DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5073#0177
166
BEIT MIRY.
and very handsomely built; it contained six lofty rooms
(one of which was thirty-six feet long), and a delightful
arcade in the centre ; the front windows had double
arches with stone mullions, with deep recesses in the
thick walls ; there was a second terrace at one end, and
a nice little garden attached to it. The view from the
house was superb, overlooking the road up which we
had ridden, with the whole of the exquisitely rich little
plain of Beyrout spread out at one's feet, the river
winding along in the midst like a silver ribbon, the
town glitterino- in the sunshine, the beautiful Baruk
mountains opposite, and a wide expanse of blue sea.
Immediately behind the house rose a nearly perpendi-
cular grey crag, two minutes' scramble up which led to
the brow of the mountain, and opened out the magni-
ficent wooded valley, or rather ravine, of El Metn, on
the opposite side of which rose snowy Sunnin in all his
majestic grandeur.
We were not long in making up our minds about this
delightful spot, and the price, 217., was soon settled
over lemonade and coffee ; another half hour was spent
in paying compliments before we descended the abomi-
nable path back to Beyrout: people said afterwards that
we had given too much, but we were afraid of losing the
house by hesitation. The canteen furniture belonging
to the dragoman, which we had engaged for our future
tour to the South, was sufficient to furnish the house
enough for one's simple wants in that climate, with the
addition of a table, Turkey carpets, and divans which
already occupied the sitting-room. We took it for three
months from the 23rd May.
Meantime we employed ourselves in seeing Beyrout
and the neighbourhood. There is little to see in the
town. We visited some Greek, Armenian, and Maronite
BEIT MIRY.
and very handsomely built; it contained six lofty rooms
(one of which was thirty-six feet long), and a delightful
arcade in the centre ; the front windows had double
arches with stone mullions, with deep recesses in the
thick walls ; there was a second terrace at one end, and
a nice little garden attached to it. The view from the
house was superb, overlooking the road up which we
had ridden, with the whole of the exquisitely rich little
plain of Beyrout spread out at one's feet, the river
winding along in the midst like a silver ribbon, the
town glitterino- in the sunshine, the beautiful Baruk
mountains opposite, and a wide expanse of blue sea.
Immediately behind the house rose a nearly perpendi-
cular grey crag, two minutes' scramble up which led to
the brow of the mountain, and opened out the magni-
ficent wooded valley, or rather ravine, of El Metn, on
the opposite side of which rose snowy Sunnin in all his
majestic grandeur.
We were not long in making up our minds about this
delightful spot, and the price, 217., was soon settled
over lemonade and coffee ; another half hour was spent
in paying compliments before we descended the abomi-
nable path back to Beyrout: people said afterwards that
we had given too much, but we were afraid of losing the
house by hesitation. The canteen furniture belonging
to the dragoman, which we had engaged for our future
tour to the South, was sufficient to furnish the house
enough for one's simple wants in that climate, with the
addition of a table, Turkey carpets, and divans which
already occupied the sitting-room. We took it for three
months from the 23rd May.
Meantime we employed ourselves in seeing Beyrout
and the neighbourhood. There is little to see in the
town. We visited some Greek, Armenian, and Maronite