Travels with Mickey: Lebanon

The Beirut civil war ran from 1975 - 1990. I won't even suggest I understand all of the facets of that war. I've read a lot about it and like most wars it seemed to be pretty much about religion and politics. Although clearly it was considerably more complicated than that.

I was asked to do a training for the Microsoft office in Beirut in the late 90's or possibly early 2,000's. I guess I could have written these things down, but it didn't occur to me at the time that I might want to recollect more details than I currently can. 

Anyway, Beirut was no longer at war. Although with Hezbollah maintaining a stronghold in Southern Lebanon, the tension between Israel and the Iranian backed terror organization meant that fighting could break out at any time. And it has on many occasions. 

I was teaching a presentation skills class to the MS sales representatives. Most were from Lebanon, as I remember. At one point a young lady approached me and asked if I had heard of Ron Seikaly. Back then I followed college and pro basketball enough to answer yes. I knew he had played for Syracuse University in college and had a pretty good pro career. She proudly said he was her cousin. It's a small world.

The class went well and on the second night one of the participants ask me out for a drink. He was mature young man who had excellent English skills and thought I might like to see a little nightlife. Who am I to say no?

He took me to a bar on the "Green Line". I include this detail because it was the primary division between the warring groups during the war. It refers to a street that runs  north and south through all of Beirut and separated the Muslims from the Christians as well as other factions. The bar itself was like any other bar I had been to; just people, mostly young, laughing, relaxing, drinking and having fun. 

As I have mentioned in other writings, there were always kind, interesting people who reached out and wanted me to feel comfortable and safe in their city. 

Having a little extra time on my hands was a luxury on that trip. One of the things that struck me as I sat at a cafe and drank my coffee was the reconstruction of the downtown area since the war had ended. On the one hand, next to the cafe where I was sitting, there was a large vacant lot. As I looked out over the land below me I could see a number of collapsed columns. They were literally the ruins of ancient buildings. As the city was being rebuilt after the war, new relics of the original city of Berytus were often uncovered.

The other significant feature that struck me were the kiosks that could be found on nearly every block, that featured pictures of the streets during the war, destruction everywhere. And next to the photos of bombed out structures were shots of the current buildings that were created in their place. A reminder not to forget. A plea to build not destroy. A chance for peace.

On my last day in Beirut I decided to hire a driver for the day and see a little more of the area. Just up the road, freeway actually, from Beirut, are the ruins of Byblos, one of the most important Phoenician cities from the past.

For an hour or so I walked among those ruins where ancient mariners and merchants had developed one of the greatest financial and commercial trading empires in the world, at that time. And then I bought a fake oil lamp for five bucks. Everyone has to make a living.

My driver then took me to the famous Jeita grotto, a few kilometers north of Beirut. I was there in winter time so the parking lot of this world famous attraction was practically empty. My driver had evidently seen the caves before so he chose to wait while I checked out these huge caverns. Very impressive and beautiful,  but no photos. Visitors must leave their phones and cameras in lockers before entering. What a nice treat to see these collosal stalactites and stalagmites and have the venue mostly to myself. 

Well, my trip to Beirut was coming to an end. I had had a nice conversation with my driver about various Lebanese topics as well as our shared love of various liquors. As we headed back to Beirut he said he was very fond of certain Cypriot liquor and that he wanted to give me a bottle. Since I didn't have time to go to Cypress, I assumed he had some on hand. And before you know it we were at his apartment building. I waited in the car and he soon returned with this unopened bottle of clear liquor and presented it to me as a gift. The generosity and friendliness of the people I have met in this world always astounds me.

Epilogue 

I don't remember the name of the Cypriot liquor that my driver had gifted me in Beirut. He said it was pretty "fiery", whatever that meant. I was looking forward to trying it. But as fate would have it, my next stop was Kuwait City and as the officials were going through my luggage, they found the bottle and confiscated it. Most Muslim countries discourage drinking alcohol, so I'm almost sure that those airport police didn't take my liquor home and drink it themselves. Almost.