Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

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"Beyrout, shewing Mount Sannin and the Lazaretto Early Morning Light", a 1908 illustration by Margaret Thomas for "From Damascus to Palmyra", a Blacks' Beautiful Book written by John Kelman

The rest of us had nothing to do but look at the beautiful city of Beirout, with its bright, new houses nestled among a wilderness of green shrubbery spread abroad over an upland that sloped gently down to the sea; and also at the mountains of Lebanon that environ it; and likewise to bathe in the transparent blue water that rolled its billows about the ship (we did not know there were sharks there). We had also to range up and down through the town.
Mark Twain - The Innocents Abroad - 1869
Beyrout has been described as "a quarter Syrian, a quarter Turkish, a quarter cosmopolitan, and a quarter nondescript - altogether too cosmopolitan to be otherwise interesting." Its physical appearance, indeed, is surpassingly beautiful. Where Phoenician galleys once lay at anchor, the great steamers of half-a-dozen lines - French, Austrian, Russian, or Egyptian - are moored to-day. The huge and beautiful masses of Lebanon, white with snow for half the year, but diversified with black patches of pine or broken with the quaint outlines of villages that nestle far up towards their summits, form a splendid background for the city. Kelman

"At Beyrout", another illustration by Margaret Thomas

The city builds itself up from the water's edge, its red roofs thrown up against much green of brilliant foliage, and its skyline broken by the dainty minarets of mosques. From the balcony of your hotel, through hanging garlands of acacias, willows, and roses, you see beyond the old grey gate- posts and the decayed buildings of a cafe that jut out picturesquely into the sea, the white sail of a boat far across the blue, and fleecy clouds sailing high above the snow-clad peaks. Near the water's edge some naked boys are paddling a canoe. Two trees stand out against the blue water, their stems white in sunlight, dark brown in shadow, and clustered round by a slight fretwork of green, while great heavy masses of pink and white blossom hang from them, and swing in the wind. Kelman

Pigeon Rocks

Pigeon Rocks - 2

Old and New Manar (Lighthouse) at the beginning of Corniche Manara

Restaurants at the New Manar

Diver at Corniche Manara on April 13, 2018

Anglers at Corniche Manara

Benches of Corniche Manara

The only surviving part of Zawiyat Ibn Iraq (1517)

(left) Emir Assaf Mosque (1597); (right) minaret of Emir Munzer Mosque (ca 1630)

Saint Elias Greek Catholic Cathedral (1849): Saint Louis Capuchin Cathedral (1864)

American University of Beirut Campus (1870s)

Ottoman Grand Serail (Great Palace - late XIXth century) and Hamidiye Clock Tower (see that at Jaffa) above the Roman baths and near Place de l'Etoile

Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque (2008)

Beirut Souks (2009)

Zaitunay Bay and Hotel Phoenicia (2014)

A 1930s building which is about to be demolished to make room for more Beirut Souks

The image used as background for this page is based on the modern coat of arms of the City of Beirut: it shows a ship carrying an open book, a reference to the law school of Berytus.
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Plan of this section:
Introductory page
Anjar
Baalbek
Beirut
Beiteddine
Deir el-Qalaa
Deir al-Qamar
Byblos (Jbeil) and Harissa
Qadisha Valley
Qalaat Faqra
Sidon
Tripoli
Tyre