Spring Break #3 - Our Trip to Batroun

On Monday, we hired a taxi to take us about an hour north to a sleepy little town on the coast called Batroun. This town dates back to the Phoenicians.

Here is a quick map to give you an idea of where it is in comparison to Beirut.

Here are some pictures of our first day there.  It was VERY windy!

This was the view from our room on the top floor. They hadn't filled the pool yet but there was still the beach.

We had two different rooms and this was the wallpaper on the girl's room wall....YOU CAN BOOGIE!!

There was a public beach right next to us and this is where this sail surfer (as they call them here) launched from. He was moving really fast!

The windy weather didn't stop the girls from playing in the waves.

Or the sand....

It was a beautiful day.

Here is a view of the houses and the public beach next door.

Tim and I walked out to the point. That is our hotel behind him.

This was the son of the sail surfer. He and his mom walked over to our beach. Apparently he has a thing for older girls.(That's what his mom said.) He followed Delaney and Janna until we went into the hotel. He was very cute at 2 1/2 year old.

As we walked into town a we saw an empty house with a walled in area with a ton of bunnies. Not sure if they were pets (if you know what I mean).

There were also turtles with the bunnies.

Across the street from the place we ate there were preparing for a wedding. We were impress with this balloon sculpture.

Here are some pictures of day two. It was much warmer and we went for a walk through the town in the morning.

We found St. Steven Church right next to the water.  It also looked like it had a school as well. St. Steven is on the top of the building. It was really hard to take a picture of because the sun was right behind him when we were there. 

We then went in search of the Phoenician Wall along the water. We thought we had found it when we went around a corner and found this cool house on the water.

We did find this small church called "Our Lady of the Sea". 

This was the view from the church and the Phoenician Wall along the water.

This is the other side of the church where Tim got the picture above.

It's hard to believe that this wall has been here for over 2500 years and was 225 meters long!

As we were walking back we saw this store sign....doesn't look like the Al Paccino I know!

We saw this neat statue of a deep sea diver on our way back to the hotel. Shows a little bit of the history of this area.

Of course, that was just the morning. The rest of our day was quite relaxing.

There was swimming.

There were these very territorial and quick crabs on the beach as well. They were fun to watch. 

These two were very protective of their space.

 We went and had a late lunch and then Janna wanted to see the sunset so we went out to the point and waited.

Delaney found a good spot. 

Janna was being very thoughtful.

The only picture Tim didn't take that evening.

Still waiting.....

This was worth the wait though....

After the sun set we went up to our room. This was the view.

We did get hungry so we called room service and got some hummus, labneh, feta cheese, veggies and bread. There was so much Tim and I ate some for breakfast!

On the last day, we went swimming again and Delaney and Janna made this sandcastle. Overall, we had a very nice and relaxing trip!

Spring Break - Part 2

More things to blog about during our Spring Break!

We finally went for a walk to Gemmayze which is a ways away from Ein el Mreissieh (the neighborhood where we live) but still within walking distance.  We were in search for some items to repair a bike that Janna got as a gift but needed some work.  I guess the night life in Gemmayze can be pretty busy but we were there during the day.

A small cafe. 

Rue Gouraud. The main street.

I thought these stairs looked pretty neat. You can see stairs like this in many areas around Beirut.

After we got what we needed for Janna's bike we went in search of a burger shop that supposedly has the best burgers and shakes in Beirut.  While we didn't find it. We found this Mexican, yes, Mexican restaurant that had just opened 4 days ago.  The food was quite good and very reasonably priced! They gave us a bunch of freebies as well including some chips, cheviche and gazpacho since we were the only ones there at the time.

Morenito is the name of the place. The building is really cool.

Delaney liked her chicken tacos.

Janna liked her food as well.

We also dyed Easter eggs with our friends Dillon and Brittany. (Paul and Jill, we knew you were there in spirit!)

We also had the Easter bunny come and see us.  The search for candy eggs was on!

