If you go around the Nejmeh Sqaure at night, there’s a high probability you will be frightened by a street seller yelling “BEIRUT!!!” from behind your back in an attempt to later sell you images of old Beirut. To my knowledge, this man, Saadallah Basha, is probably the only street seller in Downtown Beirut…
It was probably about time someone writes about him, and yesterday he made it to The Daily Star!
According to this article in The Daily Star today,the municipality of Beirut is planning to start constructing an underground parking (with a capacity of 2,000 cars) at the Martyrs square by the end of 2012, to “improve” the appearance of the downtown area. And a garden will later be created in the square once the project is done.
“Work will start before the end of this year. Once finished, the parking space will accommodate between 1,500 and 2,000 cars,” Hamad said, adding that a Build, Operate and Transfer contract would be signed by the company selected to carry out the project. Under the BOT contract, a company will build and operate the facility – earning revenue – before the municipality assumes ownership. Source
There’s no reference however to what’s going to happen to the current parking spaces around the Martyrs square, Solidere might be planning to build some new towers there?
The article also mentions a similar project in Ain El-Mrayseh where a parking space with a capacity of 680 cars is set to be built, in addition to a 7,000 square meters produce market between Tayyouneh and Shatila.
Photo via Stefania Facco
You probably have seen this at several places in Beirut “ليش حرش بيروت مسكر؟” (Why is Beirut park closed?) among other stencils as well, which appear to be part of a campaign to open Beirut park to the public.
You might be surprised, but I’m actually with keeping people away from this park until they really deserve it. I mean look at all the public spaces in Beirut, are we treating them good? The corniche at Ain El-Mrayseh for example looks like one big shisha cafe now! Young boys come in their 1990 BMW and Golf cars, turn up their radios to Ali El-Deek songs, set their shishas, and start dancing Dabke! Wala anawran min heik.
The possibilities are endless with what they may do to Horsh Beirut. Littering? BBQ parties on weekends? Ripping out the plants?
So until we learn how to treat our public spaces really good, keep Horsh Beirut closed please!
Good catch by @__marwan__! “Avenue des Français” is by the way what we now know as the Saint George area in Beirut.
And believe it or not, vibrators were believed to be of medical use to cure what was called “Female hysteria” in the past!
The sushi menu at O&C includes a Lebanese sushi that is made of Philadelphia cheese, avocado, crab, cucumber, and mango, all wrapped in Lebanese bread!
Does this qualify as sushi? It’s more like a sandwich cut into small chunks.
Is it only me or does Almaza’s new commercial look pretty much like an ad by Heineken done a few years ago where people had to choose between watching the champions league final and going to a classical concert…?
Almaza’s ad however leaves you wondering at the end “And now what?”, I mean the guys got cheered and stuff but aren’t you curious to know what happened to their dates?
I’d love to know what the guys at Brofessional Review have to say about it.
No matter what bacteria is causing this red color today, it’s definitely cooler than the one responsible for the original greenish color! It doesn’t really look that bad after all eh?!
The brunch opens between 1PM and 5PM with live entertainment and sexy nurses taking good care of you, and it costs $55 for open buffet and bar, and$ 85 for open buffet including Rose champagne.
I have no idea till when this is going to last, but I got invited to Pink Link’s first edition on January 8th and for some reason just forgot to attend! Shoot me!
As per this article in The Daily Star today, minivan drivers decided to raise their fares from 1,000 to 1,500L.L yesterday.
“The drivers are no longer capable of keeping the fares at a low level. At LL1,000, they can barely make ends meet,” he said. “They [drivers] do not benefit from the [recent] wage increase decision but will suffer from the consequences of the measure in terms of increases in prices and rent.”
And although it is stated at the end of the article that service taxi and bus fares will remain unchanged at 2,000 and 1,000 L.L, I highly doubt they will. Even since 2006, we got used to one of the three (Taxis, buses, or minivans) increasing their fares with the other two following shortly after. Which means that we might soon start paying 2,500 or 3,000 L.L for a taxi ride.
Photo via Note Connection
Update:
Buses already increased their fares to 1,250L.L, and some taxi drivers started charging 3,000L.L as per some people on Twitter.
This small kiosk called “Meshtah Dagher” on Haret Sakhr main road has some really great Saj Manakish. For some reason the guy there (Charbel) refers to them as “Meshtah”, which to my knowledge is a kind of bread, while in fact the Manakish he makes are actually called “Mashrouha”. Anyway whatever they’re called, they just taste great!
Charbel is pretty generous with the ingredients, be it zaatar, cheese, or keshk, while the dough is thin and light, the kind that doesn’t make you feel stuffed when you’re done. Definitely worth a try when you’re passing by on a morning.
