We finally got into Lebanon and were ready to start exploring. We only had a week in Lebanon and we wanted to see more than just Beirut. fortunately due to the size of the country you can stay in Beirut as your base and go on day trips to explore the rest of Lebanon. That’s why we planned and booked a hotel for all five of us in the Al Hamra area in Beirut. We had a group of friends joined us from Istanbul and we were planning to see Lebanon together. For the first day, the plan was heading to south of Lebanon to explore two towns. Sidon and Tyre by Mediterranean sea. After lots of googling, I knew that we had to go to the bus station and get on shared vans to go to Sidon. It was the first time that we were travelling in a group of five and I wasn’t sure how we can even fit into a taxi to get to the bus station. Early in the morning during my morning rituals , googling, I just came up with the idea to try and check the Uber price for five of us going to Sidon and the cost was actually pretty reasonable. After discussing with the team, we decided to save our time and energy and use the best of our day and go to Sidon by Uber. Our Uber driver showed up in 5 minutes and he offered to take us to Sidon and then Tyre and wait for us as long as we needed and drive us back to Beirut for 150 USD. It sounded really good between five of us. Going through the hassle of the public bus and vans, we probably would ending up paying around 15 USD each for transportation and would have lost lots of time. So we decided to have a car for the full day and we headed to Sidon.
Distance between Beirut to Sidon is only 45 km but it takes around 1.5 hour to get there mainly because of the traffic and the military check points but definitely an easy trip from Beirut with lovely sea view all the way to Sidon. First thing you’ll see getting to Sidon is the amazing beach castle on your right and on the left hand of the road, you can see the walls of the old town. What drove our attention was the fish market right by the sea and next to the old fishing boats. That was definitely our kind of place. Amir and I went to fishing market and girls headed to the castle to enjoy the view.
After spending at least an hour in the fishing market spending time with fishermen and the stall owners and even the head of fishermen union ( yes that happens if you are the only outsiders with a camera!) we found girls and headed inside the old town. Sidon is an old town with the signs of its first habitats getting back to 4000 BC. It is an amazing town with covered alleys to escape the heat of the summer, lively market and great people. One of the well known souvenirs of Sidon is handmade Olive Soaps. Majority of the products are exported to Europe and mainly to France.
After spending hours walking through the old town, it was time to head to the lunch spot!! We had two restaurants that we definitely wanted to try so we were ready for two lunches and we did have two lunches. So here is our recommendation for lunch at Sidon: First go to “Abou Ez Foul” to try the best Foul in Lebanon and then try “Abou Rami Falafel” for one of the best Falafel sandwiches you can possibly have. It is easy to find Abou Rami restaurant because it’s out of the old town by the main road. For the Foul place, just ask locals and they will help you out
After spending half a day exploring Sidon inside and out and having a satisfying meal ( actually two!) we were ready to head to the next stop Tyre (Sour).
