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| The rebuilt clock tower
in center of the rebuilt area - the Mediterranean Sea can just be seen
center, between buildings. |
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| Keith takes this photo of
an "art cow" near our favorite BCD Kabob restaurant. More
photos! |
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| Patrick chooses the men's
WC for his art photo in the BCD area. |
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| Nada & Patrick pause
for this photo op on the waterfront. |
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| The walkway along the
Beirut waterfront. |
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| A view up one of the
streets leading inland from the waterfront. |
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| With fishermen trying
their luck, Nada & Patrick pause on our walk. Much construction &
reconstruction was obvious. |
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| Nada & Keith walk on
as Patrick captures this view of wind blown palm trees, many of which have
been replanted after the destruction of the war. |
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| Later in the day we
journey a few miles north of Beirut to the city of Jounieh
where one attraction is the Teleferique
(also spelled Telepherique or "Terror-freak"). |
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| This is the loading area
at the base were we boarded these little cable car "pods." |
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| Looking back we see the
dark rectangle from which we just emerged. |
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| In our little pod we seem
to be heading right in to a high-rise apartment building. |
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| Skimming between the
apartment building and the Queen's Land Hotel, we continue our upward
journey. |
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| Soon we are looking down
on the busy coastal freeway & the city of Jounieh. |
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| As we gain altitude the
views get more spectacular. What a thrill! This is not for anyone with any
fear of heights. |
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| We skim past more
high-rise buildings on the mountain side. It seems that some of these folks
have no privacy even many floors up. |
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| This is the end of the
line for these tiny 2-4 person cable car pods. North Jounieh Bay is clearly
seen here. |
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| Leaving the Telepherique,
we now take the Funicular the rest of the way to the top of the mountain. |
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| Here we find
(& climb up to) "Our
Lady of Lebanon Shrine." This famous white statue is also called
the "Virgin of Lebanon." The modern Maronite
cathedral can just be seen at right. |
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| From the top of the
Shrine Patrick spots the nearby Byzantine-style St Paul's Basilica. With his
love of old churches, we must now find our way there. |
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| Patrick poses on the
steps of St Paul's Basilica built by a Greek Catholic society of preaching
fathers, the Missionaries of St Paul. |
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From St Paul's we get a
fantastic view of the Virgin Shrine and the dramatic Basilique of Our Lady
of Lebanon. Check out PATRICK'S PANORAMA
taken from this site.
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| Here we try to capture
the inside view of the Basilique with the statue showing through the high
windows. The design of this building is said to be inspired by the Lebanese
Cedar tree and the Phoenician ship. |
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| Dropping down to the
restaurant located where the Telepherique & Funicular meet, we enjoy a
fine meal & interesting conversation with our waiter. Here we get our
waiter to sit at our table with Patrick for this photo op. More
photos! |
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| The views from this
restaurant are spectacular. Here Keith uses the telephoto lens to try to
photograph the beginning point of the Telepherique.
It is the dark rectangle near the sea at the center of this picture. |
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| Here we get ready to
board another tiny "cable pod" for our thrilling journey back down the
mountain. |
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| Patrick views the north
Bay as we descend. |
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| Looking down from our pod
we can see small patches of farming areas and a few greenhouses. |
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| Nearing the
bottom of the run, we view these interesting buses in a parking lot below. |
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