Achrafieh
The neighbourhood of Achrafieh, in what was formerly known as East Beirut, is a predominantly Christian area filled with small streets and hotch-potch buildings constructed on top of each other. Situated on a hill that rises up from Gemayzeh and Downtown, Achrafieh has hotels, funky little shops and plenty of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, all making it an incredibly desirable neighbourhood to live and play in. Despite all that, it can be quiet at night, too – that is, anywhere away from Monnot Street.
The quarter also contains a number of churches, a theatre, galleries and antiques shops and a surprising amount of greenery in the form of tree-lined streets (although no parks – a facility that Beirut is severely lacking).
The buildings for the most part are old French Mandate period mansions and 1950s apartment blocks; there are also towering luxury apartments that have replaced former crumbling villas because land is apparently more valuable than architectural heritage. This has created a sometimes beautiful and sometimes unseemly juxtaposition – and has fuelled arguments over planning regulations and structures.
Perhaps off-putting for some, but interesting for those with a nose for old Beirut history, Achrafieh is built on the remains of the Roman necropolis, or city of the dead, which in ancient times was located to the east of the main Roman city centre. Within walking distance of Gemayzeh, Hamra and downtown, Achrafieh is without question one of Beirut’s most attractive neighbourhoods, with a great deal to offer in terms of leisure and architecture.
On one side of the roughly square neighbourhood are Sassine Square and the ABC Shopping Mall, which sells everything from designer clothes to the latest electronic gadgets, and from sleek furniture to Starbucks coffee. On the other is the legendary Monnot Street, the hub of Beirut’s new nightlife, with its vast number of clubs, restaurants and bars.
Hotel-wise there are the lovely Albergo and Gabriel Sofitel – both a departure from the town’s otherwise functional accommodation – and the less distinctive Alexandre slightly further out; but all offer comfortable and attractive rooms within staggering distance from the most indulgent clubs.
The better restaurants are those located off the main Monnot drag, such as Al Dente, Abdel Wahab el Inglizi and Mayass, an Armenian– Lebanese delight. Bar-wise the places to check out are Pacifico, a Monnot institution, and Time Out, for their individual charm, clientele and style.
If you want to imagine what the capital was like under the French, use Achrafieh for inspiration. Today, however, it bears little resemblance to the more Muslim areas of West Beirut, and has adopted a somewhat laid-back approach to life.
Beirut City
Beirut’s past has been more than a little chequered, from a millionaire’s playground and host to a glamorous ’60s jet-set, to a war-torn hell-hole synonymous with hostage-taking and car bombs. Today it has risen, phoenix-like from its ashes into an urbane and modern metropolis, returning to its halcyon days as a summer haven for the rich and famous.
In the ’60s the city entertained such international luminaries as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor who came to banquet on fabulous seafood and lounge on yachts anchored off the Corniche.
The good days began to disintegrate in the ’70s after the PLO were driven out of Jordan, only to set up camp in Beirut. In 1975 the Christians and Muslims turned to full- out civil war which was bought under control by the Syrians at the request of the Lebanese president. The invasion by the Israelis in 1982, supposedly to set up a buffer zone in Southern Lebanon, precipitated the unrest that would see the country divided into different factions backed by rival nations, religions and superpowers. The bombing of the US embassy and military bases in 1983 by Islamic Jihad suicide bombers remains etched in the memory of many of us as a symbol of what Beirut had come to represent. The ‘hostage years’ of the late ’80s saw John McCarthy, Terry Anderson and Terry Waite imprisoned in cellars around Ras Beirut while the massacre of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire continued.
The war officially came to an end in 1990; however, trouble still continued in Southern Lebanon as Hezbollah continued attacks on Israel and Israeli-backed militia, which eventually culminated in the massacre at Qana in 1996. Since then Lebanon and Beirut have been peaceful – save for a temporary blip in February 2005 when the former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assasinated in a massive blast in Downtown. This eventually led to international pressure for Syria to withdraw their security services in April 2005, leaving Lebanon free of foreign intervention for the first time in 30 years.
The war took its toll on the architecture of the city – many of Downtown’s classic buildings were destroyed, while the old French Mandate buildings in more outlying areas had to be demolished. The city’s regeneration has been mixed. Rafic Hariri’s Solidere company has restored much of Downtown to its former glories, although some may quibble that it is now a little soulless. Elsewhere urban planning has been virtually non-existent and a hotch-potch of buildings has sprung up, interspersed with the bullet-marked shells of disused houses and offices. The ruins of the old Holiday Inn, towering over Downtown, remains a testament to the brutality and savagery of the civil war.
