Finding your way around Beirut--not easy! by travelmad478
Almost everything you want to find in Beirut is listed in the phone book and in guide books only by the street name and neighborhood, NOT house numbers. In addition, infuriatingly, most streets in Beirut are identified by signs that do not actually mention their names, but instead, list a NUMBER for the street as well as the district it's in. The newer street signs do actually spell out the street names, but these are in the minority in most of the city.This can be a bit of a nightmare if you are trying to find something on foot, or God forbid, trying to explain to a taxi driver where you want to go. Taxi transport was especially tricky, since a very low percentage of drivers actually knew the streets and landmarks I was asking for, and none of them could read a map. I was communicating in both English and French, but neither language seemed to work very well.
I am indebted to VT member MalenaN for her suggestion to buy the GEO Projects map of Beirut, which I picked up at the Virgin Megastore in the ABC Achrafieh shopping center. It marks the locations of many important buildings in Beirut and has a vastly better street listing than the pathetic tourist map I got from my hotel. This map cost USD 8 or LBP 12,000.
