LEBANON REPORT TRAVEL

  

Outbound flight of the Turkish company Pegasus Airline with departure from Orio al Serio at 13.55, with connection of 6 hours at Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (Turkey) and arrival at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (Lebanon) at 1 at night approximately (cost of the return ticket: 278.61 Euros). Coming from Istanbul, border controls are tightened and therefore I am subjected to a series of questions from the Police to ascertain that he is a tourist and then all the pages of the passport are photocopied and the Hotel where I booked is contacted to verify that the same made with Booking is true. So after about 1 hour I can get an entry visa that allows me to stay in the country for 30 days. Vito I spend the first night at the airport with chairs without armrests that allow you to lie down. To reach the center of Beirut, located just 9 km north of the airport, the cheapest solution is to walk about 1 km north until you find a kind of roundabout, near military posts. There, wait on the right side of the road for one of the many minibuses headed for the center. The cost of the ride is 1,000 LBP. You pay directly to the driver before getting off. If, as in my case, you are headed to the Cola Bus hub, which after all is a large intersection where buses and minibuses leave for every corner of the country, you have to be dropped off by the driver at a special intersection and then take another minibus always at the price of 1,000 LBP, because there are no direct minibuses: however, this is not easy because often the drivers speak only Arabic. From Beirut's Cola Bus Hub there are several buses a day to Samqaniyeh, which for 3,000 LBP drop you off in the northern suburb of Baaqline (approximately 1 hour), at the roundabout to Beiteddin, where taxis are posted. which take you, at a cost of 2,000 LBP (negotiate the price), to the nearby Beiteddin Palace located only about 1 km away. The Beiteddin Palace, located in the homonymous country opens at 9.00 am and the ticket price is 10,000 LBP. Inside it you can admire dozens and dozens of mosaics. To go to nearby beautiful Deir al Qamar, just 5km from Beiteddin there are rare minibuses and even rarer on Saturdays and Sundays, but a wildly bargaining taxi ride costs 7,000 LBP. From Deir al Qamar, to return to the capital Beirut, there are rare minibuses and even more rare on Saturdays and Sundays and therefore it is useful to move to the nearby town of Kfarhim where the frequency of public transport is higher. A taxi ride to get there costs LBP 4,000, bargaining wildly. Frequent minibuses pass from Kfarhim to Beirut, much more rarely on Saturdays and Sundays, which take you in less than an hour to the Cola Bus Hub in Beirut for the price of 2,000 LBP. You pay directly to the driver before getting off. From the Cola Bus Junction Area in Beirut there are very frequent minibuses which, at a price of 3,000 LBP, take you to Sidon in 1 hour and more precisely to the Bus Station near the roundabout between Takkeyeddine El Solh Street and Al Nejmeh Street. They leave when they are full and you pay the driver before getting off. Sidon gets around very well on foot. From Sidon, in the same way as the outward journey, return to the Cola Bus hub in Beirut, where to reach the Talal Hotel, located in Charles Helou street at 200 meters. about from the bus station of the same name, I am forced to take a taxi at a cost of 5 USD as there are no minibuses that cover this route. The Talal Hotel is the cheapest in the city. Cost for a bed without breakfast in a 3-bed dormitory: Euro 15.00. From the Charles Helou Bus Station, buses run every half hour to Tripoli by the Connexion company from 7.30 to 19.30 from Monday to Friday, from 8.10 to 19.00 on Saturday and from 9.00 to 19.00 on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at the adjacent ticket office. The cost is 5,000 LBP. The journey takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes and is also operated by frequent minibuses which depart from the Cola bus hub. Both vehicles also stop on request in Byblos (on the state road about 700 meters from the historic center). In Tripoli the buses coming from the Charles Helou Bus Station in Beirut stop near the Karami Square roundabout, about 500 meters. from the historic center, while the minibuses coming from the Cola Bus hub stop in Tell Square. Tripoli can be easily explored on foot. Entrance to the Citadel of Raymond de Saint Gilles costs 5,000 LBP. From the top of it you can enjoy an incredible view of almost the entire city.

 

On my way back to Beirut, I stopped to visit the city of Byblos (cost of the trip by minibus 2,000 LBP), whose historic center has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. Inside it there is also the archaeological site which also contains the Crusader Castle. The admission price is 8,000 LBP.

 

To return to Beirut I took a Minibus on the State Road near the center of Byblos for the price of 2,000 LBP, which left me in the northern suburbs of Beirut where I took another one for the Charles Helou Bus Station for the price of 1,000 LBP

 

I visited Beirut on a mountain bike rented from Ciclo Sport in the Gemmayzeh district at the price of 7,000 LBP per hour.

There are many roadblocks and many military in the center of Beirut and you have to be careful not to photograph sensitive lenses otherwise they make you cancel it. The Cornice, that is the promenade of Beirut, is beautiful and almost always very crowded.

 

To return to Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, I take one of the minibuses that pass in Bechara El Khoury heading south, which takes you to a kind of roundabout, near military posts, about 1km south of the airport, from walk.

 

Since I have the plane at 06.05 am I sleep at the aforementioned airport.

 

Return flight of the Turkish company Pegasus Airline with departure from Beirut at 06.05, with a 3-hour connection to Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (Turkey) and arrival at Orio al Serio International Airport (Bg) at 13.10. (cost of the return ticket: 278.61 Euros).

 

My complete travel report with map, photographs and videos is available at this link:

http://vivendosalendo.blogspot.com/2016/01/viaggio-in-libano.html