Aurélien, correspondent in Lebanon

Aurélien has always wanted to travel abroad. He traveled as a teenager: United States, Gulf countries, Europe etc.…

He likes to discover the countries of the interior by settling and living with the inhabitants. Settling in is difficult, but so is leaving.

Beirut is a very noisy city (much more than Paris!), polluted, very dirty, traffic is totally anarchic, life there is not very pleasant. Outside Beirut, the region is changing and nature is present, with the mountains and the sea, we can finally breathe there!

Lebanon is a small country 80 km wide and 200 km long, it is made up of many communities, and few mix with each other. The Lebanese are very individualistic, on the other hand they are adorable, very helpful, they are very culturally oriented.

According to Aurélien, Lebanon is not a beautiful country, enormously disfigured by the war whose scars are still very visible. People are not respectful of the environment, they don’t care about the cleanliness of the streets, the sites… There are still superb mountains, on which you can ski 1 hour from Beirut, the sites preserved archaeological sites, there are still clean and beautiful beaches, the almost Holy Valley with monasteries, a Roman hippodrome etc…

The Lebanese love culture and artists have their place in the city. Cultural life was really damaged by the explosion 2 years ago in the port of Beirut. Museums, Ottoman-inspired houses, art galleries, studios, were blown away by this explosion.

In terms of gastronomy: falafels, hummus, mezze, tabbouleh, keiftas, are really delicious and have little to do with those you can eat in France and especially in Paris. Lebanese bread is delicious.

When he returns to Paris, Aurélien likes “franchouillarde” cuisine: salad, good meat, etc. He loves spending time on the terraces.

His favorite Parisian districts: the 14th and 15th arrondissements (especially near the Gare Montparnasse) and the North East of Paris.

Since leaving Paris, he has learned to love the capital in a different way, and to rediscover the beauty of our city, even if it is said to be dirty and gray. When you live elsewhere you realize how lucky the Parisians are. He loves the atmosphere, the beauty, the culture of the terraces.

If he had to sum up Paris in one word, he would say “culture”.