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 :)

Somewhere there Beirut ends but where exactly no one can say

They gave me a scarf to put on my shoulders - we have to respect the sacred places

And the funny crew :)

The clouds and the sun made the view even more beautiful

I really wanted to stay for sunset up there but the gondola was closing before that so we had to go down


 

New Zealand - Auckland

It was time to part with our small car which did not manage to leave us on the road even though the strange noises coming out of it. We had rented it from Jucy as the other rental company had no availability (Apex Car rentals - we were really pleased with the car they gave us on the other island and wanted to rent from them again but... last minute option was not possible unfortunately) 
Jucy's office was a walking distance from downtown so we left the car and went looking for the hotel. Luckily it turned out that we have reserved a hotel right on the busiest street in Auckland - Queens Blvd. May be it is not that crazy usually but it was 'boxing day' or the day after Christmas when all stores have sales and all Chinese tourists and locals have decided to buy whatever they see. Even in front of the most expensive brands like Prada or Boss there were queues with people wanting to go in the store. I made a mistake to check a boot in UGG and one chinese girl literally took it from my hands and this put the official end of our shopping. After all on the next day it looked quite calm on the street so we decided to check what was all that fuzz about. The only thing left in the stores were the labels with the prices everything else was totally gone. So we just wandered around the streets enjoying the small cafes and checking out the city sights.
 In general Auckland reminded us for the States as everything looked so alike and we were not that impressed to be honest. They have great outdoor parks but surprisingly they were totally empty. The explanation we got was that the people there like to sunbathe on the beach instead of walk in the park. We went to Auckland's oldest park where they have awesome free botanical garden with amazing flowers and the biggest water lilies i have ever seen

 some street art

It was so nice in the park but a little bit lonely

After we checked the parks it was time for the city itself. Frankly the harbor with the amazing yachts was the most impressive part and it made me dream of having a boat for me to sail all over the world. But it was time for me to wake up as it was BBQ time with very interesting company -  the invite came from Rudy's co-worker who is Korean and the reason for organizing the dinner is to say Bye to us as we were leaving on the next day and welcome some German guys that had just arrived. The whole event is hosted in the flat in a girl from New Zealand with the best view ever. In order to get there we took a ferry from the harbor in downtown and 10 min later we were on the other side. The neighborhood is really nice with view towards Auckland's skyline and as they said with the best beaches in the city - well the last we take for granted as there was no time to check for ourselves :) We had a lot of fun on the BBQ, had some food, some drinks and unfortunately had to catch the last ferry back as our flight home was early next monring. After all, it was time to say Goodbye to Kiwi land :)

I was puzzled what that was..

so there is a picture of it :)

 This is what i want for birthday gift

 Nice view toward the volcanoes

And some more volcanoes...good that they are not active as i think they have about 40 in Auckland only

This is what i call a nice view.

And the ferry station

 Most photographed TV tower in the world

Well if you do not carry your tripod when you need it this is what happens