Islam and Modernity

I'm glad that I waited to post anything about my research, because now I have ideas being crystallized in my mind; whereas before, I knew my general topic, but not really any specifics.

Last night, I attended a very interesting seminar given by a guy named Imam Suhaib Webb. The title of his talk was "From Oklahoma to Al-Azhar." I thought about mentioning that I should sue him, because I have a trademark on this blog name, and that his talk-title was dangerously close...

Imam Suhaib Webb is a white American man in his late thirties, who is originally from Oklahoma. A number of events happened in his life that led him to convert to Islam, and in the aftermath of his conversion, he was sent to al-Azhar University in Cairo on a scholarship to pursue a degree in Islamic Law. Well, shit. There goes my lawsuit, I guess. I'll have to settle with the knowledge that "From Midwest to Mideast" is more clever....and he'll have to be satisfied with his blog/website winning an award for being the best website of 2009 dealing with contemporary Islamic issues. Whatever.

Webb's focus and goal with his studies is to return to America to help the American Islamic community feel authentic in their Islam, despite the cultural differences that exist between Islam's "home and headquarters" in the Middle East, and America. His message is a return to religion. Just because you are Muslim, you don't have to wear any certain clothing, or look a certain way. You are Muslim by your faith and your actions. There is no inherent contradiction between living in a modernized Western country and being a Muslim.

Now, you may ask what on earth all this has to do with my research.

Philosophy is often not taken seriously. It is considered to be a discipline that is engaged in for intellectual stimulation only, but has no real place in our world today. Philosophers are considered to be ivory-tower-dwellers, as the popular phrase "armchair philosophy" demonstrates.

In reality, nothing could be farther from the truth. Philosophy continues to play a big role in our quest for human knowledge. Additionally (and also more importantly, at least as far as the present discussion is concerned), philosophy reflects and affects the mode of thinking of a culture, of a people. It can reinforce a particular mode of thinking, which then acts as a filter all across our experiences. This has major implications.

Let's take modern science as an example, which emerged in Renaissance Europe, and it can be traced back to big names such as Newton, Galileo, and Descartes.

Rene Descartes, probably most famous for his "Cogito Ergo Sum" argument (I think, therefore I am), contributed to the introduction of modern science in the sense that he was the first to undertake the new rationalist approach. Rationalism asserts that we gain a significant amount of knowledge from a certain subject area, S, independent of sensory experience (via deductive and inductive reasoning)

Before Rationalism in Europe, there was Scholasticism, which did not traditionally use reason to discover new truths about the external world. Descartes shattered this tradition in his "Meditations on Philosophy" in which he adopted the skepticism of the Scholastic philosophers, and doubted everything until he concluded that the only certain proposition he could know was "I think, therefore I am." From this, he trudged forth attempting to see what could be known about the external world.

This kind of rationalistic methodology was new, and helped to spur on an attitude of critical, skeptical thinking characterized by doubt. And it was in this way that it cultivated a mentality appropriate for the rise of modern science and scientific methodologies.

Of course, Europe sprang far in front of other areas in the world, with new innovations in mathematics, astronomy, science, philosophy, etc. as a direct result of the Renaissance, which included this new way of thinking.

Another effect of this kind of skeptical world-view was secularization. If human reason was so powerful as to produce things such as modern science and the like, then this meant that people no longer had to rely on authority (including religious authority) to discover truth. People began to become more skeptical about the dogmatic principles of their religions, and started to disregard principles which they saw as illogical.

Again, so what does this have to do with my research?

In the 19th century, the Middle East was colonized/occupied by Western European countries, especially in Northern Africa. These places saw their culture becoming more westernized because of the European presence, and also as a result of the Tanzimat reforms undertaken by the Ottoman Empire during that time.

Muslim intellectuals took a step back to see what had happened. In the "glory days" of Islam, where its reign spread like wildfire following the first 300 or so years after the prophet's death, Islam had made brilliant innovations in math and science, astronomy, and philosophy (also somewhat ironically, though outside my scope here in this post, the Arabs provided Europe with the preserved Greek science and philosophy that actually helped Europe along...). But now, Islam was in decline.

These intellectuals sought to preserve and revive their culture, and return it to its dominant position in the global community. This was the beginning of the Nahda, the cultural and literary renaissance of the Middle East.

The nahda was most alive in Cairo, Egypt, and one of the major players during that time was Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. Al-Afghani had a political agenda, Arab unity, and also of course the aforementioned restoration of Islam to its glory days.

