Back in Beirut

We are back in Beirut again, this time staying at Femke's French friend Olivier's place (thanks Olivier!). Checked out some shops, had a great lunch with Sami (from the Massaya winery) at cool artisanale restaurant Tawlet. Here we also met the man behind the delicous Beiruti micro brewery 961.
Afterwards, we convinced ourselves we needed a dessert and so enjoyed a milkshake at the rooftop pool bar of swanky Hotel Le Gray.

In the evening, it was time to try some of Beirut's famous nightlife. We started with a beer at the fun bar Torino Express followed by a cocktail at Dragonfly next doors. Dinner was booked at the very happening bar of Joe Penas, again together with Sami. Femke retired early while me and Sami did some more barhopping. In the end I had a beer at the very crowded bar Treesome. Luckily I found a taxi back to the apartment before getting lost in the wild Beirut night.

More temples, more wine

Zatar breakfast at Dr Jammal, then a guided visit to the stunningly well-preserved Roman temples in Baalbek. The enormous Jupiter temple has columns 23 meter high and Bachus’ temple still stands proud. Amazing.

On the way back to Beirut we stopped at two vineyards. First at Ksara, Lebanon’s biggest wine producer and the one with a really beautiful old cavernous cellar, the caves dating back thousands of years.
The last, but not the least, vineyard on our tour was lovely boutique winery Massaya, operated by two brothers, Ramzi and Sami. They produce some great wines and also a very popular arrak sold in blue bottles. Their gourmet restaurant is only open on Sundays but extremely popular so book ahead.