Picnic at Pigeon Rock

And I even had some cake (now there is an obscure film reference). Beirut itself does not have many areas of natural beauty, although the Corniche itself is quite pretty. However, if you follow the Corniche along you eventually come to Pigeon Rock, which is a very lovely place to watch the sun go down (although not as pretty as Byblos). There is a nice little cafe right on the Corniche called Bay Rock Cafe, where I snapped this picture. The Corniche itself is rather odd in that although there are buildings that run along the entire way there are not many restaurants (I counted about four) and only a few coffee shops. So, be sure to grab something to eat at the Bay Rock Cafe before heading a little further inland for a drink. At the other end of the Corniche there is a cute little hotel called the Bay Watch Hotel, which has a nice, albeit completely deserted, outside bar on the 7th floor which has a great view of the Corniche. I went there twice and both time it was completely abandoned in an almost spooky fashion. The folks working there would not have been nicer and it was very clean with good food and drinks, but I couldn't quite figure out why I was the only one there. Weird.