Al-Afghani was clever enough to have seen that the kind of Cartesian Rationalist philosophy had helped Europe along in terms of development, and knew that incorporating that kind of rationalistic thinking would be an important step for the Arab world if they wanted to regain their influential status.

But how could he simply import the European Rationalism of Descartes, without merely reinforcing the same cultural hegemony he hoped to escape? Al-Afghani knew that if this movement was going to take off, it would have be authenticated. He knew it would have to come from the Islamic tradition itself to gain traction among the masses he hoped to mobilize.

Thus, al-Afghani looked to Ibn Sina, a 10th century Persian medical doctor and philosopher, in order to justify this use of rationality. Indeed, Ibn Sina was a rationalist, and his ideas actually caused quite the raucous among his contemporaries. He utilized reason to make conclusions about the nature of God, etc. which was considered an inappropriate use of rationality. He was deemed a heretic by most orthodox Muslims of his time.

Al-Afghani, during this attempt at reviving classical Islamic philosophy, faced similar accusations, and he was exiled from Egypt in 1879.

This failure to adopt a skeptical, rationalistic world-view can, in my opinion, partially explain the current state of the Muslim world, regarding their economic, cultural, and intellectual development.

Hence, the Muslims in America who comprise Webb's ultimate intended audience, are (I guess) at odds with themselves. They have been brought up in a society and culture that emphasizes this kind of skepticism, and doubt, and (of course) the supremacy of human reason. But, their religion (appears) to denounce exactly this kind of mindset, and seems to resent the resulting "progresses" of a society which has that kind of mindset, such as technological advances, and (of course) secularization.

Ironically, the orthodoxy seems to think that Islam is generally opposed to the kind of "critical-eye" that they denounce in the West, but as a matter of fact, there is a strong tradition of Rationalism in Islam, such as reasoning by analogy (القياس) and personal struggle over one's faith (إجتهاد).

Where's the gap, then? Why, considering that there seems to be a tradition of Rationalism both in the Islamic Philosophers and in the more orthodox theological schools, is this kind of world-view still not adopted?

OK, I've rambled on far too much about this now. All you readers from the US (especially everyone from the 513....), I just thought I would let you know it was 91 degrees and sunny today.

Hehehe.

Iskandar

Egypt's Victory in African Cup

So, the source of this story actually goes back a little bit.

Back in November, Egypt's national football (soccer) team was defeated by Algeria in a match that would decide who would qualify for the World Cup that is coming up in 2010 in South Africa. In the aftermath of the game's results, some pretty ridiculous things went on-- Egyptian fans were injured after the game, Egypt claimed the Algerians played dirty, and it actually even resulted in the official calling back of the Egyptian ambassador (is ambassador capitalized?) from Algeria for a "consultation".

The violence that did ensue after the game was the talk of Cairo for a week or so, making most of the local papers with editorials that sought to find the source of such an obsession over football. Some commentators went as far as to speculate that it was one of the things that separated less-developed nations from developed nations. In Europe, they would say, people get very excited and roused about football, but it never descends into a crisis on a national level, never to the level of diplomacy. Never the same kind of rioting in the streets, and burning of buildings.

Others chose to focus on the notion that there is no appropriate arena for freedom of speech in the Middle East because of oppressive and corrupt governments. People here cannot assemble freely, or organize protests for any reason. Football provides an outlet for much of the pent up aggression of the people, and thus it bubbles up to a point where it becomes a national problem.

In any event, during the 2010 African Cup of Nations, it turned out that Egypt had a chance to play Algeria again, in the semifinal match.

Egypt has won the last two consecutive African Cup of Nations Tournament, and winning the one in 2010 would be a record, both for most consecutive wins and overall wins.

In a great match, Egypt swept Algeria 4-0. Algerian players also accumulated an astonishing 3 red cards. Egypt felt that they got the revenge that they deserved, by first showing that they are the true ones who should be qualified in the World Cup, and also after the red cards now everyone would see how dirty they play.

The whole thing has certainly been blown out of proportion; but, interestingly enough, my roommate did tell me that during a football match was the only time in which all Egyptians truly felt united. During this time, and this time only, he tells me, it doesn't matter whether you are Christian or Muslim, young or old, man or woman.

