My Day In Saida

As many of you know, I have a few days off for Eid, the holiday which celebrates the end of Ramadan...and some of my new friends were kinda enough to take me to the beach and Saida. Saida is commonly known as Sidon. Sidon is the 3rd largest city in Beirut, 40 kilometers south of Beirut and about 40 kilometers north of Tyre. It has a population of approximately 200,000 people, which is overwhelmingly Muslim. The beach was obviously not right in the city but rather just outside.
It's a new concept to pay for the beach but if you check out the link, it was well worth it!

Anyway, it was so nice to get out of the city! To swim in the pool and the Mediterranean Sea!
After the beach club and a day in the sun, is where the culture came in! We drove into the city of Sidon for dinner of fish (which is fantastic here). Driving into town was full of sights...there is the Med on my right and buildings on the left. Lots of traffic! On the side of the buildings is a long set of tents and tables where people were eating and socializing as spirits were high for Eid! Kids were playing while the adults visited. There was even a little carnival with rides for the children. Once we found a table, my Lebanese friend and I went to pick out the fish. We went into this garage-type place to find lots of fish on ice...it had been caught and gutted that day! We picked out a few different types of fish and he ordered a few side dishes from, or mezze, the region and we went back to our friends at the table! It was neat to have a view of an old Crusader castle with kids running around, Arabic music videos playing, people walking around selling items, people smoking the nagreleih pipe (same thing as a hooka pipe) of flavored tobacco....then the food came! I have fallen in love with the food here! Tabbouleh, fattoush, Baba ghanoush, hummus...all served with flat pita-type bread (which takes the place of the fork). Then the fish arrived! Heads attached and all! After eating a healthy amount of food, as we had nothing but nuts all day, we walked around for a bit then headed home!
It was a fabulous day! Pics will be posted soon!!!Don't forget to check out the beach club sit, www.lazyb.me!