MY Favourite Beaches in North Lebanon

Driving back to Tripoli from Beirut on weekends, I alwaYs notice how beautiful the coastline gets as I near home, and how it especiallY calls out to me right after I exit the tunnel in Chekka and drive further North. When You take a closer look along that coast, You’ll see that it’s lined with a haven of special spots for sea lovers of all kinds. This summer, I made it a point to visit as manY of those different beach spots as I could, and with a little help from Instagram, I ended up discovering places that made me fall even more in love with mY North!

Let’s start with Batroun, a citY just before the infamous tunnel leading North. It’s home to Pierre and Friends, which also doubles as a pub and restaurant. I've known the place for a good ten Years now, ever since high school, and what I love most about it is its verY laid-back and chill atmosphere. But mY favourite reason to love it, are it's incredible sunsets, behold:

Not too far down that coast, is another gem of a spot: White Beach. Like P&F, it's also got a pebblY shore but the water is cool and it's got a mini rockY island in the middle of the sea with a Lebanese Flag proudlY poled to it. White Beach is also a surf school, and You can alwaYs catch windsurfers in the waters. 

Kfaraabida (the area between Batroun & Chekka) is trulY one of the best locations I got to discover this summer, especiallY after the #SaveKfaraabida Campaign, that was launched to raise awareness about the recent project that aims to turn the area into a private Yacht Club. But for me to describe to You how incredible the area is in just words, I’d be doing it no justice... 

One of MY favourite spots there is Joining Beach. And to be honest, if I hadn't come across a few pictures of it on Instagram and known where to look, I'd have missed it completelY! All You can see from the road is a sign that reads "Joining" in Arabic. And even standing from the edge, You'd never have thought it to be an actual beach spot. It's 100% comprised of rocks, most of which is downwards slanting, not a verY comfortable place to laY down and tan (though a lot of people do) but the reason I loved it was because of everYthing that was underneath those rocks! It's also a great spot for cliff diving, and once You're under that water, You'll see an entirelY different world down there!

But if You want to swim awaY from all the rocks and pebbled beaches, then You've got to take that tunnel in Chekka and You'll end up in El-Herri. And here's a little secret: If You're willing to make a little detour on Your waY, if You take Your first exit after the tunnel and head up, You'll end up at the monasterY of Our LadY of Light (SaYdet El Nourieh) where You can catch a breathtaking view of the sea from up above:

Of course You've got the most famous in the area: Florida Beach, but You've also got an endless collection of smaller beaches that include BennY Beach, SandY Beach, and mY personal favourite: MiraLand. I love the latter because of its huge sandY shore. It's also one of mY favourite spots to rent a paddle-board (haské) and row it out to the sea. The water is usuallY calm and just knowing that a holY place rests in the cliff above You gives You a magical kind of feeling...

After Chekka comes a little area known as Anfeh. And boY has it ever grown in popularitY this summer! You’ve got the most well-known beach resort in the area, Las Salinas, and the slightlY less popular, Marina Del Sol. But right adjacent to those two, is the now-popular Ta7t El Ri7, which is comprised of a collection of private chalets on a rockY cliff that is open to the public. The location has been painted in white and blue, reflecting Santorini-like vibes and nicknamed Anforini. All You’ve got to do is dive in! 

FinallY, it's back to mY hometown, Tripoli. If You want to talk beach resorts in the area, You’ve got the big three: Palma, Naji, & Miramar (in Kalamoun). Each resort has got it’s own charm, and nice beaches (& pools) to swim in. 

But if You reallY want the best beach experience ever, take a boat (for as little as LBP 5,000) from Mina's Port out to Rabbits Island!

El Mina is home to nine islands, four of which have been declared as nature reserves, the most popular of which is Palm Island (better known as Rabbits Island). It’s the second largest of the islands with a beautiful sandY shore and crYstal clear blue waters. 

You’ll want to make a full daY trip out of this one. You’ll need to pack some snacks and drinks to take with You as there's no food on the islands, and an umbrella for shade if You need one. Nothing beats a breakfast here (preferablY a man2ouché):

While I've listed some of mY favourite Beaches in North Lebanon, I'm sure there are still a lot of more secret spots to discover! If You'd like to share, please leave a comment!

