Sunday, we were invited for lunch to Manu’s “adopted family” Farida, George, and their daughters Joyce and Jessica. They live in a two story, 120 year old enormous house very close to Manu – which they just sold to a developer since it would have cost too much to renovate - . I ate lots of tasty dishes cooked by Farida: cutlets in a carrot sauce with puree, chicken in a white sauce with rice, mixed salad with lemon juice and olive oil dressing, and dessert with fresh fruit and flatbread with tahini spread (made of sesame seeds and honey! Mmmmmm!)
After lunch, we were dropped off with Manu at Manara (lighthouse) district and took a walk on the boardwalk in the Chamia district. Since it was Sunday, it was packed with people walking, smoking water pipes, riding bicycles, performing stunts on rollerblades, and enjoying the breeze from the sea. During our walk I also noticed Beirut is a lot more globalized than any other place I have been to yet – outside of the USA - . All makes and ages of cars can be found here, from the newest BMWs, Ferraris, and Porsches to the oldest Mercedes, Renaults, Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets and everything in between. Then, the restaurant chains: Burger King, McDonald’s, Hardees’s, Domino’s Pizza, Hard Rock Café, and Starbuck’s Coffee, to name a few. The only difference is that everyone here speaks at least three languages: Arabic, French and English…We then walked to Downtown Beirut, a part of the city that was completely destroyed during the civil war – some say on purpose – and rebuilt in an arabesque Ottoman and French colonial style. It kind of felt like Disneyland and there were also a few interesting product placements, like the Rolex clock tower at the center of the main square, and the Generali Insurance lion statue on one of the buildings…