Batroun is probably my favorite city in Lebanon. Sure, I’m biased. But I cannot get over the charm that this little place has. Every time I go for a walk around its old streets, I cannot but be fascinated by how breathtaking they are and how long they’ve been there.
The churches, the houses, the streets, the beaches… all of these combine to make Batroun one of my favorite places in Lebanon.
Then again, the moment I set foot in this city, I remember my school, my best friends, my first crush. I remember how we used to go to Royal Pizza after every exam and have the most awesome food a person can have. I remember going to a beach named Blue-Bay at the time with friends. I remember running around the city on our various scholastic excursions. I remember going with my mom every single Saturday to run errands around its souks. I remember hating to wake up every morning to go to Batroun and I also remember how much I missed that when it didn’t happen anymore. I remember going clubbing for the first time in Batroun. I remember going to my first pub in Batroun.
I remember going for the first time to see Batroun’s Phoenician wall. I remember always wondering why this gorgeous city never got what it deserves.
I remember the great, great people I’ve met inside the walls and under the atmosphere of this city. They are the friends who lasted through it all.
This post is my tribute to all the Batrounis who read this blog, who don’t read this blog and whom I love. Thank you for making our city one of the best places ever and thank you for the time of my life that I’ve spent there.
This is where we started our walk
St. Stephan Church
Batroun's mina
St. Georges Church
Saydet el Ba7er Church
The Phoenician Wall
This is where Ramy Ayash shot "El Nays el Ray2a" video clip
Ma23ad el Mir
Ba7sa beach
Pictures brought to you by @SemAgnes and @ElieFares
Skipper, Batroun's coolest pub
Sawary Resort - this is where we have a chalet
Formerly Blue-Bay, now Zoo beach.
Batroun's Mosque. You can see the Cross of the Sainte Famille school in the background.
A marine research facility that never finished getting constructed (and probably never will)
Batroun is famous for being a sailors' city
My school!
The playground for the young ones
My school's church - it closed for renovation in 2006. This was the first time in 6 years that I visited.
New ceiling, new windows, new walls and even a new priest - Pere Charles is back....
Remember playing this?
Where we used to hang out during breaks
And what better way to end it than with Batroun’s very own sunset….
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 
Nice series of photos..
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Thank you 🙂
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Great Photos, i recall going there last summer for a party with my friends, the place was so damn beautiful. Most people go there to party there instead of Ehden and Zgharta.
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Many only come to Batroun to party. It’s a shame really.
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We went there to have a dinner before, we spent the whole day looking at the scenery, clubs aren’t really my thing, but I enjoyed it, i loved the nature though, took a pic of every single thing 🙂
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In that case, better.
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😉
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You know what’s nicer than the photos? The introduction. Gave me chills.
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Thank you for reading 🙂 Meant every word.
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Look at all the emptiness! So many oppertunities to fill up all the old stuff with fancy concrete 10-story tenements!
On a more serious note, great pictures. What I find amazing about the Eastern Mediterranean coastline is that every place you step on, has been stepped on by dozens of civilizations in history. Be sure to keept that heritage at all costs. After all, a man without its culture is like a zebra without its stripes.
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Don’t worry, contractors have not failed to notice that 😀
Thank you for checking out the pictures. Indeed, Batroun is among the world’s oldest cities as well. So much history there. What’s sad is that whenever they try to build something, they uncover ruins but destroy them anyway. It happened while they were building a cafe. They uncovered a Phoenician burial site. People woke up the next day, no more burial site.
People forget that they wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for that heritage. Lots of problems of the matter in Beirut as well. THe city was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times so you can imagine how much ruins you have below its surface. Check this out: https://stateofmind13.com/2012/03/18/save-beiruts-heritage-the-roman-hippodrome-to-be-demolished/
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Thanks for the link. My girlfriend studies archeology at university, I am sure she will find this interesting.
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Yeah she definitely will. If I can find all the technicalities of the sites in English, I’ll email the link to you.
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Incidentally, I did not mean to say I do not find it interesting 😛
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Of course :p but she’s bound to find it more interesting than we could ever do :p
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It’s Zoo Beach now? Really? Good to know 😛
I remember back when it was called “Helwe”, and yeah I’m old…
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Yes, it was called Helwe back in the days also. Helwe and Blue-Bay. Now it’s zoo :p
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Great pictures! Batroun is a very nice city.
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It definitely is.
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