Sigh....Sidon
Day 13 – Sidon
Noah seems okay and is happily watching Disney Playhouse, but our neighbors had a raging party last night. They finally stopped talking at 3 am. We’re knackered.
HALLELUJAH! Met John and the van outside at 9 am and the ergo was on the back seat. Whew. Headed out to Sidon, about one hour south of Beirut. Drove through a neighborhood that was pretty clearly Hezbollah. There were military checkpoints. Then later at an intersection a couple guys flagged John to stop. They came to the window and tried to give him Hezbollah leaflets…and then tried to give it to Aaron. John smoothed out a, “la habibi” and we drove off. I
ts easy to see – after that – how things can go wonky in a minute here. To that end, I’m convinced that John is ex-military or something. So smooth. Went to the Qa’la (the castle) on the sea in Sidon, where Noah delighted in building a sand mountain in one of the rooms for about 20 minutes. After throwing a few handfuls of rocks into the sea, we convinced him to leave. We wandered through the suqs (manageable because it was Friday) - which were incredible. Narrow streets, in some areas it looked like we were walking through basement rooms in a castle (stone corbelled 
ceilings). Came out of the suq looking at a castle built on top of the old tell. There was a pile of columns and a sarcophagus peeking through the wildflowers at the bottom of the hill. The adjacent hill, Murex Hill, is the old dump pile and is now a cemetery. 
The old city climbs up the tell at bit on one side. Walked back on the promenade along the sea. Beautiful. Headed back to Beirut and got dropped at the National Museum. Spectacular stuff and really great exhibits and layout. There was a movie that we sadly didn’t get to see about the rescuing of the collection during the civil war. There is a small exhibit highlighting the damage that some works sustained. Frightening. The museum is relatively close to the Green Line in the East, or Christian, part of town. Managed to catch a cab and head back to the hotel. Cabs are weird. They’re essentially services (shared taxis), until they decide they don’t want to be. You have to tell the driver where you’re going and he’ll decide whether or not he’ll take you. Tried to move rooms at the hotel, but the hotel is full. Management will ‘speak with’ our offending neighbors. Fingers are crossed for a quieter night. Tried to nap. Aaron did. Noah harrumphed, “this nap is too long” and so we headed out to an internet café to download photos. Going to meet up with Amelie in an hour.
Tried to feed Noah leftover hamburger (we have a fridge in our room) knowing that we’d be eating late. Poor guy must still be having tummy troubles because we saw that burger again. Seemed okay after…so we met up with Amelie who drove us downtown. Downtown was virtually a shell after the war – ground zero, if you like. When they started to rebuild, archaeologists
worked non-stop, following bulldozers, for four years. Amelie’s descriptions are incredible. The rebuilding is pretty incredible too. Pedestrian streets, buildings redone in “French Mandate” style but without years of grime, and a glittering mosque that looks like the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Went into the Greek Orthodox church of St. George to see its stunningly beautiful paintings. There’s some archaeological feature visible in the basement, but it was closed. There are three St. George churches in one block – Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Maronite (?) and two churches-cum-mosques within a two block radius.
Amelie very kindly and graciously took us to dinner at DUO. Noah had plain pasta and kept it down. I had a delicious salad bar. So many good green things. Avacado. Green beans not in butter. Was thrilling. The wine was delicious, the company so delightful, and Noah behaved and fell asleep in my lap at about 9:30 pm. Back to the hotel by 10:30 and although our neighbors weren’t silent, there were no parties. Hurray!
Noah seems okay and is happily watching Disney Playhouse, but our neighbors had a raging party last night. They finally stopped talking at 3 am. We’re knackered.
HALLELUJAH! Met John and the van outside at 9 am and the ergo was on the back seat. Whew. Headed out to Sidon, about one hour south of Beirut. Drove through a neighborhood that was pretty clearly Hezbollah. There were military checkpoints. Then later at an intersection a couple guys flagged John to stop. They came to the window and tried to give him Hezbollah leaflets…and then tried to give it to Aaron. John smoothed out a, “la habibi” and we drove off. I
ts easy to see – after that – how things can go wonky in a minute here. To that end, I’m convinced that John is ex-military or something. So smooth. Went to the Qa’la (the castle) on the sea in Sidon, where Noah delighted in building a sand mountain in one of the rooms for about 20 minutes. After throwing a few handfuls of rocks into the sea, we convinced him to leave. We wandered through the suqs (manageable because it was Friday) - which were incredible. Narrow streets, in some areas it looked like we were walking through basement rooms in a castle (stone corbelled 
ceilings). Came out of the suq looking at a castle built on top of the old tell. There was a pile of columns and a sarcophagus peeking through the wildflowers at the bottom of the hill. The adjacent hill, Murex Hill, is the old dump pile and is now a cemetery. 
The old city climbs up the tell at bit on one side. Walked back on the promenade along the sea. Beautiful. Headed back to Beirut and got dropped at the National Museum. Spectacular stuff and really great exhibits and layout. There was a movie that we sadly didn’t get to see about the rescuing of the collection during the civil war. There is a small exhibit highlighting the damage that some works sustained. Frightening. The museum is relatively close to the Green Line in the East, or Christian, part of town. Managed to catch a cab and head back to the hotel. Cabs are weird. They’re essentially services (shared taxis), until they decide they don’t want to be. You have to tell the driver where you’re going and he’ll decide whether or not he’ll take you. Tried to move rooms at the hotel, but the hotel is full. Management will ‘speak with’ our offending neighbors. Fingers are crossed for a quieter night. Tried to nap. Aaron did. Noah harrumphed, “this nap is too long” and so we headed out to an internet café to download photos. Going to meet up with Amelie in an hour.Tried to feed Noah leftover hamburger (we have a fridge in our room) knowing that we’d be eating late. Poor guy must still be having tummy troubles because we saw that burger again. Seemed okay after…so we met up with Amelie who drove us downtown. Downtown was virtually a shell after the war – ground zero, if you like. When they started to rebuild, archaeologists
worked non-stop, following bulldozers, for four years. Amelie’s descriptions are incredible. The rebuilding is pretty incredible too. Pedestrian streets, buildings redone in “French Mandate” style but without years of grime, and a glittering mosque that looks like the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Went into the Greek Orthodox church of St. George to see its stunningly beautiful paintings. There’s some archaeological feature visible in the basement, but it was closed. There are three St. George churches in one block – Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Maronite (?) and two churches-cum-mosques within a two block radius.Amelie very kindly and graciously took us to dinner at DUO. Noah had plain pasta and kept it down. I had a delicious salad bar. So many good green things. Avacado. Green beans not in butter. Was thrilling. The wine was delicious, the company so delightful, and Noah behaved and fell asleep in my lap at about 9:30 pm. Back to the hotel by 10:30 and although our neighbors weren’t silent, there were no parties. Hurray!
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