The Old Man And The Sea

Back in 2009, I discovered a little sea-food restaurant in El Mina, thanks to a good friend of mine, Rawaa. It's been there for many years but I never really took notice of it until she pointed it out to me that day. We went and it turned out to be one of the yummiest fish restaurants I've tried (and I don't even like fish!)

Over the years, I introduced my family and friends to it, most of whom loved the place as much as I did. And this afternoon, I went there for lunch as well...

It's still the same as I remember it (though I haven't been there in well over a year). It's got a dusty collection of seashells and miniature sea ships and dried seaweed on the wall. A little pirate's hut if you ask me... 

We picked our fish and took a window seat, overlooking the cornish. It was crowded today, with dozens of pedestrians. I guess they were mostly Syrians though, out for a walk in the sun after a week of rain and storm... 

While we were eating, I heard a light tapping on my side of the window. It startled me, and as I turned to face the noise, I noticed an old beggar with one hand leaning against his cane and the other outstretched to my window. I tried to ignore him, but he kept on tapping. After all, it's a little difficult to eat with a strange hand glued to the window next to you. I mean, had the window not been there, he could have simply just grabbed a french fry from my plate...

The table in front of us noticed the old beggar and beckoned him over. He limped to their side and they opened the window, handing him LBP 2,000. I noticed him stash the money in his pocket, limp a little further, then stand up straight and scurry off to find another group of people to beg from...

You're probably wondering what's the point of this post. And really, it's quite simple. We were planning to spend the day in Beirut today. But due to a change in events, we stayed in town. This would have probably never happened in Beirut, especially not in the top restaurants we'd probably have frequented. But this is the sad reality of my city. It's full of poor and helpless people, worlds away from the capital city. But in it's downside, it's still got it's charm... 

Take this view for example, I wouldn't trade El Mina's cornish for the world… :-)

September Bike Ride - Ride for Peace in Tripoli

It's been a while since I've joined, let alone blogged about El Mina By Bike. Which is quite a shame, as these supposedly bi-monthly events really have a special place in my "Love Tripoli" side, right after "Shoot As You Walk"

But late is better than never, and so like last time, Sura picked me up this morning at 8:30am and we drove off to the meeting point in front of La Sirene in El Mina for September Ride Bike - Ride for Peace in Tripoli. Since we arrived a little earlier than we normally do (blame my nagging at her to be on time for once :-P), we were able to pick out from the better bikes, and I found myself drawn to this red one (which ended up being the nosiest of the bikes, with its helicopter-like rattles, as Sura put it! :-P): 

There's something so good about riding a bike. Personally, riding a bike in Tripoli specifically, brings back memories of me and my brother biking with Dad back when we were living in Canada (hometown to hometown). But other than that, biking brings me closer to Tripoli, which I've been having a love-hate relationship with as of late. Thankfully, our ride led me to the former, to the love side of this city...

Biking on the same paths that I drive on gives the road more meaning. From the starting point in El Mina all the way to the city, to Tripoli, the road, the speed bumps, and even the potholes, it all makes me feel more grounded, more in root with this city, when I'm on it with two wheels rather than four… :-)

Zambo 2012

Around this time last year, I remember my friend Taha posting photos of people painted in black and gold, dressed in wigs, masks, and costumes, prancing around on the street. He told me it was called Zambo, but I still didn’t understand what it was…

Then just this morning, while I was walking with Dana, we bumped into her cousin Nabil, who was also from El Mina. And he told us that today was Zambo, bringing me back to the title of the album Taha had posted last year! Now here was a local, telling me the tale:

It turned out to be an old tradition for the Christian community of El-Mina, celebrating the start of lent! They’d paint themselves and dress up, and parade around the street collecting money. Then they’d use that money to have a big feast at night and get drunk before starting fasting the next day!

