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A Lebanese Blog

Tag: Beirut

  • Don’t Miss La Nuit des Musées This Friday April 7th

    La Nuit des Musées is a cultural event in which many of the country’s museums open till a late hour at night free of charge for everyone. The Ministry of Culture has been organizing this event for three years now and its 4th edition is taking place this Friay April 7th.

    Last year’s “Nuit des Musées” was quite a success that some museums had massive traffic congestion around them, so if you’re willing to do some museum hopping this Friday then I highly recommend you arrange your transportation ahead of time an avoid using your own car to save the time you will be spending trying to find a parking space.

    Here’s the list of the participating museums:

    MUSÉE NATIONAL DE BEYROUTH
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    “Mathaf”, rue de Damas

    MIM, MUSÉE DES MINÉRAUX
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Campus de l’innovation et du sport, Université Saint-Joseph

    MUSÉE DE PRÉHISTOIRE LIBANAISE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ SAINT-JOSEPH
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Rue de l’Université Saint-Joseph, quartier Monnot

    VILLA AUDI
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh

    MUSÉE NICOLAS IBRAHIM SURSOCK
    de 18h00 à 00h00
    Rue St Nicolas, Achrafieh

    MUSÉE ARCHÉOLOGIQUE DE L’AUB
    de 17h00 à 22h00
    Université américaine de Beyrouth, Ras Beyrouth

    MUSÉE DE LA BANQUE DU LIBAN
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Locaux de la Banque du Liban, Sanayeh

    MUSÉE DU SAVON
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Rue Moutran, Saida

    PALAIS DEBANNÉ
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Rue Moutran, Saida

    MUSÉE DU CATHOLICOSSAT DE CILICIE
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Antélias

    MUSÉE DES ORPHÉLINS DU GÉNOCIDE ARMÉMIEN “ARAM BEZIKIAN”
    de 17h00 à 23h00
    Jbeil

    MACAM – MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM
    de 17h00 à 22h00
    Alita, Jbeil

    MUSÉE ETHNOGRAPHIQUE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE BALAMAND
    de 17h00 à 22h00
    Koura

    Photo via sobeirut.com

  • Price of Nintendo Switch in Lebanon

    The Nintendo Switch was released worldwide on Match 3rd 2017, and I got excited to buy one after reading several positive reviews about it with the nicest feature about the console being its portability. I already have a PS4 and my kid sometimes randomly interrupt me to watch his favorite animated series, so instead of stopping my session, with the Switch I could simply just move to playing using the built-in screen. (In case you’re wondering, yes you can be a gamer and a responsible parent at the same time)

    Anyway, I asked around yesterday and found that Nino Store in Beirut is selling it along with 2 games for $650 while JouéClub is offering the console alone for $526 while games are starting $75. On the other hand, the official price of the Nintendo Switch in the U.S. is $300 and you can have it shipped to Lebanon with DHL probably for ~$150-200. So if you’re keen on getting one, I recommend you wait a little bit as I believe prices should dramatically drop over the next weeks especially at Nino.

    Photo via forbes.com

  • Society Bistro – French Cuisine at Extremely Affordable Prices

    Society Bistro at Saifi Suites Hotel is a french restaurant that has been in business for several years but became a serious hot spot almost one year ago after dramatically reducing its menu prices. My friends kept trying to drag me there since last summer but I only managed to go for the first time two months ago and totally regretted not doing so earlier!

    To begin with, the restaurant’s interior is pretty cool, the non-smoking section has a ceiling made of blown glass grapes while the smoking area is decorated with backlit cymbals. And to reserve a table you sometimes should place your booking weeks ahead especially if it’s on weekend since it’s always full. However, if you have no problem waiting then you can simply show up with no reservation at 9:30 or 10:00PM and wait a bit before you get seated.

    The first thing that will strike when you go over Society’s menu is how low are the prices are compared to other places of the same level. We’re talking about $6-$10 salads, $10-$21 mains, and $4 desserts, and don’t let these prices fool you into thinking Society compromises portion size or quality, on the contrary their portions are pretty generous and I personally loved all the items I’ve tried so far with my favorite being the Black Angus Tenderloin.

    I honestly suck at describing flavors so I won’t act all foodie on you and just leave you with these appetizing photos all courtesy of @vistasbyrony.

    Bottom line, while it’s becoming normal for restaurants to charge $20 for a burger nowadays, Society Bistro is quite a gem! With a friendly staff and cool ambiance I highly recommend you go check it out if you haven’t done so already.

  • You Now Need A Special Permit To Fly Your Drone in Lebanon

    The Lebanese Army announced two days ago that from now on drone owners in Lebanon need to apply for a licence from the Air Force, and they have three months to comply with this requirements. Moreover, a special permit will be needed from the Army Guidance Office each time they want to fly these drones especially around military bases.

