The city is dotted with churches and mosques, catering for a variety of religions - Moslem, Greek orthodox, catholic etc. Some are modern, newly constructed buildings and others date back centuries. One church has Roman arches at the base of the brick where it has been built directly over Roman ruins. Layer upon layer of hisory.

New buildings can be seen dotted around Beirut and there is a definite military presence in the streets.

While walking around the city this is what you see. New buildings, reconstructed buildings and the remains for older, damaged buildings. Life must have been horrific for the citizens living in the city between 1989 and 2005. Our travel guide told us she had lost 4 apartments during the civil war and now lived well outside the city in the mountains.

Cinema

These two photos are of the bullet ridden remains of a cinema in downtown Beirut. Much of downtown has been rebuilt and the plan is for this cinema shell to be incorporated into the newly constructed mall and cinema complex.

Civil war

Lebanon has recently been involved in a civil war and there is evidence of bombing and destruction of buildings throughout the country. Downtown Beirut has seen huge reconstruction recently, but there are still many bullet ridden and dilapilated buildings. Here, a church stands in the middle of an empty plot in downtown Beirut.

Gypsy villages

On the outskirts of some towns we saw "Gypsy Towns" - rows of old tent structures where Syrian workers live to do the seasonal work in Lebanon. They lived in apalling conditions - but far better than their life in Syria we gather! The tents have large families - women and children - living in them - and the garbage around them is terrible.

Ksara Winery, Bekaa Valley

The Ksara winery was originally the site of a medieval fortress (ksar in Arabic) and the grapevines that were planed in the early 18th century still flourish. in 1857 Jesuit Priests ran the winery and it was taken over by its present owners in 1972. There are 2km of tunnels used to mature the wine. I bought Ksark (Arak is the Lebonese national drink - very like Pernod).

The 2 guys Julia is standing with at the wine tasting are Australian. They were a lot of fun!