Today Beirut is as glamorous as it once was; in fact the city is, if anything, more vibrant than ever, with a plethora of fantastic restaurants, stylish bars and chic nightclubs that keep the Lebanese dancing on the bar until dawn. In winter skiing is just 45 minutes away in the mountains, while in the summer the beaches and warm waters of the Med are just a 30-minute drive from the city centre; alternatively the stunning Roman ruins of Baalbeck make a peaceful respite from hectic city life. Beirut is a city that offers everything to everyone.
Downtown
What was once nothing but rubble, a no-man’s-land of warring guerrillas and hidden snipers, is today the most prominent example in the world of a city centre rebuilt from the ashes.
Yet as one tragedy is built over and forgotten, another begins. The key player in downtown’s reconstruction, Lebanon’s assassinated former Prime Minister and major partner in Solidere (the company responsible for the rebuilding) Rafic Hariri, now lies entombed next to the giant mosque he built facing Martyr’s Square. He was killed in a massive car bomb on 14 February 2005, by as yet unknown culprits.
What Hariri created in downtown has been both attacked and praised, but in the end what cannot be denied is that from ashes a vibrant city centre has been created with pedestrianized avenues and numerous street cafés and restaurants competing with a clutch of reconstructed mosques and churches.
Downtown, which consists mainly of boutique shops, offices, investment banks and parliament and government offices, has been criticized for lacking soul, being merely a touristic Disneyland for visitors to drink arak and smoke nargileh in the sunshine or cool of the evening. To be fair, during high season it attracts primarily that clientele with many Lebanese preferring to frequent the less touristy neighbourhoods of Achrafieh and Gemayzeh.
Yet for all the complaints levelled against it, downtown remains the cleanest area of the capital, with the least traffic (something that makes a huge difference in this town full of brand new SUVs and smoke-belching old Mercedes taxis) and wide streets coupled with ancient temples and ruins – including the Roman baths which sit in a garden beneath the government Seraille building. The old Ottoman and French Mandate-era buildings have been restored and some completely demolished and rebuilt making it difficult to tell the difference between the genuine and the faux.
There are numerous shops selling mainly clothes, shoes and jewellery and some restaurants, in particular the Lebanese ones, are well worth visiting. Look out for Karam and Al-Balad.
There are also a number of clubs and bars, which do a roaring evening trade especially during the summer months – Taboo and Baby M in particular are popular as is Beirut’s version of Paris legendary lounge club Buddha Bar.
What downtown lacks is a major national museum of art, theatre or decent cultural space, something which angers many local people who ask how a new city centre can be built without thought for art, but merely for business and leisure. Still, there are numerous music festivals and random street exhibitions that happen in downtown throughout the year – check the Beirut Jazz Festival, which occurs in July as does the French Cultural Mission’s Fête de La Musique.
Also in downtown is the recently inaugurated Saifi Village of arts located in the main residential part of the area off Martyr’s Square. Here there are a number of new fashion boutiques, furniture and artisan stores and art galleries vying to create a mini cultural centre. It is, if not perfect, a good start.
With a few more years and more investment downtown will become a true focal point for the city but at present it remains one for the moneyed few rather than the majority of the city’s population.
Once the reclaimed land next to the Beirut port is fully rehabilitated, a new park will be built surrounded by many new high-rise apartment buildings in an effort to create a modern and landmark skyline, downtown could really come to life.
A great place to walk, make sure to visit Martyr’s Square where in March 2005 almost a million Lebanese congregated to demonstrate for independence from foreign interference in the country – the biggest protest in Lebanon’s history.
Gemayzeh
Gemayzeh is the Beirut equivalent of London’s Shoreditch or Hackney, or New York’s Williamsburg: a formerly run-down area close to downtown and central Beirut, with old buildings and cheaper rents. After the first trendy bar – Torino Express – opened in the summer of 2004, a spate of new restaurants and bars sprang up, making Gemayzeh the happening place for young hipsters and artists to hang in and shoot the breeze.
Over the last 18 months, this neighbourhood, slightly east of Beirut’s downtown district, has rapidly fashioned itself into the number-one area to live, work and play. Unlike downtown, Gemayzeh was not completely destroyed during the tumultuous war years, and still retains the flavour of an old Beirut now lost almost everywhere else. Gemayzeh was populated in the past by many old, primarily Christian families, and today an older generation of residents still remains. It has now been designated an ‘area of traditional character’ by the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, with its original red-tile roofs and buildings dating back to the 1930s and ’40s French mandate days.
