4g Achrafiah

I have a small passion for flowers and trees. There beauty astounds me, and the color is just so magnificent. This is one reason why I take so many pictures of them.

Thus, today's post is dedicated to this one tree that grows flowers in spring that can be seen predominantly (or more often then not) in Eastern Beirut. Eastern Beirut is predominantly Christian and includes Bourj Hammoud, which is actually a little outside of Beirut, and Achrafia which is between the Bourj and Western Beirut.

A Little History Lesson for you about Beirut:

Lebanon was liberated in 1943 from the French Mandate imposed after World War II when the Ottoman Empire was split up by the Allied Forces.

During the cold war between Russia and America, the East and the West, specifically prior to the 75 civil war, Beirut was also divided between East and West, Western Beirut supporting the nationalist Eastern Movements, and Eastern Beirut generally following the American West and its allies! Till this day Service (our version of public transport) Drivers mark off there driving routes according to Eastern and Western divides. This has some geographic reasoning, distance between East and West and the general ambiance of both regions varies greatly. You can see these differences in the pictures as well as in the flower tree. The only exception is the street driving away from Western Beirut towards Eastern Beirut (Spears), it has the most concentrated grouping of these trees that I have seen in Beirut.

This is kinda why I like it so much, for one the larger the tree the older it is, we are talking 50, 60 years old. So it too has experienced and lived Lebanon's Violence. And it landmarks Lebanon's differences, while portraying them as something BEAUTIFUL. But most of all it emphasizes the in between nature of the Lebanese community with its trees covering the Spears Highway as if to protect it from hatred. It is in my opinion a treasure that we take for granted.

One of the younger trees! In the Sodeco area right into Achrafia and Mathaf!

The streets are all tighter in Achrafia than they are in West Beirut. Houses literally at every turn and narrow narrow alleyways!

In between East and West Beirut, on the way to Hamra

On the wall to your Left you see Banners promoting the removal of the Tafia/Sectarian System following the Arab Spring Revolutions. And right above them are the flower trees leading you into East Beirut. They cover the whole street, and overlap from both ends of the street, its breathtaking!