I’ll leave you with some pictures Taha took today (more pictures here):

A Walk by the Sea…

It’s cold and it’s windy. But in its chill, the wind whispers to me, inviting me out to sea. So I get in my Peugeot and go to pick Dana up from in front of the Condor before driving to the coastline. Welcome to El-Mina, the city of waves and horizon…

It’s cloudy, but the light gently plays in and out of the clouds. I study it from inside the car thinking, I haven’t been here in way too long... “Look behind you,” Dana tells me, as I step out of the car to see this:

Heaven lit snow capped mountains, she called them. What a divine site, with the clouds letting just enough light emit from above, shedding daylight on the mountain tops. And in front of them, stands a mosque. And in front of it, stand palm trees, dancing in the wind. Where else could you see such a site?

We walked, with my camera grasped firmly in my hands. But for some reason, my eyes were taking in more beauty than the lens were and so I just kept cradling it from the straps wrapped around my neck…

We came across a flock of seagulls, floating in the breeze, by the water. A veiled lady in black stood there watching them, dancing in and out of water. As I stood by her side to take photos, she seemed to snap out of her reverie, and turned around to continue walking…

I usually cant take such close shots of moving objects, but I was glad I had brought my newest zoom lens along, which helped me capture these flying beauties:

A few minutes onward, we caught up with the veiled lady, standing again, lost in the sea. I remembered going to the beach with a close friend and her mother last year, and I still remember her mother telling me, “Nour, I could look out at the sea forever…” and when I looked at her, I saw this deep and reminiscent look, as if at the bottom of the sea, there lay treasures only she could see. A smile, of mixture of happiness and sorrow, I couldn't tell. But that look her mother had that day, was almost the same look this lady wore. And so I made sure not to let the sea steal my gaze. Because if it did, my thoughts would drown in it too...

We climbed down to the shoreline, which was decorated with thousands of seashells. I’m not sure if this was the same shoreline, but I clearly over a decade of a year back, Dad took my brother and me to an El-Mina shoreline where I picked out some seashells and took them back home, where they still sit in a basket in my room…

On the way back, we ran into a van selling hand carved boats. I’ve always had a fascination with boats; I even have three mini models in my room. I thought one of these would make a wonderful addition to my collection, but I didn't have any money on me and so, I made a mental note to get an El Mina hand carved boat one day in the future. Look, doesn't this last picture remind you of the boat in The Adventures of Tintin?

Today, I was reminded of the beauty of the sea, of El-Mina. It lifted my spirit! Thank You for a beautiful morning by the sea, Dana. It was a refreshing breath of fresh air! :-)

Tripoli's Car-Free Day Photo Competition!

Dear Friends & Readers,

I need your help! About my last post, “Tripoli’s Car-Free Day”, there’s this photography competition, and there’s this photo that I submitted for the competition:

I really need your help! Please, Please, Please, go to this link:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=641407498342&set=o.296675003692929&type=1&ref=notif&notif_t=like&theater

and click “like” on the photo. I need to get the most amount of likes among the other contestants (from now till the end of the month) in order to win, the prize being a spanking brand new Canon 500D (more advanced than my current camera!) PLEASE, "LIKE" IT! :-)

Pictures from Tripoli’s Car Free Day!

So, I know this is a few days overdue, but as I’d posted last week, last Sunday was “Tripoli and Mina’s Car-Free Day”, and what a day it was! I spent most of it at our BankMed stand, handing out gapples (organic apples), which were, all bias aside, the best tasting apples I've ever had!

I also got the chance to see Mr. President Michel Suleiman up close in the VIP section, and I got these two shots of him:

All in all it was a wonderful day, and it was beyond wonderful seeing Tripoli actually car-free! And instead of it being an annual event, I really hope it’s done a lot more often than that… :-)

TRIPOLI & MINA'S CAR-FREE DAY!

Description Of The Project:

The Mina-Tripoli Carfree Day is an initiative of the Tripoli Youth Network, and supported by BankMed, and Maurice Fadel Prize. It aims at promoting an environmentally friendly culture in Tripoli and Lebanon by banning cars in 2 major axes of Tripoli and Mina and organizing, within this track, sports, cultural and entertaining events, to which all inhabitants of Tripoli and beyond would be invited to participate.