Egypt has experienced religious tensions over recent years, a fact highlighted most recently by the tragedy in Nag Hammadi. You can read about what happened there, and a piece talking about the under-the-surface religious tensions in Egypt here.

After the game was over, we all went into the streets to party like crazy. I was hoisted on some dude's shoulders, an Egyptian I'd never seen before in my life, with a friend's Egyptian flag and was pranced around on the street, as you see above. People lit off fireworks, the streets were blocked for miles and miles. It was an entire city of 20 million people having one big party.

As for me? I'm finishing up with my private Arabic lessons and am about to begin research on my actual topic....chances are the next post will have something to do with that, but it may be a week or so before I post again.

Iskandar

The Trees Sleep Here

En Route to Homs, Syria

We boarded a small public bus, maybe the size of a small commuter van, which could hold about 8 people max. On the ride there, we stopped to pick up a Syrian military officer who had flagged the bus down.

He started chatting with me, first by having me proofread for him a text message he wanted to send to his girlfriend (in English). The message was about how much he missed her, and how beautiful she was, and that she was an "angle" (luckily, I caught this mistake...). After he saw how I could explain to him in Arabic why his mistakes were mistakes, he started asking me all sorts of questions--how do you say this in English? and this? and this? He told me how he really, really wanted to learn English, but that it was difficult for him to learn with no free time because of military service.

As we passed a long stretch of desert with trees lining the sides of the road, Kate and I noticed that the trees were all bent over clearly from strong desert winds over many, many years.

The officer turned to me and told me, "Yes, the trees here...they are lying down, and now they are sleeping."

And a couple hundred miles away, a war rages on....

Iskandar

Syria: Homs Where the Heart Is

Homs, Syria

My experience in Homs is one that I will never, ever forget.

There are times when one lives in the Middle East where everything is frustrating, nothing works out as planned, and you just want to be anywhere else. At that moment, almost without fail, you'll have an experience that makes you want to be nowhere except in the Middle East. Homs was that experience for me.

We arrived with the intention of visiting Krek des Chevaliers, supposedly one of the greatest castles in the world, and which lies only about 15 minutes outside of the town of Homs, from where I would grab a bus back to Beirut for my flight the following evening, and Kate and Mikey would continue on their trip to Aleppo. However, as soon as we got to the bus station, it began to rain. Hard.

Wandering around aimlessly, we saw an oasis, and its name was "Break Time." As we entered the restaurant, a man approached us and said in English, "Hi, can I help you?"

"Yes, this is a restaurant, right? Is it open?" I said.

"Yes, we are open. I am Rabeah, this is my restaurant. You are from America?" He asked.

"Yes, we are Americans."

"I used to live in California. I graduated from UCLA in 1990." He said.

In one of those "gee, it's a small world" moments, Kate and Mikey both informed him that they, too, were from California, and also were students at UCLA.

He invited us into his restaurant, and took our orders, then disappeared to go and grab coffee.

He returned, and we all began chatting.

Rabeah is amazing. Saudi by origin, he went to the states to study Aviation to be a pilot. He told us a great story of his experience there.

He had met a girl, named Mary, and wanted more than anything to date her. He tried and tried, not knowing much English at this point in his life, and Mary said she would go out with him, but that they would go to Church together.

He didn't care, he just wanted to spend time with Mary, wherever that might be. He agreed. He sat through the service, obviously not understanding much on account of the language barrier and his own religion as a Muslim. He asked Mary out again, and again she proposed that they go to church together.

This continued on for some time, a couple of months, until one day he found himself in a very sticky situation.

Mary and he had gone to church, again, but this time, something was different. Rabeah was in the front of the church, seated; Mary was standing by his side, and there was a man standing to his other side, with a bowl of water in his hand, reciting something.

"I began to grow very nervous," Rabeah said, "and began reciting our creed in Islam, rapidly, over and over. 'There is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet. There is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet. There is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet.' "

"The man poured the water over my head, and afterwards Mary told me, 'Congratulations, you are now a new-born Christian!' " Rabeah could not believe his ears.

Anyways, Rabeah enjoyed chatting with us so much that he introduced us to a couple of his friends, one of whom was the manager of the taxi stand/bus station place in Homs and also in charge of the secret police in Homs...

We joined them with our lunches, and they inquired about our remaining plans in Syria. I told Jihad, the taxi-stand cop, that I needed to return to Beirut the following day for a flight, and that Kate and Mikey would continue on to Aleppo. Not only then did Jihad offer to pay for our transportation to our next locations (since he is the manager of the taxis in town...), but also offered to let us stay in his extra apartment in town for the night!

