Day 2 Photo Album

We meet Nada for morning coffee at one of our favorite nearby cafes - Modca. More photos of Modca!

Then we are off to the Corniche or walk along the western waterfront with the goal of taking particular photos of the famous Pigeon Rocks. However tour buses are spilling out many folks with the same idea.

While we wait for the prime photo spot to clear, Nada points out what is happening across the street.

Keith promised his old Army buddy that he would take photos not only of the Pigeon Rocks but what was on the other side of the street.

Here is what he found: Much modern rebuilding and a Starbucks getting ready to open, no less!

The crowds were too thick for the optimum photo spot, but we at least got this decent shot of these much photographed rocks.

A little further down the walk & away from the crowds, Keith goes over the railing for this photo for his Army friend, Bill Cathcart, from New Jersey.

Again Keith goes over the railing & out on the point to the south of the Pigeon Rocks to get this photo looking back north.

Patrick & Nada continue to walk south while Keith hangs back to take this photo of the southern coastal part of Beirut.

We stop at one of the many cafes along the waterfront for a refreshing juice drink called jalabb in which nuts are floating.

While Nada goes off to tend to family business, Keith & Patrick visit the famous American University of Beirut (AUB). Here is the main gate on Bliss Street.

This is the inside of the AUB main gate where many students & numerous stray cats hang out (the students feed the many cats).

Patrick poses at the end of the Assembly Hall built in 1891. It was used as a Chapel in the early days of the university.

This beautiful banyan tree is in a central part of this beautiful campus.

Here is Post Hall that houses the Archaeology Museum on the bottom floor & the Geology Department on the top floor.

Outside the Museum Patrick pauses by these columns on which are ancient Roman engravings.

Here, with the lower campus & the Mediterranean in the background, we have our two wonderful student guides, Dana Rady & Hussein Serhan, next to Patrick.

This 1874 "Lee Astro-Physical Observatory" is now an Arts & Sciences conference center.

Our guides & Patrick get a fine view of the University sports fields below.

While most of the campus survived the war well, this building, "College Hall" fell victim of a bomb blast in 1991. It has now been completely rebuilt.

Next we travel again a little north of Beirut, this time for a late afternoon visit to the famous Jeita Grotto (also see JeitaGrotto.com). Here we take the "superfluous" cable car up to the upper grotto.

No cameras are allowed in the caverns so these 6 pictures are scanned from postcards (with varying degrees of success) - the first 3 being of the upper grotto; the last 3 are of the lower grotto.

This grotto is described as, "a stunning series of caverns containing one of the world's most impressive agglomerations of stalactites and stalagmites."

"Stretching some 6km back into the mountains, these caves are the source of the Nahr al-Kalb (river) and in winter the water level rise so high that the lower caverns are flooded."

Being summer time with low water, we were able to also tour the bottom cave.

The lower cave is explored by tour boats. They are now powered by electric motors.

These caverns, while over developed outside, are truly spectacular & should be on the "must see" list for any visitor.

After the Grotto, we have our driver drop us off for a late, but wonderful, kabob meal at our favorite restaurant in the Beirut Central District. More photos!

Patrick is able to capture many night scenes in this very pleasant & picturesque rebuilt part of town - this one of both a mosque & a church in the distance.

This view of one of the streets of the BCD with the clock tower in the background, shows some of the many popular outdoor restaurants.

Day 2 - 9/12 - Beirut Pigeon Rocks, American University Beirut, Jeita Grotto.