Beirut – Lebanon

Beirut is completely dependent on where you are. If you are looking at the beautifully restored colonial relics and mosques from the center of downtown Beirut, the city is a triumph of rejuvenation disaster. If you are young, vibrant neighborhoods of Gemmayzeh or Achrafiye, Beirut is about living the moment, party, eat and drink as if there were no tomorrow. If you're standing in the shade of buildings still peppered with bullet holes, or walk the Green Line with an elderly resident, is a city of bitter memories and a dark past. If you are with the Armenians of Beirut, Beirut, this is salvation, if you are with your handful of Jews, is trying to hide his true identity. Here you will find the gay scene freer in the Arab Middle East, however, homosexuality is still illegal. If you're in one of the refugee camps of southern Beirut, Beirut is suffering and displacement, other southern districts are considered as a base for paramilitary operations in Beirut and south is home to infamous secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah . For some it is a city of fear, for others freedom. Throw in maniacal drivers, air pollution from age, smoking Mercedes taxi, world-class universities, to rival Soho bars and coffee thicker than mud, political demonstrations, and pools flooded with more silicon Miami. Add the people so nice I swear I can not be true, a political situation in a knife-edge, internationally renowned museums and gallery openings, which continue in the face of explosions, assassinations and power outages, and you will find that you have never experienced a capital city so alive and kicking - despite its frequent volatility.