Gemayzeh is an enjoyable area to stroll through and soak up the flavour of Beirut. Halfway down Gouraud Street, there are the historic St Nicholas steps, a wide-open stairway leading up the hill to the famous Sursock Street and its ageing colonial villas and museum (recently restored by the Association for the Development of Gemayzeh). For two weeks every autumn the steps are taken over by local artists and craftsmen plying their wares in a local arts festival.
So far the area has managed its slow gentrification well, but how long this will last remains to be seen. As investment in the area continues to rise in terms of property and leisure service development – $50 million was spent on it during 2004 – some of the neighbourhood’s traditional character is inevitably being lost. The Lebanese love to go out and they love to make money, and when an area becomes the place to be, anyone who is anyone wants a piece of it. As a result Beirut’s wealthier, yuppy class is moving in at a rapid rate and those struggling artists are already finding it difficult to afford to live here as rents increase.
With three excellent art galleries, a plethora of jewellers, grocery stores, butchers and antiques sellers, mixed in with designer restaurants and bars such as L’O and Dragonfly, Gemayzeh is without question Beirut’s most happening and dynamic neighbourhood.
During the day Gemayzeh’s main drag, Gouraud Street, can get jammed with traffic, but you’ll often see poets, film-makers, artists and writers scribbling away on street corners or in local cafés such as Aweht Azzeiz (the Glass Café) or Le Rouge. At night it becomes a chilled bar and club district attracting a generally older crowd – leaving the teenagers to swallow up Monnot Street. It’s definitely worth a bar crawl, hitting the different bars and trying the different specialist cocktails that almost all offer.
In the end Gemayzeh is one of Beirut’s most picturesque areas, with good restaurants and interesting bars found nestling among the many old houses. Good both at night and in the day, it is well worth checking out – and it’s within easy walking distance of both downtown and Achrafieh.
Hamra
Ras Beirut, and the Hamra area in particular, arouse strong affection in most Lebanese. Older people remember the district fondly from their college days at one of its three universities – the American University of Beirut, the Lebanese American University of Beirut and the Lebanese Univerisity – all of which, but especially the AUB, have beautiful campuses you can stroll around. Students and young people see it as an alternative to downtown, which they perceive to be rather soulless.
But the area that spans the the Corniche and Ramlet el Baida at one end and the main Hamra block on the other remains a hub for shopping, hotels and businesses, a cheaper and more eclectic area than downtown (which took much of Hamra’s business away when it re-emerged in the mid-’90s).
During the war Hamra was the centre of all intellectual activity in Beirut; its famous street cafés – Wimpy and the now defunct Modka, for example – attracted fierce political debate between artists, writers and all those outside the political classes. Today much of the debate has moved on to literary café/jazz bar De Prague and the small, smoky and very Arabic Barometre.
Always bustling during the day, Hamra has become the favourite quarter of Lebanese actors, performers and musicians, with two old cinemas, which have stood decrepit for 30 years, recently being taken over and refurbished as arts and theatrical centres. Check out the Estral and Saroulla, located on the main Hamra high street, for their varied programmes of local and international performances. The Agial and Janine Rubeiz galleries both contain a large collection of works by both old and new Lebanese and regional artists well worth their salt. If art’s your thing, go along and see what you think.
Ras Beirut also contains the upmarket shopping neighbourhood of Verdun, which fights to compete with the boutiques downtown, which has many of the same stores. Sanayeh Park, one of the few parks in Beirut – or rather a sort of concrete square with patches of greenery and trees layered around it – is located here, providing a pleasant space for a stroll in the sunshine. It’s aways full of families and an older, more nostalgic generation trying to cling to a lost Beirut outdoor life now dominated by the joggers on the Corniche.
Ras Beirut and Hamra retain much more of a Muslim Arab feel than Gemayzeh and Achrafieh, and bustle with street life, from shoe-shine boys to coffee and newspaper sellers. Although most of the architecture is modern and uninteresting, if you dig deep and walk around you’ll find some attractive older buildings harking back to more picturesque days.
In the end, a stroll on the Corniche where the air is fresh may be all you need to get away from it all. It’s more cosmopolitan here, and gives a truer impression of Lebanese life.
