Israel to Jordan to Lebanon...the long way

3:00 am came by too soon. The only good news was the lack of cars on the road in downtown Jerusalem at that hour of the morning. We returned the car and got to El Al check in at 5:00. Then we began 45 minutes of sheer interrogation from El Al’s private security force. It started with questions like, “What is your relationship?” and proceeded (with no explanation) to setting us up by a luggage exam table and a barrage of additional questions from their non-threatening 20 year old female agent. Questions like, “Why are you here?”, “Where are you going?”, “What hotel are you going to stay at in Jordan?”, “Where did you go in Israel?”, “Do you know any people in Israel?”, “How long have you known them?”, “Where did you stay?”, “Do you have a receipt for the apartment?”, “Why didn’t you stay with your friend?”, “Why did you travel to Iran…etc”. The 20-year-old would take her “case” to a supervisor (another 20+year old female surrounded by all the other agents with passports waiting to explain each situation). We obviously raised a few red flags- not fitting the standard tourist profile, so the supervisor came over to ask the same questions. We felt like criminals and wondered if they would let us on their flight- or out of the country. (And, after all that, they never even opened our luggage!)

We finally made it through the interrogation feeling angry and frustrated, got through passport control and got onto the Dash prop plane for Jordan. It was an 18-minute flight- complete with breakfast and beverage service. The pilot never even retracted his landing gear.

Once in Jordan, we once again experienced the charm of the Jordanians. We had to get a visa for Jordan in order to create a story for the Lebanese customs officials, if asked (33 dinars each- about $100 for both of us) and then headed from arrivals to departures to hop on an 8:50 flight on Middle East Air to Beruit. We figured we had a 50/50 chance of making it into the country. We were sweating bullets as we headed to passport control. It was only one question, “Do you have an Israeli stamp in your passport?” Honestly answering “no”, the agent proceeded to give us advice on hotel and car rentals!

Another case of expectations being completely off, we got into the terminal and found a tourist information booth with two wonderful women who piled us with information about the country, brochures on every site and maps. So, with a taxi tout, we headed to the city. About half way, we saw the Marriott and did a quick detour to the hotel. Within a few hours, we had two new guidebooks, rented a car and headed east to the mountains.

Driving in Beirut was a challenge. After 17 years for civil war between the Moslems and the Christians, the city is devastated. The city was cut in half (the "Green Line") between East and West Beirut and for years, they fired artillery shells, machine guns and rockets at each other. Buildings are gutted and the entire downtown has been completely flattened- no traces of the city that once was "the Paris of the Middle East".

"The Green Line" Photo Courtesy of Flickr

The years of living in the crossfire has impacted their driving style- it's sheer anarchy. There are no rules- a high testosterone cocktail of dodge-em and bumper cars. They have something called the "magic arm" (we called it the "flipper") which dangles out of the car window to indicate the next movement of the driver. It could be a right turn from the far-left lane in rush hour traffic, a cut through the parking lot at a light, a u-turn on the highway... Unfortunately, you just have to guess and do a lot of defensive driving. Needless to say, years of Boston driving didn't hurt.

Finally outside the city and a few less cars to avoid, we got a look at the city from the hills. The air was crisp and cool and the small towns charming. We found a funky little hotel in Broummana for $65, took a nap and then headed for dinner in town. We found a quiet little bar on the 2nd floor of a building overlooking the main drag. What a street scene. The bartenders were Maronite Christians and gave us a perspective on the country, economy, and years of war. Even today, the bombings from Israel continue- on June 28th, Israel bombed Beirut and cut off the telephone, electricity and water supply in an effort to stop Hezzbollah actions. The Christians are leaving in droves- to Brazil, US, Canada, and Australia. As we were sitting there, we saw fireworks in the distance and registered our surprise that the Lebanese would have fireworks displays. The comment back, “We love fireworks- we’ve had 17 years of fireworks”. It was nice to be back in Arab land again and feel their wonderful hospitality.