Wine Tasting above Byblos and Beyond

So I can't start to describe today without starting yesterday at 2:30 AM, no, let's start last weekend. After arriving in Beirut it has been a whirlwind ride though pub crawls, school events, job requirements, introductions, cell phone providers, and then last weekend a Beirut virus. Becky had it for basically an afternoon but it had me all week. We weren't sick, we just knew things weren't right and all week long it was tough to sleep, tough to eat, and basically tough to complete everyday tasks without feeling that you were in a haze.

So finally Friday night I started feeling better but thanks to the Mickey Mouse Fantasy football league that I am in, and a Friday night 6:30PM draft in Chicago, that's 2:30AM in Lebanon. So we made sure that we were in bed before 10 to get a couple hours sleep per draft, and with a recently installed Internet connection I was confident in a good draft. So alarm buzzes at 2:30 and since I still am not sleeping well I am up already, and I am not the last one ready for the draft, but I am the only one in a different country. Well after about ten minutes of face time with Joe, Jake, Justin, Pete, Kevin, Nicky's Barber, Jimmy FF, Bono, and Jason, my MB's ran out and I lost the connection forcing Jake to live text a seemingly hilarious draft. Fast forward to 6:00AM and I phone in my last 5 picks to kickers, defenders, and best available RB's, thank you Jake, and try to get a couple more hours sleep. 

Finally feeling 100% we head out to the bank because I was told be the representative that to finalize our new account we needed to be there after noon but before two. Well something was lost in the translation and the bank closed at noon and at 12:15 it was locked up and deserted.  So Becky and I continued to explore our new city and found some of favorite Italian pizza. Our new neighbor and Principal Fabio, introduced us to another new section of the city called Mono. It is a subsection of Ashrefieh (bad spelling), which I can only describe as similar to the neighborhoods of Chicago, some areas are lazy, laid back, and full of restaurant and pubs while others are a hectic mix of clubby bars, fashion boutiques, and cafés. 

After a great evening of soccer pubs and a three man Lebanese band that played everything from Tenacious D, to Oasis all with a flute, we woke up early and headed to Martyr's Square to meet the bus for our first excursion into the mountains of Lebanon. Two wine tastings, a foie gras farm, and a crusader castle later we are on a bus, fighting traffic back into Beirut and watching a beautiful sunset into the Mediterranean. Even better than the wine was the warm welcome of a Lebanese family while eating lunch next to them under an old tree, next to a small ancient church, using Roman columns as benches, offering tabbouleh salad, meat skewers, and their fire pit baked potatoes to a group of foreigners. As we drive into Beirut and the skyscrapers appear, the Ferraris, crotch rockets, and 70's Datsun's fly by, and the car horns blare, I am still tired from the lack of sleep but excited to spend the next two years having weekends like this.

Watching soccer at a great place.

Playing the hits with a guitar, drum machine, and a flute.

Wine tasting room?

Second winery, and best one. 

Completely green building and business reflected in the logo. The roots and the sun, good roots and lots of sun, makes good grapes.

Good reasons to be a vegetarian!

Lots of wine bottles.

Great lunch under a tree much bigger than this old olive tree.

Leaving the mountains and traffic in the city.