Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Lebanon Cities Photos
Read more:http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=119589##ixzz10LFdn6tI
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tripoli Sea Festival
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Learn to prepare Garlic Sauce
Monday, September 13, 2010
Lebanon Cities Festivities for Eid el Fitr
 |
SIDON/BEIRUT: Two of Lebanon’s most popular destinations were transformed into massive theaters of live performances during the weekend, as thousands of people celebrated Eid al-Fitr in Hamra and the coastal city of Sidon.
In the capital, the busy and cosmopolitan street of Hamra was filled with music, decorations, circus performances and other fun events, as the Maraya 2010 festival was held from Friday to Sunday.
Hamra Street, which usually witnesses bumper-to-bumper traffic, was packed with people walking, dancing, singing and enjoying the parade.
On the first day of the festival, a convoy of Harley Davidson motorbikes rode through the crowd, accompanied by a car transporting Miss Lebanon 2010 Rahaf Abdallah, a married couple in a horse carriage, entertainers on stilts, and dancers performing a traditional sword fight.
The traditional Lebanese dance, the dabke, was also performed, while children flew balloons and rushed to gather as much candy as possible. Girls were dressed as gypsies, musical instruments were everywhere and the flashes of cameras were going off faster that anyone could say “cheese.”
The three-day celebration also included performances by jazz artist Arthur Satyan, oud player Charbel Rouhana, Beirut’s Hip-Hop band, Fareeq al-Atrash and Cirque du Liban. Sports activities were also present, with the contribution of Hoops basketball club and Lebanese Rally champion Jean-Pierre Nasrallah, in addition to a food market, poetry recitals, plays and shops.
The organizers described the event as the first of its kind in Hamra since 1998 and enjoyed seeing the famous street live up to its pre-war reputation of being the most cosmopolitan and most popular street in Beirut.
Maraya 2010 was launched by Hamra Street’s Merchants Association, under the patronage of Premier Saad Hariri.
Also over the weekend, the coastal city of Sidon in the south of Lebanon marked the end of Ramadan with busy and joyous Eid al-Fitr festivities.
Sidon’s boulevard was closed for cars and the streets were decorated in a fairytale-like fashion with bright lights escorting visitors as they walked past the cafes, clowns, air balloons and entertaining performances.
Over 50 artists were featured in the celebration, such as the French companies Remue-Menage and Motus Modules, which held extravagant shows mixing dance, theater, aerobics and music. Clowns entertained children with face painting and fun activities, while giant animal-shaped balloons were released into the sky.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Did you know?
One of the most popular recording artists on the planet right now is Lady Gaga. It's a pretty safe bet that she would not be enjoying the level of success she's having right now by using her real name of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta.
Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas, but there was already a famous Michael Douglas in the Actors Guild. So instead he chose the surname of an actress he admired, Diane Keaton.
Tripoli Soap Factory
TRIPOLI: Like various traditional products, which were once considered essential and basic, old-fashioned health and hygiene items have today become forgotten.
However, the traditional Lebanese soap – commonly known as saboon baladi – is regaining some of its former glory, as people are rediscovering its therapeutic benefits.
The comeback falls into a worldwide trend of returning to traditional and natural products, especially when it comes to cosmetics and medicine.
Lebanon’s northern coastal city of Tripoli has particularly profited from this resurgence and its famous soap factory is currently witnessing very prosperous days.
The factory, known as Khan al-Saboon, flourished in the Mamluk era and was built in a neighborhood filled with perfume makers, chemists and physicians. The Khan was able to turn Tripoli into a “Soap Kingdom,” with a number of families leading the business.
Among these families was the Hassoun family, which passed down its secret recipes from generation to generation and is still managing the factory today.
Bader Hassoun explained that soap making has been a family trade for about eight centuries. “The women used to create the herbal combinations to make the products, which were later sold near the factory … As for the men, they were scattered in different levels of the manufacturing process,” he said, noting that the most important part of the procedure was the mixture of herbs and scents.
History records show that soap products in Tripoli were in great demand and the rate of their exportation could be compared to that of silk and sugar.