This is the Middle East. This man had known us for a total of maaaybe an hour before offering us his home. As I sat there with Kate, Mikey, Rabeah, and Jihad, I thought how small our world is, how many different variables had to coincide and manifest exactly as they did in order for us to be in that situation. In America, can you imagine inviting someone to stay in your home after chatting with them over dinner at a restaurant for an hour? It's unheard of.

We accepted his invitation, and finished our meal talking about life in Syria, and what they thought about it. Of course, we did not pay for our meal.

Afterwards Rabeah introduced me to Mansour, an American and Syrian citizen, whose mother raised him in the States, but who had moved back to Syria with his mother once he graduated from school. When I asked him for his opinion on both places, he told me how he much preferred Syria.

"We are very lucky here," Mansour said, lighting a cigarette. "Life is good, I am surrounded by great people who are here for me. We make good money. Actually, you in America, you don't save. You are constantly working, working, working, and have no time to enjoy what you already have. There is pressure to constantly achieve more. Then your financial woes swallow you whole, and your life passes you by."

I have to say, I couldn't agree more.

He continued, "The Arabs don't make decisions based on rationality. They think with emotion. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. You in America, your decisions are largely based on rationality, but that cannot account for everything. It's the people in your lives that make all the difference, and if these relationships are rational only, then you are missing out on a huge part of life. At the same time, because we are such an emotional people, sometimes we

After meeting these folks, Rabeah decided to take us on a tour of the places he had started, which were all in the same general complex as the restaurant. It became very clear very quickly that we had, by total coincidence, run into the elite of the elite in Syria. Rabeah was obviously a multi-millionaire, both on account of his inheritance from his father, and his own individual entrepreneurial endeavors. And he had just introduced us to his friends, who were clearly in positions of power in this small town.

We had stopped at the restaurant to find out where we would stay, and how we would get to our next destinations. Both questions were answered, at Break Time. Not only that, but I had met the most fascinating people of my entire trip. Life was good.

I had read about Syrian hospitality in the guide book that I brought with me on this trip, and I sort of shrugged it off, thinking I knew what they meant having lived in Cairo. But this was truly unlike anything I had ever seen.

Our tour included a wedding recital hall, which was beautiful, a store of imported products which was obviously doing quite well, and the bus station which had buses to Saudi Arabia every morning. We met all of the managers in turn, awkwardly being introduced as his "friends from America." It was a great evening, but we were getting tired.

We were invited into Jihad's office for one last cup of coffee, and to decide the schedule for the following day. Jihad tried his best to convince us to go to the apartment now, sleep for a while, and then go out to a nice restaurant/night-club with him and Rabeah around 2 am. We had to politely decline. We had been up since 5 am to go and see Palmyra that morning, and really wanted to just lay low and go to sleep.

So, it was decided. We got in a car with Jihad, and he drove us to his "extra" apartment in Homs (he has one apartment for "him and madame", and then another apartment for him and his "habibi"...). We arrived around 9 o'clock in the evening, totally exhausted, to find that the hot water was not working.

We insisted, please, it's no problem, you've been so generous already...but there was no convincing Jihad. For the next two hours he, myself, and a repair man struggled to find the source of the problem with the hot water, and finally succeeded. We would have our first hot shower in probably about a week.

Meanwhile, Kate and Mikey, not speaking much Arabic, struggled for conversation with Jihad's driver in the living room. They had been watching TV, and Mikey would comment, "There are many channels!"

"Yes, there are..." the driver commented, probably thinking him a little slow. That had to have been a very long two hours for both parties.

After finally getting everything settled, Jihad handed me the key, and said that he would pick us up here again at 10 am the next morning, when we would part ways and I would head back home to Cairo, through Beirut.

The three of us sat in awe of what had just happened. What a wild experience. Then we quickly drifted off to sleep...

In the morning, sure enough, they greeted us at the door, made coffee at the apartment, and then we made our way back into town to Jihad's office from where we would get our taxis.

Rabeah greeted us there, and we all exchanged phone numbers, in the event that we made it back to Syria (which I most certainly intend on doing...), and also because he mentioned that he would be coming into Cairo in about two weeks, and intended to meet up with us there. We also had gotten the contact information for everyone else that we met that evening, email addresses and cell phone numbers, so that we could keep in touch.

