Old Sidon

Sometimes you feel that it is nearly impossible to live in a city all your life and

That’s my story in my city.

Sidon is a historical city that had years and years of history that was mentioned still barely know its places. in history books that I studied back in high school.

I still remember those days when I was in class and my city is mentioned in the history book; I used to get so excited to know more about what used to happen before.

In so many times I closed my eyes and imagined how they used to live in this city, behind these walls, how they used to spend time and what they used to do.

Usually, I like to spend sometimes by myself, it gives me pleasure to discover and enjoy my own company, and that is exactly how I discovered my city.

In boring days when I had nothing to do, I used to go on those early morning walks into the old city of Sidon even though I didn’t know the way. It was my own kind of adventure to just walk the streets and find my way into my view of my high school history book.

I have met and discovered so many places by mistake, by getting lost and finding my way, by asking directions from little kids and till now I still cant make my way to my favorite places in there. That’s the beauty of it, it never gets old and it never loses its adventure.

This time it was different, I had my guide and I had my map. My university friends and my great instructor went on some kind of a field trip into the souks of old Sidon to discover the city from a different point of view.

Ali, my colleague was our guide, he knew every little detail about the city, he knew places that I have passed by a million time and still haven’t discovered.

We started our trip from Nejme walking up into an old underground church, too bad we weren’t able to visit because it was too early in the morning. The roads are like always, dark and tight with lots of wires hanging from the ceiling. That always freaked me out cause of my height and fear of getting electrocuted.

We moved up or down, right or left I cant really tell, but we walked through the roads following Ali blindly but focusing a lot on the details of the city, the boards made of mosaic next to a very old broken place, the lamps hanging in different places, the weird shops that sell the weirdest things and my utterly favorite, the remote control guy who sells hummus as well!

Our next stop was the soap factory; I have been to that place for more than 10 times and till now I still get faciniated by the decoration. Every time I enter that factory I try to imagine how it was like, I see shadows of people actually working, wearing the costumes, sharing laughter? Or was it moans?

I wish I can go back in time as I visit those places to see how it was, I always have that feeling of emptiness, that it is not enough to just see the left overs, that I want to see the whole thing. I stood by every sign, by every book, by every explanation of what was written next to me to try and figure out what’s this and what’s that, what do we do in this and that.

It is such an amazing experience to go back in time for a few seconds and have your very own story of how it was like.

We nearly starved to death looking for a place to eat, okay maybe not that dramatic, but yea we were hungry as hell.

Ali decided to take us to have hummus and Fatte at a place called Abou Al Izz, it was a small shop next to everything. Seriously, you can find all kinds of shops right next to each other.

I loved the place, it was of old stones, wooden tables and the owner is such a sweetheart.

We all ordered our meals and enjoyed eating for a very cheap price, which made it even better.

We had to get back to class, on our way out back to our daily routine, we had the last walk in those tiny tight dark roads, along the diverse kinds of shops, it is messy, dirty, and old school but it has its touch.

Old Sidon is not a small old dirty place, it looks in so many times like that, but it’s a place that has its very own flavor, a place that those tiny dirty streets wont disturb you, the old school fashion and traditional people do not give you a negative vibe, however it takes you back in time in the sweetest ways possible.

You can really touch your inner connection to the place, or at least for me since till now, I was born, raised and spent most of my time in this city and still don’t know the little things about it.

Sidon, you are my city, my own high school history book.

By: Farah Antar