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Damascus

Syria

Bec
2004-09-15 13:05:57

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Damascus
From Baalbek I took a minibus to Chtaura, a service taxi across the border to Damascus and a local taxi to reach the Place des Martyrs that marks the centre of the capital. The old city, which is really worth visiting, is only a short distance south of here.

I stayed here at the Hotel Najmet Ash-Sharq, one block from Place Des Martyrs, where I had a very nice room with bathroom for 10 $US.

Naturally, the first thing I did after dropping my bag was to roam around the neighbouring streets to get a feel for the place. I had been here before but it was so long ago (1966), that I did not remember much except the colourful souq.

The friendly brothers, Emad and Ayman Marsa, ran an internet cafe nearby.

Once again I was pleased to see that the duty of hospitality towards strangers is very real in the Islamic world. I have noticed time and time again from Morocco to Khazakstan that Muslims have been much more friendly to me than we westerners are to them or even than we are to each other. I do condemn their attitude towards women but as a man, I have found it much safer to travel in the northern Muslim part of West Africa than in the southern Christian part.

I know some of you will charge me with religious bigotry for writing this but I'm just telling it as I see it. I don't take sides, I personally don't believe in any religion.

There was an urban settlement on the site of Damascus as early as 5000 BC but the city's main claim to fame was its role as the capital of the Umayyad dynasty that was responsible for Islam's expansion westward to the Atlantic and eastward to the Indus valley.

The Umayyad Caliph Aloilid ben Abdulmalek built this great mosque in 705 over a Byzantine cathedral which had occupied the site of a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter.

Here is another view of the western minaret of the great Umayyad mosque. This photo, the previous one and the two following are all composites that I had to assemble from two photos because my camera does not have a wide angle lensThe old city around the mosque is a maze of narrow passages and alleys worth exploring. This part of Damascus had not changed during the 38 years since my last visit. Here is an antique shop and below, two typical streets.

I really enjoyed the couple of hours I spent in the Nureddine hammam being steamed, washed, coddled and massaged by experts. This is the resting room where men swathed in huge bathrobes relax before going out to face the harsh outside world.

Trains leaving the Hejaz station carried pilgrims all the way to Mecca when it was built by the Ottoman Turks in the 19th century but now they only go as far as Amman in Jordan. Most trains use the Khaddam station inconveniently located 5 km south-west of town.

A few hours in the National Museum is a must for any visitor of Damascus. Taking pictures inside was not allowed so all I can show you is the facade which is the relocated entrance of a desert fortress near Palmyra.

Nobody stopped me from taking a picture of this lion in the museum's garden but I can't tell you where it came from because I didn't write it down.

I can however assure you that the big mosque behind, the Takiyya Ash-Suleimaniyya, and the nearby military museum are both worth visiting.

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