    I’m not sure how serious is the army going to be about applying this new regulation since they issues a similar memo two years ago but few people seem to have complied with it.

    Other countries such as UAE and Kuwait have implemented similar regulation and I believe it’s about time to regulate drone usage in Lebanon, not necessarily everywhere but at least around sensitive locations such as Beirut Airport since it is very close to residential areas and any drone there can disrupt the air traffic just like what happened in Dubai last October.

  • BBC Pop UP Published Their First Video From Lebanon

    Remember when I told you that the BBC Pop Up team are in Lebanon for this month? Well, they published their first video and it’s about homosexuals in the country.

    Over the last few years, some judges issued rulings in favor of gay people due to the fact that you simply cannot define what sexual acts really contradict “the laws of nature”, so the report discusses if this is going to offer a better future for the LGBT community in Lebanon.

    P.S: The video contains some sexual content.

  • The Problem With The New Red Light Cameras in Beirut

    The traffic management center in Lebanon recently installed some red light cameras around Beirut in order to enforce traffic laws by automatically photographing people who run red lights or those who stop their cars on red AFTER the white stop bar. In their first tests, they unsurprisingly were able to record a violation every 8 seconds!

    However, while the installation of these cameras is just logical in order to ensure the new traffic law is fully applied, you cant but feel that it is an ill-timed step… I mean let’s be honest, the majority of those who apply for a driving license show up on their test day to sign some papers and end up getting their license no matter how poor their knowledge about traffic laws is, and I really doubt most drivers are aware that you’re not supposed to stop the cars after the white bar on a red light. In fact, if you abide by this rule don’t be surprised to see people cutting you off and stopping in front of you…

    The ultimate purpose for applying traffic rules is to reduce road accidents and avoid traffic jams. So it it were up to me, I would have allocated this project money to educate the masses and recruit additional police officers to ensure that the basic laws are applied. Till now, wherever you go in Beirut you see taxi cars and minibuses picking up passengers wherever they please on the road. Moreover, double parking is like norm everywhere… solving these two problems alone should guarantee making the traffic smoother all over the city. Let alone other problems caused by asshole motorbikers and pedestrians who insist on crossing the road no matter what color is the traffic light.

    But then again, someone now thinks it is time to erect these cameras regardless of any other priorities, so brace yourselves, tickets are coming!

  • Calm Your Tits: Alcohol Prices Are Not Icreasing by 5 Times

    Following MTV’s report about the suggested increase on tax for alcoholic products, people are for some reason believing that bottle prices are going to increase by 5 times, whereas if you listen well to the reporter then you will notice that it is actually the tax per 1 liter that is going to quintuple.

    Take a 15,000L.L wine bottle (750ml) for example, once the decision takes effect it should cost 15,600L.L. Therefore, unless restaurants and bars want to take this as an excuse to tremendously increase their prices, your bill should not be impacted much especially if you are ordering by the glass.

    So calm your tits, bars will not go bankrupt and you will still be able to afford your favorite drinks.

  • WTF Ad of The Day: Yeh! Frozen Yogurt

    I have to admit, this is both genius and cringy at the same time! I’m guessing it started as an internal joke among their employees and somebody just decided to post it on their instagram! (they later removed it)

    via Anis Tabet

    Update:

    And here’s another one they posted more than a year ago! (via Gino Raidy)

  • Ronaldinho is in Beirut!

    I just spotted a tweet by Ronaldinho posted a few hours ago stating he’s in Beirut with a photo of himself in Zaitunay Bay.

    I didn’t find any accurate details about the purpose of his visit anywhere on the web, but let’s hope he’s negotiating playing a game in Lebanon along with other football legends like the one that took place at Fouad Chehab stadium last summer.

    P.S: I hope people stop posting jokes about him signing for Al Ahed because they’re so lame!

    Update:

    Here are some more photos courtesy of a friend of mine.

  • BBC Pop Up Are Coming to Beirut And Want to Hear Your Stories!

    BBC Pop Up is BBC’s mobile bureau, it’s a small team that travels to different cities one month at a time to make documentaries.

    They have previously been to several places like Russia and India and made some pretty interesting videos. The way they get inspired to make their stories however is different than other show, instead of deciding by themselves what to report on, they rely on suggestions submitted by the inhabitants of the place they’re visiting or other people who simply want to know more about a certain topic related the country they’re in.

    Throughout the month of February, BBC Pop Up announced on their twitter account that they will be flying to Beirut, and in a country like ours with countless problems and so many awesome things at the same time, I bet they will have a quite busy month! From the refugee crisis, to waste management, messed up transportation system, our food culture, and cool places off the beaten track like little Armenia (Bourj Hammoud) and cities like Tripoli and Saida… there’s just so much to talk about.

    You can submit your ideas to BBC Pop Up through their website or write to them on bbcpopup@bbc.co.uk.