Sun 14 Aug 2005
I had a really wonderful weekend in Damascus. Getting visas at the border was a breeze and there were no major delays, though there are still a ton of trucks stuck at the border. The media seems to have accepted Syria’s position that they are no longer being held up, but it just isn’t the case.
We spent most of our time wandering the old city, through the souqs and narrow streets. Damascus is very different from Beirut, far less westernized, you sort of feel that you have traveled further than 2 hours away. We ran into a friend of mine who volunteers with Najdeh and was also spending the weekend in Damascus. We ate in the courtyards of lovely cafes. I bought a tile with fish painted on it and a half kilo of Brazilian coffee beans. We had ice cream with fresh pistachios. We visited the fantastic Umayyad Mosque, one of the most important Islamic sites in the Middle East. There is something about the city that seems both bustling and relaxed and I can’t wait to go back. I would also really like to go to Aleppo soon.
August 16th, 2005 at 3:26 pm
Assuming that’s the Umayyad Mosque in the pic….what’s the surface of the ground? Is it really as smooth as it looks?
August 16th, 2005 at 3:33 pm
Yes, it is very smooth marble tile. It was a bit hot on bare feet, too. I made a mental note to always bring a pair of socks if I think I might visit a mosque with a “courtyard” like this one. When we visited this mosque (and it is the Umayyad one) in 2002, it was cold and they were letting people keep their shoes on in the outside part.
The taxi in the first picture was our method of transport from Beirut to Damascus, btw.