The Tripoli Youth Network is a coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations operating in Tripoli and run by young active citizens driven by a common mission to positively contribute to the city of Tripoli as well as the nation of Lebanon as a whole. The Network and its constituencies have thus joined forces for organizing their first initiative: “A Carfree Day in Tripoli Mega-Event” promoting a better environment and responsible citizenship.

During this Mega Green Event we aim at: raising awareness about the environment and the environmental challenges confronting Lebanon in general and the North in particular, educating people on how they can become eco-friendly, and demonstrating in particular ways in which they can enjoy their city without necessarily being dependent on their cars, which is a major cause of air, noise, and visual pollution, giving local citizens the opportunity to enjoy the space freed from cars and rediscover their city and the treasures within it, while remaining a politically neutral event!

Program Of The Day:

Carfree Day in Tripoli and Mina Cities is on Sunday the 13th of November 2011. Super shiny sun or shy sun hidden under tiny water drops, BOOK your calendar and plan for a FULLY BOOKED day from 12 PM till 6 PM!

Our program is simple! 6 hours of nonstop environmental, sports, artistic, urban arts, musical, cultural, entertainment activities for everyone!

At 12:00 p.m. – The Inauguration Ceremony Under the High Patronage of His Excellency The President of the Republic of Lebanon General Michel SLEIMAN. From 1:00 pm till 6:00 pm – The Launching of all the Activities…

Competition And Activities:

Have you ever thought that a huge stage will be placed in the middle of the cross roads near Dar el Chimal with famous bands and singers playing and performing for 6-8 hours nonstop and another humungous stage standing in Cornish El Mina sparkling with Lebanese star bands and rocking the place with the sea breeze playing with your hair and your heart pounding from joy? Did you ever think that BENETTON’s side walk will be altered to become a kid’s zone? Did it ever come across your mind that you can bring your couch and use the asphalt roads as your rug? Have you ever dreamed of exploring your city, walking, jogging, skateboarding, “scootering”, cycling without worrying about the horns howling and damaging your serenity and peace of mind or a crazy car or truck careless about your escapade hunting your path? Don’t you just simply wish to take a nice long walk with your friends and family, shopping, exploring, learning, enjoying and that’s in two major road axes in Tripoli and Mina when seeing them “Carfree” was only a far, far, far impossible day dream?

Unlimited activities, nonstop artistic performances, 6 basketball playgrounds, urban arts, graffiti, awareness stands, food, beverages, 10 km race, solar car race, bike promenades, air blown games, paint ball, and so much more; Tripoli and Mina Cities will be as never seen before!

Saturday Night - 12 November 2011: Performance by the Superstar Ragheb Alama, Ambassador of the United Nations campaign for the Environment Program. (Tickets sold at Virgin Megastores for $10, $30, $50, $200)

Sunday All Day Long - 13 November 2011: Drawings exhibitions, kids’ zone, photo competition, 6 basketball playgrounds, 4 football playgrounds, Grafitti, urban arts by Gilbert Extreme, more than 100 stands distributed among reputable green NGOs, your favorite foods and drinks and entertaining activities, scouts parades, 4 bus stations to pick interested participants from one location to another, 10 Km Race (in association with Ma’an Loubnan),

On Mina Stage Performances: Mr. Vergo (Arabic rap, Tripoli Band), Killer Muffin(Grunge and Garage, Tripoli Band), Toxic Trash(Punk, Tripoli Band), Venemy (Metal, Beirut Band), Kristen Hope (Folk, US Band), Hezb L Taleta (Electro, Beirut Band), Adonis (Arabic pop fusion, Beirut Band), The Incompetents (Indie, Beirut Band), Lazzy Lung (Indie, Rock, Canada, Beirut Band), Belime

On Tripoli Stage Performances: Demons (Rock, Tripoli Band), Mohamad Cha’ar, 7 Ta2aT (Rap, Tripoli Band), Capoera Howl (English Pop, Tripoli Band), Tirashrash, and many, many more…

Shoot As You Walk (Ramadaniat 1)

Is it just me, or do most of you who are fasting this Ramadan feel absolutely drained after Iftar? The only thing I can think of is flopping myself on the couch and tuning in to the Ramadan series they've got on TV, or snoozing. True that many of you stay up during most of the night and sleep during most of the day, but I don’t have that option as I've got to be at work by 8:00AM each day…

