Nostalgia

Beirut apparently once was the Paris of the Middle East. That is what they say. I never saw her that way; I arrived when she was well into the autumn of her life. She’s trying on her second youth, with rejuvenation plans and all, but I kind of like her old glory.Take her city beaches for instances. How many metropolitan cities in the world have beaches? Right in town? Downtown even? There cannot be that many. Most big towns are inland. Those that are coastal, are often industrial (Rotterdam for instance) so too ugly for beaches. Rio de Janeiro has beaches. So does. Los Angeles. But these are so massive that it still may be an hour drive to get to the beaches. In Beirut, you are pretty much within 20 minutes at the beach.

These days most of Beirut’s city beaches are upscale 5 star resorts. But they are cold and clean. No character whatsoever. My favorite ones are a few old ones; hidden behind the dilapidated Luna Park. That one has had its best days as well. These are beaches that haven’t been refurbished since the 60’s, and exhale the old glory days when Beirut was indeed the Paris of the Middle East. Those days are over and gone. I don’t think they will ever come back. The glamour has left it. But when you go to these old beaches, you still feel it a little. Like a trip back in time. They are a little run-down. Not very clean. But somehow, they are quite glamorous. A little nostalgia.