And that was it, I got into my Mercedes taxi, and left Kate and Mikey behind to their plans in Aleppo. Rabeah, Jihad, and Mansour I consider to be good friends of mine. They are great people, and I certainly do hope that we keep in touch.

Now, the drive back into Lebanon was not nearly as smooth as expected. I was pretty much broke at this point, which was why it was soooo particularly fortuitous that I had been offered free lodging and transportation. We stopped to pick up an older Lebanese couple in Syria, before crossing the border.

They were a very interesting couple. Lebanese by origin, but had lived in Canada (during the war of 2006 in Lebanon), and had now settled in Syria. Following the normal agenda with meeting people of Middle Eastern descent, the conversation between us started with their amazement that a white American (of all things) could speak Arabic. Naturally, they were interested in my story and what I was doing in the Middle East.

I told them how I was to be doing research in Islamic Philosophy (Ibn Sina in particular), how I lived in Cairo, and had just finished an intensive semester of Arabic language studies at the American University in Cairo.

He asked the driver to stop for a coffee break along the way, and then told me that he had met a girl in Canada who wanted to study Arabic in the Middle East, and couldn't decide among Cairo, Damascus, and Beirut. He promised to look into which of these choices would be best, and wanted to pick my brain about my experiences.

I looked at the clock...a coffee break? My flight was leaving at 5:30 pm, and it was about 3:00 pm....but, it seemed as though they were determined to do this, so I played along.

Now, the taxi driver had paid for my exit fee from Syria just to speed up the process, and when we stopped for coffee, I asked him how much I owed him for that.

"Well, it was 5,000 Lira for the border fee, but then you have my taxi fare, too..." He told me.

"No, no, no, this is on Jihad's tab, he told you that at the station," I answered.

"No, he never said anything like that. You owe me money!"

Shit.

I had some Egyptian pounds that I was saving for my cab ride home in Cairo, but I handed them over (even though I KNEW that Jihad had arranged for my free travel). I was now almost ENTIRELY broke, having a couple of dollars, which would be enough for a public bus from the station in Beirut to the airport.

I continued to talk to the old Lebanese man in the cab, telling him about my goals of increasing understanding between the "West" and the "East" (whatever that might be defined to be...). But I was getting nervous. We were still not in Beirut, and it was almost 4 o'clock.

We finally arrived at the station in Beirut, and I was frantic. It was 4:30, and my plane was slated to leave in an hour. I knew a public bus would make many stops, and I would probably miss my flight. I was talking to a couple of drivers negotiating possible prices for a private taxi, when the old Lebanese man walked up to me, and handed me 10 American dollars.

"Here, you won't make it in time unless you take a private taxi", he said.

There was no time for me to argue with him. I thanked him profusely, grabbed my bags, and hopped in the nearest private taxi.

I didn't have time to get his contact information, regrettably. I had provided my own email address to him on a piece of paper earlier, in case that Canadian girl had any further questions she wanted to ask me. I hope she gets in contact with me, so that I might get in contact with this gentleman. If you're out there, thank you.

On account of the generosity of multiple people, this trip was possible, and I arrived home safe and sound, a little overwhelmed by the previous 24 hours.

What a different world it is over here.

اريد ان اشكر كل الناس الطيّبين الذين تعرّفت عليهم خلال هذه الرحلة

و خصوصا اصدقائي الذين ساعدوني

منصور،جهاد،ربيع

و الرجل اللبناني الذي كان يركب التاكسي معي

الف شكر لكم

اسكندر

Syria: Palmyria (Tadmor)

Palmyra, Syria (Tadmor)

I've skipped over a part of our trip, namely Damascus. Unfortunately, because of my own time constraints, we were unable to do anything in Damascus except meet the apple-bird man and spend a night in a hotel.

This was, of course, after the totally expected 5 hour wait at the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The following morning, we woke up in Damascus and boarded a bus for Palmyria. The ride in was amazing--Syria has some truly beautiful desert. At one point in the ride, Mikey and I both saw a sign that said "Baghdad-165 KM", which is equal to about 100 miles. Sort of a "we're not in Kansas anymore" moment....

We arrived in the small town of Palmyria, which I believe survives almost solely on the tourist attraction of the ruins themselves. It was one of the roughest towns we had stayed in yet, with only a couple of spots to stay in. We decided to spend the day in the town, and wake up bright and early the following morning to see the ruins, and then hop on a bus to Homs, a town close to the Lebanese border.

