Beirut: A City of Beauty & Contradictions 🌆✨

I misjudged Lebanon—it’s actually much safer than I thought! By day, Beirut is stunning, a coastal city where glamour and scars coexist. Crumbling buildings with bullet holes stand beside modern rebuilds, telling silent stories of the past. Today’s adventures: ✅ Swam near Pigeon Rocks at sunset—pure magic! 🌊🌅 ❌ Got briefly questioned for photographing apartments (they thought we were spies 😅) Current situation: Southern Lebanon & Baalbek ruins are conflict zones ⚠️ Elsewhere, life goes on—but hope is scarce. Sky-high prices 💸 + bankrupt government + pitch-black streets (no streetlights!) The rich sip coffee in bliss ☕, while the poor drown their sorrows. Two heartbreaking moments: 1️⃣ Chad, a local, lost $30K in Lebanon’s 2019 bank collapse. 2️⃣ A grieving father from the south shared his whisky with us—his son was killed, his money gone. "This bottle is all I have left," he said, staring at the sea. #Lebanon #Beirut #TravelWithAwareness #MixedEmotions