Books also show that Europeans were introduced to soap and to its health benefits after the crusades campaigns. The product played such a significant role in Lebanon and the region that it was present in mythological tales. It was said that Adonis used to offer soaps scented with herbs to his lover Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love.
At the time, Lebanese soap makers were only able to produce 21 different types of soaps, perfumes and creams, all based on three main combinations known as the Trabulsiya, the Sultaniya and the Malakiya.
Today more than 2,000 products can be found at the Tripoli soap factory in Lebanon and at its branches in the Arab Gulf, Europe and America.
“The new products have new therapeutic functions. Throughout the past years we’ve gathered recipes from Arab and foreign soap factories, including China and India, where soap manufacturing has a long history,” said Hassoun.
He added that some of the new soaps could be used to cure certain skin diseases. “I give out free samples to costumers. They can try them and see for themselves,” he noted.
However, Khan al-Saboon is still facing some difficulties and might encounter more trouble in the future.
Hassoun said he was still trying to make the production process completely Lebanese and was working on replacing any foreign material with local ones. He added that a contract would soon be signed with a Lebanese cardboard firm, which will provide the factory with all its soap-wrapping material.
But even if such an obstacle could be overcome, another hindrance may lie ahead as the Tripoli municipality and the Culture Ministry are trying to acquire the factory.
Details of the possible acquisition remain unclear and the economic benefits to come from it are also ambiguous, but Hassoun fears that shifting the factory’s ownership toward a collective property might lead to instability. “I am afraid that Khan al-Saboon would become soulless without its soap,” he said.
You can visit the Tripoli Khan al Saboon as part of you Lebanon Packages or your Lebanon Vacations
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Lebanon Restaurants Alcohol Free during Ramadan
A recent article in the Lebanese daily An-Nahar has sparked a debate about the possibility of the eventual presence of mutawa in Lebanon. Mutawa is the singular of mutaween (Arabic for "volunteers"), which are government-authorized religious police, commonly seen in conservative Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia. Their job is to enforce proper Islamic behavior.
Lebanon, a country built on its religious and ethnic diversity, has largely steered clear of government-imposed morality, and as such, has gained a reputation for being a bastion of tolerance in the Arab world, with Muslims and Christians living side by side. So when the author of the An-Nahar article, who is a Lebanese Christian, went to a high-end hotel in downtown Beirut, she was surprised to find that the waiter did not want to serve her wine, due to the fact that it is the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. When she insisted, saying that she was Christian and that the restaurant should respect her beliefs too, the waiter offered to disguise the wine by putting it in an opaque glass. In the end, she left the restaurant, but to her and to many other Lebanese, the incident was just one indication of how the country is becoming less tolerant, or at least appearing to be so, in order to cater to business interests.
For restaurant and hotel managers and owners, making a decision about serving alcohol during Ramadan based on financial concerns is a tricky one. Alcohol sales bring in a lot of cash, but if many customers are Muslim (Lebanese or tourists from Gulf countries), they won't be drinking it anyway, and owners may turn off potential diners.
An unscientific survey of the hotels and restaurants in Beirut revealed mixed policies when it comes to serving alcohol during Ramadan. Many of the top-tier hotels, such as The Four Seasons, the Mövenpick, Le Gray and the Phoenicia have at least one restaurant that is dry during the Iftar dinner period, from 7 to 9 p.m. Other hotels, such as the Hotel Bristol, the Riviera and the Bay View Hotel, have some areas where they serve alcohol, some without. The Monroe in Ain Mreisseh and the Crown Plaza in Hamra serve alcohol at all hours.
The Sheraton Four Points in Verdun serves no alcohol at all during the month of Ramadan, despite the fact that it is an international chain. In many "dry" hotels and restaurants, it is often the owner who makes the call.
"The owner decided. It is his will. He is Muslim," said Sheraton manager Fahed Dayeth, who claims the policy started in 2006, when the hotel opened. "It doesn't affect our customer levels," he said, although many customers may not know the policy until after they have booked, and those desperately seeking a drink can still order one from their rooms.
