the gondola and then just enjoy the magnificent view towards the bay. A huge statue called 'Notre Dame du Liban' with its arms reaching towards Beirut is also open for visit there. It is said that this statue of Virgin Mary is one of the most important sacred places in the world and is also a very famous place for prayers. There was a wedding when we went and we were wondering if we could stay for the party after the ceremony but i really doubt that with shorts and flip flops we would have blended with the guests :)