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A Lebanese Blog

Tag: Beirut

  • BRGR Co coming to Beirut Souks

    I was passing by Beirut Souks last night and noticed BRGR Co will soon be opening there.

    It will will be accessible from Patriarche Hoyek street, close to where Bershka, Stradivarius, and Pull & Bear are located.

  • Flash mob commemorating the Lebanese civil war

    An NGO called CitiAct conducted this flash mob at Hamra street on the commemoration day of the Lebanese civil war yesterday.

    A couple of drivers pretended they’re fighting in the middle of the road when people around them suddenly started dropping dead, which pretty much resembles to the situation during the days of the civil war when innocent people were dying for the warlords who are now ruling the country.

    Tenzekir w ma ten3ad… nshalla!

  • BETA at risk of losing their location

    I’m surprised this news didn’t make it to any of the local websites/newspapers. I actually just read on CNN that BETA (Beirut for the Ethical Treatments of Animals) is now at risk of losing their location because their neighbors no longer want animals to surround them.

    “We have villas behind us and they are suing us. They want us out,” said Hesayne. “Now we have to find a land. The problem is nobody wants to have dogs around them.”

    Hesayne and her colleague Sevine Zahran have lobbied the Lebanese government to increase its animal-protection laws. Lebanon is one of a few countries not signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), making it an easy transit point for wildlife smugglers, and it has few domestic animal-protection laws. Source

    With all the problems the country is currently going through, protecting animals is one of the least of people’s concern I guess.

  • Haze over Beirut

    I was driving from Tripoli to Beirut yesterday when I was surprised with a haze covering the area from Zouk all the way to Khaldeh. It was actually the first time for me to see a haze that thick on the coastline, even flights were halted for a couple of hours at Beirut airport.

    Here’s a couple of photos that I found on Facebook taken by Mr. Mohamad Mashnouk around sunset. You’d think the first one was taken in Dubai.

  • Ichkhanian bakery

    I’ve heard of “the Armenian lady” who makes great Lahme Baajin at Zokak El Blat since ever, but I never bothered checking her bakery out until last weekend and finally knew what was I missing, a lot!

    People probably call her “the Armenian lady” because there isn’t lot of Armenian shops in western Beirut, while her bakery is in fact called “Ichkhanian” (by the family name of her late husband) and has been operating since before the civil war.

    The Lahme Baajin you’ll find there are just awesome and could be the best in Beirut, the dough is so thin and the meat has a unique taste especially if you ask for the extra spicy mix. Perfect for a quick bite anytime a day.

    The bakery also caters Manti, Shish Barak, and Borek at relatively reasonable prices, and I heard they’re great as well.

    One thing you should be aware of is the bad temper that Mrs. Ichkhanian sometimes shows, she’s actually  a very nice lady but for some reason seems furious all the time. Still, the food is totally worth it.

    Here’s a map showing where the bakery is exactly located and how you can reach it.

  • Huge photos directory of Lebanon

    You’ve got to check this old photos directory of Lebanon by the digital documentation center at AUB, which I discovered through one of Sietske’s latest posts. It has more than 12,000 photos categorized by location (Mohafaza and Qadaa), and you can easily spend hours browsing them!

  • Beirut in 8-bit

    The hoax services that Google announces on each April Fools’ day are more like a tradition, and the Google 8-bit maps service has got to be the coolest joke for 2012. They actually announced yesterday that they will finally be adding support for the classic Nintendo Entertainment System with the launch of 8-bit maps featuring low resolution graphics.

    And here’s how Beirut would have looked like on a NES!

    You can check here more about Google’s pranks for this year.

  • Two Lebanese female athletes qualify for the olympics

    Two Lebanese female athletes made the cut to the Olympic games in London this summer. The first is Andrea Paoli, a taekwondo player, who will be the first Lebanese ever to participate in the senior category of martial arts at the Olympics. And the second is Tvine Moumjohglian who will be representing Lebanon in table tennis for the first time in 16 years. All the luck to both of them!

    You can read more about Andrea and Tvine in this article by Al-Arabiya, and about the participation of Lebanon at the Olympics throughout the history here on Wikipedia.

  • Akho Man2oushe

    It would be fun if “Akho Man2oushe” someday becomes a real competitor to places like Zaatar W Zeit and Leil Nhar!

    Spotted at Saloumi

  • Kimi Raikkonen in Lebanon

    Kimi Raikkonen is currently on a short visit to Lebanon for the launching of Lotus Cars in Beirut, and according to this news report, he had a meeting with president Sleiman and announced that he’s willing to put the Lebanese flag on his Lotus Renault car during this season.

    The report also mentions talks about building an F1 circuit in Lebanon, but is sounds more like wishful thinking, at least to me!