Along the Beirut waterfront, which is full of touristy restaurants, one would have no problem finding an Iftar dinner special, but a hard time finding a beer. Popular tourist spots such as the Petit Cafe and the Grand Cafe in Raouche do not serve any alcohol during Ramadan, not even at the customers' insistence. Grand Cafe Manager Abou Hassan says it's been that way for 10 years, since they opened.
However, just down the waterfront at Cafe Rawda, the no-alcohol policy is relatively new.
“All the customers are Muslim, and when they see the alcohol, they don't like it," said manager Mohammad Chatilla, who noted that the establishment is alcohol free year round. "Some people see that we have no alcohol and they leave, but it’s ok; business is good. We don’t like the alcohol."
He says the policy changed because "the big boss is hajj.”
A group of Lebanese Christians drinking coffee outside Dunkin' Donuts in downtown Beirut told NOW Lebanon they think local restaurants are getting stricter.
"It wasn't like this before. We always lived together, and there were not these kinds of problems. This is the first year they've really cracked down," said Michel H, who chose to keep his last name anonymous.
"It bothers me because, when we are fasting for 40 days during our holy time, we don't mind if others drink and eat. If I'm fasting, I'm doing it for myself and for God. Part of fasting is controlling yourself. Besides, this is a Christian country, and we never bother anyone from the Arab countries when they come to visit," he said.
"We're a mixed country, so they have to respect us," added Dali Geagea. "We drink alcohol during this period of time, so why do the restaurants stop serving? They should respect that we're not fasting. They are ignoring us."
Meters away at the Place d'Etoile clock tower, Fatima Al-Agha says she respects Christians, but does not want to be around anyone who drinks...ever.
"I don't go to a restaurant where there is alcohol. If somebody was drinking alcohol, I would leave immediately," she said.
At Lebanese restaurant Karamna, across the street from Dunkin' Donuts in downtown, manager Jad Bandakji says they stopped serving alcohol during Ramadan just last year, after 10 years. "The owner made the policy. He's a hajj," he said. Besides, he added, "nobody asks for it during Ramadan," as they serve mostly Lebanese Muslims and customers from the Gulf.
While some may argue that Karamna's change in policy is symbolic of the Islamification of Lebanon, others say it's just plain economics.
"The economic revenue of the country is because of the Arabs, not like before when there were English, American and Italian tourists,” said Michel H. "And so the Lebanese have to cater to them, and pretend they care, so they can get business."
Lebanon at the top of travel guide to-do lists
The Lebanon is a loose cannon of a country and, as its capital, Beirut is fittingly fast-paced, colourful and raw. It is a window on the innumerable faces of the original phoenix which spouts folklore and capitalism in the same breath, where the rousing song of the minaret competes with the clamour of church bells, where faith meets hedonism, and where first world meets third world.
The history of Beirut is not relegated to museums and dusty libraries like a venerated but useless grandpa stowed out the way on a comfy chair in the back room. Its past is chronicled on the walls of the capital, from the Roman baths to the damage of the civil war in the eighties. It neither worships nor denies its past, perhaps because it is never over. The business of making history thrives in the Middle East, though the storyline loops and the actors merely change masks.
Even after the civil war ended in 1990, this esteemed undertaking has punctuated life for the Lebanese with almost monotonous regularity and repeatedly punctured the bubble of hope that swells each spring as Beirut’s businesses look gingerly forward to that elusive thing – a tourist season. Year after year, a new boil burst from an old infection, scuppering any likelihood of a return to the heady summers of the early seventies when the city was awash with visitors.
But in 2009, at long last, there was no war, and revenue from tourism soared 80% while the number of tourists jumped 39% to an all-time record of 1.85mn, beating the previous record of 1.4mn set in 1974, the year before civil war broke out. The term “tourists” requires some clarification: the vast majority of incoming visitors in 2009 were first or second generation Lebanese expatriates returning to their homeland or visitors from the Gulf, preferring the hospitality of Lebanon to the increasingly equivocal reception of another old favourite, the US. A full year without major conflict, and the accolades and recommendations came raining down, shunting Beirut out of nowhere to the top of travel guide to-do lists.
The Lebanese, for their part, remain wary of the future and weary of the past. Above all Beirut lives its golden age in the present.
More about Lebanon Vacations
Posts
