Travel

Beirut and Baakline Day 4 – postcard

Beirut: Traffic.  Tanks.  Windy.  Helpful people.  Cars pipping.  Soldiers with machine guns.  Rough Mediterranean Sea.  Armenian food.  Exceptionally fresh tabbouleh.  Palm trees.  Derelict buildings.  Barbed wire.  Lively.  Potholes.  Uneven pavements.  Wasteland.  Apocalyptic rain.  Stripy lighthouse.  Fancy modern flats.  22 degrees celcius. Beirut to Baakline:  Pedestrians crossing the motorway.  Oranges for sale.  Mountain roads at motorway […]

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Beirut – Impressions before visiting

I don’t expect Beirut to be quite this colourful; more muted versions of these colours. Falafel, traffic, dirt, Mediterranean, pale and dusty yellow, hectic, tomatoes, rocks, apartment blocks, hummus, bullet holes, mountains, sunshine, rain, old French buildings, halloumi, concrete, cars pipping, colourful clothes, cats, street food, Arabic writing, spices, lots of tatty posters, taxis. As

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Beirut Day 2 – postcard

Cranes.  Exterior curtains.  Traffic.  Palm trees.  “Handbag” bread.  Friendly locals.  Pineapple coconut mousse cake.  Cars pipping.  Dilapidated buildings.  Cats.  Antique shops.  Call to prayer.  Dirty shoes.  Sunshine.  Mediterranean sea spray.  Syrian refugees begging.  Reproduction “Phoenician” architecture.  Crumbling Phoenician architecture.  Small themed bars (Hemingway, East v West Germany).  Flowers.  Decorative banana displays.  Posters.  Ruins of Roman

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A week in France

Route: Calais – Epernay – Langres – Dijon – Mâcon – Brignais (Lyon) – Pérouges – Lyon – Clermont-Ferrand – Volvic – Le Compas – Sermur – Bellegarde-en-Marche – La Feuille du Limousin (goat cheese farm) – Bourganeuf – St-Leonard-de-Noblat – Limoges – Chauvigny – Angles-sur-L’Anglin – Cheverny – Cour-Cheverny – Tours – Orbec –

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