Lebanon Tourism, culture, music and events

Date: Friday, January 09, 2015 By: Justin Salhani Source: The Daily Star BEIRUT: A few years back, word started to spread about a new hip part of Beirut. Gemmayzeh and Hamra had become overcrowded and the nation's party people were looking for the next "in" spot. Step forward, Mar Mikhael. Traditionally an industrial and residential area, Mar Mikhael began attracting major nightlife traffic around 2010, when a series of pubs and restaurants popped up. But it has evolved way beyond just a nightlife hub; Mar Mikhael has since carved a niche and manifested itself as a creative district, where services like pubs and restaurants are straddled by clothing and furniture stores, arts & crafts workshops, and a plethora of other design and

Christmas the Armenian way   Date: Tuesday, January 06, 2015 By: Justin Salhani   Source:   The Daily Star BEIRUT:   Lebanon   hasn't boxed up its Christmas decorations just yet, as the celebrations are just beginning for some. A large percentage of Lebanon's prominent Armenian community celebrates their version of the holy day Tuesday, Jan. 6. The sixth is   Epiphany   for most Christians, but Armenians use the day to celebrate a culmination of the season's events. For them, the sixth is Christmas, celebrating the nativity of Jesus in Bethlehem, but it also symbolizes Epiphany, when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. Unlike the Orthodox and Protestants who follow the historic date of Armenian Christmas, the Armenian Catholics, however, follow the   Catholic Church   in Rome and celebrate on Dec. 25. "They go with the [Catholic] pope and with Rome,"   Zara Sirop Hagop   said with a slight chuckle. Hagop is one of the local mukhtars in Beirut's Burj

Date: Monday, January 05, 2015 By: Tanya Dernaika Source: The Daily Star There is nothing more frustrating than sitting in holiday traffic, but now that the congestion has eased up, I’ve got to admit, I’m sort of missing it. Admittedly, Beirut’s bumper- to-bumper traffic these last few weeks was a nightmare to say the least. It’s neither the wasted time advancing at a snail’s pace nor the dreadful road manners that I miss, but rather what the traffic represented and signified. I found the traffic heartening because I compared our busy roads to the empty and desolate streets during the same period last year, when the devastating bombings left our city and souls distressed. Congestion meant many Lebanese living abroad felt reassured enough to come home, and they wanted to visit