But magically last Friday night, I felt quite energetic, I felt refreshed and recharged, and I guess that had to do with We Love Tripoli’s Shoot As You Walk’s first “Ramadaniyat” series of the year! Yup, we’re back in action! This time, the path was in El Mina, and here’s our group shot (taken by Karim Zock) that kicked off our evening:

We met up at 10:00PM in front of the El Mina Municipality Building (the one in the picture above), and we got quite a good turn up (as you can see! :-). The only thing I was fretting was how my photos were going to turn out, because night photography never turns out right with me, I usually end up with disappointing blurry or dark pictures. So as we were gathered, I asked Karim which mode to use on my camera. For some reason I've been preferring the TV mode, but he advised the AV mode, with a low F-Stop and a high ISO. I've still got some more photo mode researching to do, but I thank him for the good shots I ended up taking because of his advice:

I’m quite satisfied with the above pictures I took, especially because I've been able to capture an essence of Ramadan in them, and also, I see a real improvement in my photography over the year. True, I've still got a lot of practice to do, but comparing and contrasting between this year’s and last year’s shots, I can only say "GO NOUR"! haha, looking forward to our next Ramadaniyat adventure! :-)

El Mina By Bike December Ride

This morning I woke up with a 7:15 A.M. smile, because it was El Mina By Bike’s 1st December Ride! I got up, got dressed, had a quick baguette with Philadelphia, grabbed my sunglasses and keys and drove over to pick up Ymn and her friend Mayssa before meeting up with the rest of the group near the Cornish…

Al Jazeera TV was there, wanting to film us (to air this Friday 10/12/10 @ 2:30PM). And as soon as we got out of the car, a reporter came over to us asking if we were part of the group. We said “Yes!”, and so she asked us to rent our bikes and meet her where the camera was being set up. We did, and she asked us to bike around infront of the camera for a bit and then come close so she could ask us (in Arabic) “Where are you going?” and we’d have to say “بالاسكلة ع البسكلة” (Translation: El Mina By Bike!)

Those 2 Photos were taken by my friend, Taha Baba. In fact, Taha is a great photographer, that I'm going to leave all the pictures in this post to him! Check out two more of his great shots from yesterday:

We biked from El Mina, all along the Cornish, past the BAU, past the Olympic Stadium, past the Beirut/Tripoli roundabout, past Dam & Fares, past Maarad, past El Mina Street, and all the way back to El Mina. Once there, we were taken to a little boat-making workshop where a man (Mr. Mohamad Hamra) not only built boats but also little boat replicas and other wooden souvenirs:

Remember the “El Mina Street Festival” where I bought a little wooden boat and TJ got me a seashell? Well, it turned out to be from the same guy! I also remembered back in November of last year, Ymn, Diala, and I had once gone for a morning jog and came across his shop, where I also bought a rosary with sea-shell shaped beads. This man was quite “a talented craftsman and he told us his stories about the sea, his love of boats, and the untold history of El Mina”…

El Mina By Bike 24/10/10

I just got back from “El Mina By Bike – Autumn Ride”, which was organized by the “El Mina By Bike” Group that I had heard about through Facebook. As it states in their group description, they’re a “group of bike lovers seeking a stress-free lifestyle, a cleaner and health(ier) environment, and (a) cheap (means of) transportation!”. Their aim is simply to “create a bicycle friendly city… raise awareness and introduce the concept to the residents and encourage more people to use bicycles in their daily movements.”

I’ve known about “El Mina By Bike” and the biweekly tours that they organize but I’ve never had the chance to go, until today. And I’m really glad that I did go! Sunday mornings are blissful in Tripoli and the roads we took (from El Mina to Maarad, and back again) were as calm as ever:

There was one hardcore biker with us, biking on one wheel and doing all sorts of tricks. He even got some kids to lie down on the street and he’d jump over them with his bike:

On the ride back, I noticed there were special white lines pained on the side of the sidewalk, which turned out to be special routes for bicycles! And if I’m not mistaken, it was because of them that the local authorities had recently created those lines... (GREAT! :-)