Notice the ones on top of the stove range...they didn't see those for a long time.

Searching behind the DVDs

They even found a few on the balcony....sneaky little bunny!

We also rented some bikes and went for a ride on the Corniche. It was 91 degrees but there was a nice breeze and it wasn't too crowded.

This is a shop around the corner from our apartment. They rent bikes by the hour.

Tim leading the way.

Delaney's friend Maysoun joined us as well.

Here's the whole group. I walked. I wasn't in the mood to ride a bike because I usually crash......

As some of you know, they are in the process of building across the street from us.  First, they had to take down the house that was there. Sadly, they plan on taking out the trees and plants as well. Here are some pictures of the process.

Here is the house after they removed the power lines and the tile roof.

This was quite noisy.

As was this.

This is what it looked like before we left for Batroun (see next blog post)

When we returned from Batroun three days later everything was gone.

So, obviously we will be doing one more spring break post about going to Batroun.  Stay tuned!

Spring Break Part 1

Sorry it has been a while since our last post, but the whole family has really been busy with a variety of activities.  Midge and Delaney performed in the Spring Concert, both kids are in plays, and Midge and I are both very active in school activities.   Needless to say...WE ALL NEEDED A BREAK!!!  Here are a few of the things that have been going on during or just before break.

Our friends Brittany and Dillon are expecting their first child and the staff of the school decided to host a baby shower for them.  We held the shower at our apartment because we have the best space for hosting.  Midge and a few other ladies on staff did a great job organizing a fun day.

Brittany and Dillon filling out the "Baby Quiz"

One of the flower arrangements

The cake from a local bakery...The writing on the cake refers to Brittany and Dillon's last name.

Talar and Zeineb with Elizabeth in the background.  Three friends that we have made in Lebanon.

Elizabeth, Midge, Sharon and Claire

Several months ago, Janna was given a bicycle.  The tires were flat and it needed a little TLC, but it is now back on the road and we decided to go down to the Corniche  to test it out.  It was a really windy day, but a fun couple of hours.

Janna on her first ride on the Corniche

Taking a break to enjoy the waves

One thing we love to do is watch the waves during a storm!

A very windy day!

 

On our way back, the Corniche was blocked off and we could see this family repeatedly throwing something into the water.  We thought they were high ranking people from the gulf states because who else could block the Corniche.  We quickly figured out that they were filming a scene for a movie and these actors were repeatedly trying to get the scene right!

Some signs of spring!

A quick blog on what I see as some signs of spring in Lebanon.  Some things may be the same, some different. The fact that it is averaging a high of 70-80 degrees here every day is a true sign that we are well into what the Lebanese would call "warmer weather" but still, they look at us a little funny when we are wearing short sleeves and they are still wearing their fleeces. 

This is the lettuce we planted about a week ago. It's some sort of romaine type. We didn't understand the package.

When we bought this plant from the nursery the owner called it a "nerd" plant. Happy to see the nerd is starting to bloom!

This is our pomegranate tree on our balcony. The red buds are the blooms about ready to open! Looks like more than one pomegranate this summer!

These tomatoes are part of the garden on our balcony!

The wonderful strawberries that are starting to appear at the fruit stand around the corner.

These are "green" almonds. Many people eat these here. You eat everything but the stem and dip them in salt. I think they are really good!

Next to the school are these really nice flowering trees. Don't know what they are but they are pretty!

This is the moth we saw on the wall of the school on Friday.  It was about 2 1/2 inches from head to tail.

This street cat was living outside of our 3rd floor entrance. Mother's day was two weeks ago and one of our colleagues couldn't leave her on the street to have her kittens.  Last week she had them. I'm sure we will soon be seeing kittens all over the place in Beirut!

Here are all 5 of them in a cute little pile. What a lucky mom and her babies!

Last but not least. Every morning we see these older men going out for a swim in the Med.  Yes, they do it all year around but it seems that there are more of them these days!