DUELING BROTHERS

We had a walking tour scheduled for this afternoon, but before that, we had to find a most famous Falafel shop...really 2 shops side by side.....in Lebanon. Short version is a father owned a wonderful falafel shop and when he died his sons fought over it, so the son who didn’t get the shop opened his own right next to the “original shop”, and there they have been for 40 years, not speaking and dueling falafel shops. So we grabbed an Uber and got to the “shops”. We went into the original one and it was a wonderful falafel sandwich, so simply made but so fresh and lite....we just stood out on the side walk and enjoyed every bite!

Cabs are readily available in the city, and so we hopped in one and headed for the waterfront Cornish’s. It was pretty warm, but a nice breeze kept us comfortable as we walked and walked along the beautiful coastline. The only spoiler was the amount of “modern garbage”....ie. plastic water bottles, lots of plastic, littering this once clean rock beach. It was hard to see. We finally turned and walked back to the more upscale area of Zaitunay Bay, where the Marina and nice restaurants line the bay.  We had another snack and decided to go early to our meet up point and have a glass of wine before the actual tour. This next cab turned out to be quite the ride! A VERY friendly outgoing driver who was rocking out to his favorite Arabic rap tunes....all the time dodging traffic, sneaking thru red light, taking his hands off the wheel to better dance with the tunes. I forgot about the craziness and just “went along for the ride”...laughing all the way!

Man! We needed a drink after than!

We moseyed up to the walking tour, expecting a few people and saw there were around 40 fellow travelers from all over the world waiting for the same tour. But, the guide was an excellent young knowledgeable woman who walked us all, over for 2 1/2hours explaining the history of Lebanon and the complicated political history of the last 100 years. Things were finally starting to line up and make sense to me. The old AND the new and the hopes for the future of such a strong country.

Sue had gone back early expecting to see her long lost luggage, and NO...it still was not delivered. Even with a few new clothes, she was missing everything. It really has put a damper on the trip for her. As were were winding down and complaining about the luggage....Julie got stung by a bee.  So the adventure continues.