We woke up around 5 am to a combination of our set alarm and the call to prayer, which was deafening. Not even in Cairo had I heard the call to prayer this loud, perhaps due to the fact that Palmyria is literally isolated in the desert, and it's a sleepy town--not much in the ways of loud trucks moving around, or construction, or anything. The call to prayer echoed throughout the desert which only doubled its volume.

We headed out to see the ruins, which are incredible.

Palmyra Palmyra

Palmyra Palmyra ruins from the Citadel

Me at the Citadel in Palmyra The town of Palmyra from the Citadel

History about Palmyra can be found here. Its isolated location, plus the quality of the ruins, really makes for an almost mystical experience.

This was by far one of the coolest places I've ever been to. I hope to make it back to Syria to spend more than just 4 days there, maybe a couple of weeks.

After finishing our visit there, we hopped on a bus for Homs, which would be my last stop in Syria.

Iskandar

New Year's Eve 2010 Beirut, Lebanon

New Year's Eve 2010: Beirut, Lebanon

For New Year's Eve, Marie, Mikey, Kate, and myself (all above in the picture with four people, from right to left) were invited to Rabeah's apartment (Rabeah is above wearing the crazy shit on his head...)

The evening started out with dinner at Le Chef, a FANTASTIC restaurant in the district of Gemmayzeh in Beirut. It's one of the "greasy spoon" type joints, with the Chef who yells "WEEEELLLLCOOOOOMMMMEEE" in a very low, monotone voice to every single person who enters. The menus are hand-written, French or Arabic your choice, with certain items messily scratched out, and the handwriting almost impossible to decipher.

Le Chef Restaurant The Trademark "WEEELLLCOOOME"

In fact, Chef got to know me so well, not only would he give his usual WELLLCOOOMMEEE to me, but would also add, "HAAAABBBIIIIIBBBIIIIIIII......NOOOOOO WHHHEEEEAAAAAT!" His food was absolutely amazing.

Following dinner, we needed to get to Rabeah's place. We hop in a cab, and discover that the entire inside of the cab REAKS of gasoline. The driver asks his usual obligatory questions, where are you from, what are you doing here in Lebanon, etc., and then turns on the tape in his tape deck.

It was an entire goddamn tape of a Happy Birthday remix--once in English, then in French, and then in Arabic...over and over and over for the entire ride. Our friend the driver would also beep in synch with the music...

"beep beepbeep beep BEEP BEEP"

We finally arrived at Rabeah's, barely staving off passing out from gasoline fumes that had clearly already gotten to the driver's head. He must keep that tape ever-ready for whenever foreigners ride with him, assuming that we all must listen to Happy Birthday on our radios....

The apartment was nice, had a beautiful view of the city, and a lot of interesting people to meet. Sometime around 3 or 4 am, we decided to leave and head to a bar in Gemmayzeh called "Proof", where we stayed until about 6 am, and then returned to the hostel.

Upon arrival at the hostel, everyone was obviously, still awake. December 31st had been my last night at the hostel that I had booked, so I was being kicked out of my room. Kate and Mikey, luckily, had a room booked in another hotel, and since we three had decided to travel into Syria together, they said I could stay with them until we decided to leave. Julien, one of the Kiwis, thought he would at least join us for breakfast, but wanted to go on the roof of the hostel first.

Julien and Me

After some more drinking ( I think that's vodka and maybe mango juice in my hand?) we went off for breakfast. Not finding our usual place to be open, Kate decided to navigate us towards a five star hotel in town. I was way too out of it to be the opposing voice of reason. Plus, the breakfast tasted AMAZING. The bill came....$130. The breakfast wasn't THAT good.

Julien returned to the hostel, and I grabbed all my stuff and went with Kate and Mikey to their hotel. Syria was up next.

Iskandar

Byblos, Lebanon

Byblos, Lebanon

Byblos is a town with a couple really cool claims to fame: First off, it is thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It has been inhabited since its founding around 5000 BCE. It also boasts the birthplace of the modern day alphabet.

The city that is still actually lived in, adjacent to the more ancient city, has little of excitement to offer--a nice souq, perhaps, but the city itself doesn't have much life.

The ruins, on the other hand, were phenomenal. Again, located right on the sea, it was really amazing to see the remnants of the old city, and to think that from that time to now, people have never not lived here!