Middle East - Anthony Ham [365]
El Molino ( 541 555; Rue du Port; 2-course meal & 2 margaritas LL35,000, beer LL4000; noon-midnight Tue-Sun; ) This place offers tasty Mexican food and a fun atmosphere at night, fuelled by some strong tequilas and a spicy plate or two of nachos.
The Byblos Sur Mer hotel also operates the restaurant L’Oursin ( lunch & dinner Apr-Sep; mains from LL7000), across the road, just beside the sea. For cheap eats, head to the many felafel and shwarma joints along Rue Jbail; local favourites include Restaurant Rock and the Kaddoum Centre, both open daily 8am to late, with prices starting at LL1500 for a felafel sandwich.
Getting There & Away
The service taxi stand (Rue Jbail) in Byblos is near the Banque Libanaise pour le Commerce. A service taxi to/from Beirut (the hub in Beirut is Dawra transport hub) costs LL3000 (about eight services depart between 7am and 6pm). The LCC bus 6 (LL750, around one hour) and minibuses (LL1000) also leave from Dawra transport hub and travel regularly along the coast road between Beirut and Byblos, stopping on Rue Jbail. It’s a scenic and very pleasant trip.
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TRIPOLI (TRABLOUS)
06 / pop 237,909
Tripoli, 85km north of Beirut, is Lebanon’s second largest city and the north’s main port and trading centre. Famous for its medieval Mamluk architecture, including a large souq area considered the best in Lebanon, it might nevertheless seem more than a little run-down and provincial if you’ve come direct from Beirut. Recently troubled, with spates of street fighting and a bus bombing in August 2008, along with a protracted siege in a nearby Palestinian refugee camp the year before, Tripoli’s not having an easy time of it. Do check the news before you go, but do visit: the city certainly warrants a day or so of souq-wandering and sweets-sampling, Tripoli’s main speciality being haliwat al-jibn, a teeth-jarringly sweet confection made from curd cheese and served with syrup.
History
As early as the 8th century BC, Tripoli was already a thriving trading post, thanks to the constant comings and goings of traders from Tyre, Sidon and Arwad (the latter in present-day Syria). Each community settled in its own area, a fact reflected in the city’s name, which derives from the Greek word tripolis, meaning ‘three cities’.
Conquered in turn by the Seleucids, Romans, Umayyads, Byzantines and Fatimids, Tripoli was invaded by the Crusaders in 1102 AD, who held on to it for 180 years and built its imposing, and still-standing, hilltop fortress, the Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles. In 1289 the Mamluk Sultan Qalaun took control of the city, and embarked upon an ambitious building program; many of the mosques, souqs, madrassas and khans that remain in the old city today date from sometime during either the Crusader or subsequent Sultan Qalaun era. The Turkish Ottomans took over the city in 1516 and ruled, in relative peace, until 1920, when it became part of the French mandate of Greater Lebanon.
With a large influx of Palestinian refugees from 1948 onward the city became the site of ferocious fighting during the civil war. Huge UN-administered refugee camps still hug Tripoli’s outskirts, including the Nahr el-Bared camp, now infamous for its protracted Palestinian/Lebanese army deadlock in 2007.
Orientation
Tripoli comprises two main areas: the city proper, which includes modern Tripoli and the Old City, and Al-Mina, the rather down-and-out port area, 3km west along the sea front. The geographical centre of town is Saahat et-Tall (pronounced ‘at-tahl’), a large square by the clock tower, where you’ll find the service taxi and bus stands, and most of Tripoli’s cheap hotels.
The old city sprawls east of Saahet et-Tall, while the modern centre is west