What’s the general situation in Lebanon & Beirut? How safe is it these days?
I had a dream last night about being approached to work at a satellite station in or near Beirut and was asking myself this question in the dream, as well as the cost of living there.
Are you sure this post is not a dream ?
GD is thataway ---->
A couple of colleagues went over there on a business trip a couple of months back. They returned, alive and with all body parts intact, so I think it went OK. 
Seriously, they actually said it was quite nice - the parts they went to (which admittedly was only a small part of the country) were all quite modern and fairly affluent, with no signs of any problems.
There was a travel advisory in place from UK Gov, but that was more related to proximity than anything going on in the country itself.
I also have friends who visited a few months ago. It wasn’t on the top of their list of where to go, but they have a friend living there who they stayed with and who showed them around. From their descriptions and pictures it sounded great, somewhere I would think about visiting.
I haven’t ever been to the MidEast, but from reading the news, one significant problem in Beirut right now is there is a garbage strike/dispute/problem. To the point that there have been street demonstrations about the odor. So that is a negative regarding visiting at the moment. Hopefully it will get cleaned up soon…
Lebanon was always a bastion of Christianity in the middle east. Is that still the case today? My main interest is being able to order a beer or wine if I visit. I’m not being snarky! I work (when not in China) in Dearborn, where middle eastern food is awesome, but I have to go to Lebanese versions if I want to drink (for obvious reasons).
One of my very good friends when I was younger was a child of refugees at that time, and it’s always intrigued me, especially with the embassy bombings, its history, etc. Really, Lebanon has been one of my “stretch goals” for a visit (you know, after the obvious typical tourist places, like St. Petersburg).
Beirut was a jet-set tourist mecca in the 1950s. I wonder if any of that “swagger” is still to be found in 2015 Beirut? Or if the events of recent decades just swept all the glitz and gambling aside?
Well, Anthony Bourdain visited again recently, and thinks everyone should go.
A guy’s trying to pick up a woman in a bar, but she’s having none of it. Finally she says, ‘Sir, I’ll have you know that I’m a lesbian.’ The guy says, ‘Oh. How are things in Beirut?’
Hey you’re the one who reminded me of that joke!
Is that like a Lebanese thespian?
I remember it being known as the Emerald of the Mediterranean. During the horrors of the 1980s, you could see the enormous ferris wheel, in the background, while smoke rose from the in-city fighting.
It’s nice to hear they’re working their way back to a better situation again.
I visited last year and it’s far and away my favourite place in the Middle East. It’s very mixed, you can visit a mosque and then cross the road and visit a church, then walk down the road and visit a synagogue, you can buy almost any foods or drinks you wish, the street signs are often in Arabic, English and French and you hear those languages all over the place.