Painted Church Fail

One of the more famous attractions in Cyprus is a bunch of Byzantine era churches scattered throughout the mountains that look humble from the outside but contain magnificent and colorful frescoes inside. I have been trying to go see them Read More

Agros Rose Festival

Poor Cyprus has been conspicuously absent from this blog. It’s not that Cyprus doesn’t have cool stuff to see, it’s just that when we’re home we’re busy living here and so our weekends are full of grocery shopping, laundry, hanging out Read More

The Last of Lebanon

Besides the Beirut Museum, the Jeitta Grotto was an unexpected highlight of our trip. It might have been one of those times when you come into a situation with absolutely no expectations, but I think even if someone had told Read More

The World’s Oldest City

Byblos is hailed as “the world’s oldest continually inhabited city,” but a quick web search indicates that is the matter of some dispute. But Byblos has been inhabited for at least 5,000 years, that much is clear. There are some Read More

The National Museum of Beirut

A museum, when done right, can be a truly spectacular experience. In my humble opinion, as a fairly frequent museum-goer, there are a few essential elements for a good museum. The National Museum of Beirut really nailed it on all Read More

Out & About in Beirut

Severin started reading the Wikipedia page on Lebanon’s Civil War; I told him I wanted the five sentence synopsis when he was done. 45 minutes later, Severin finished reading the main article but ultimately determined it was basically too complicated Read More

Lebanon: What We Ate

As has been well established by science, Mediterranean food is the healthiest cuisine in the world. I would also argue that it is the most delicious. While Mexican food is definitely my favorite, if I had to pick one regional Read More