Good Day Travelers!
After my last Travelreport about the Lebanese capital Beirut I want to share with you guys today a trip to the most beautiful natural spot of the city. The Raouche Rock's (Pigeon Rocks in Raouche).
Raouche is a district on the North-Western side of the city and its mostly known for great shore cafes and restaurants, tall apartment buildings with sea view and of course the famous Raouche Rock's. I will guid you on a virtual walk with me around this place and share some of my impressions and experiences.
How to get there?
I highly recommend to walk the beautiful shore road from Aein Mrayse to the Raouche district. Just order a cheap Uber who drops you off at the McDonalds in Aein Mrayse and you will already see a huge plaza one the coast where people dance, play sports, meet up and just have a good time.
To walk the 3.1 KM you will need less than an hour (except you stop every 100m to take pictures, ha) and I promise you it's absolutely worth it. Especially coming form the center of the city where you hear pretty much 24/7 a concert of car horns :))
Walk to the Raouche Rock's
I take you now on a photographic journey along the shore line. The weather at that day was pretty perfect with 27°C, a little breeze of wind and a beautiful blue sky above Beirut.
On the last 2 images you can see that people love to hang around this area. They taking sun baths, swim in the ocean, meet up with friends, play football. It was also the first time that I've seen people from Asia taking sun baths - I thought that's only a thing for some European countries! Every day we discover something new :))
Beside the fun activities you can also see a lot of fishermen on the shore side trying to catch some fish. They most likely catch the fish for the seafood restaurants around the shore line. Unfortunately I did not test any of them but I was told they are incredible. Definitely on my list for the next time!
After living 6 years in Thailand my brain somehow blocks any urge to eat any more Seafood, ha. I really gotta change that thinking as I surly miss out a lot of great food places because of this 😁
There are currently 3 Lighthouses in Beirut and the one you see on the images above is the newest Lighthouse of the city. It has a hight off around 50m and it was build 2003. I absolutely love the colors of the tower as it just looked like how I would imagine a lighthouse to look like. For some reason all the Lighthouses I saw in other countries were always white or in a creamy tone but that one matched exactly my imagination! :))
Shortly before reaching the target destination of the rocks I discovered this old abandoned building right on the edge of a cliff. I actually walked around it and the view was breathtaking! I wondered what happened there and if there soon will be a new business. It looks like the best spot in Beirut in terms of view and location.
I've actually heard stories before of almost equally perfect restaurant or cafe locations where no one did anything as there were issues with banks, governments and debts or wrong payments. Really sad to see but I surly hope that this location gets alive one day again.
Walking around the coast line somehow reminded me on Miami Beach (Even I have never been to Miami, ha) - With the palm trees on the road, the huge apartment buildings close to the shore and even the architecture and building style of the houses.
As summer time already arrived in Lebanon I was also able to spot a few different flowers on the side of the road. I even had the pleasure to see a Bee again - It must have been years when I saw one the last time. Living in a huge City before I did not see much nature so I really appreciated these little moments.
And there it was - My first sight of the famous rocks around the raouch coast line. I was actually impressed seeing something like that on the outside of a quite chaotic city. After you see the rocks from the top viewpoint you can also walk a few meters further to take a little walk down the shore line where you have a different angle and view from the rocks.
The walk down is super easy and not like it was described on some websites "Difficult hike down" - Just have closed shoes on and you will be totally fine. And, of course, it's absolutely worth it going down the 5 min hike to get a different view of the location.
As mentioned above you can visit one of the nice restaurants or cafes around the shore and enjoy a nice cup of tea and watch the rocks. Other activities are riding a boat through and around the rocks - Something I didn't try myself but from feedback I've heard it must be quite a cool experience. If I remember it correct the price was 20$ for an entire boat, no matter if you are alone or a couple. Quite fair in my opinion!
Can I recommend going there?
Absolutely! This place is stunning and such a good alternation to the busy and crowded center of the city. It's entirely free to walk around there and if you do the shore walk as I did it's a half day program for the day. Also the nature was well taken care of - No rubbish, no dirty water. Everything looked really clean!
I hope you enjoyed this little virtual walk with me around the beautiful Raoughe Rock area :))
Best,
Chris