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Other entries in Damas

Pleasantly impressed

We left Madaba in route to Jerash, our last stop before reaching the Syrian border. Jerash is a very old acropolis dating from the 1st century AD. It is extremely well preserved and you are able to get a feel for how the city looked during its time of glory. It is inmense and there are two amphitheatres still standing in addition to the entrance gates and the collonade street. The gate of Harion was impressive. It's like walking back in time... Will try to post som pictures as soon as I get a card reader.

Reached the border around midday and after passing passport control for Jordan and driving through no man's land we where faced with the reality of entry into Syria. The English and American passport holders where the last to get the visa approvals for reasons we all know. Nothing that a little basheesh couldn't resolve. The most difficult passport was that of a New Zealand girl who is a diplomat for her country. Her visa is for diplomats and this was very complicated to explain. Again, a little basheesh and voila! We where in.

Day One: Drove into Damascus late afternoon after a full day of travel. We checked into our accomodations, Europe Hotel, which is a new property and extremely nice for an Intrepid tour. It is well located and we are walking distance from the important sights, internet, post and souqs. It's perfect. Tonight we went to the Chistian Quarter for dinner. It is still ramadam and many places are closed or have limited offerings. They also don't serve any alcohol. The restaurant we went to was the first in weeks that had some rum. Guess what I had to drink? I was in heaven. Food was very good and we ended spending the whole night there drinking and chatting away.

Day Two: This morning we had our orientation walk. We visited two mosques along the way. The first was the Omayad Mosque which is one of the most important mosques in the muslim world. It is the biggest one I have seen so far. There where many piligrims paying homage to the martyrs burried here. It was very intense and emotional to be in the middle of active prayers, weeps and chanting. Usually when we visit mosques they are empty, but this one was full. In the main hall you will find the tomb of St. John the Baptist. Many where praying in front of the tomb and kissing it. It was quite the sight!

We then went to a second mosque. This one was much smaller and off the beaten path. Don't remember the name, but will say it is the Vegas of mosques. The women's hall is very ornate with beatuiful glass mosaics on the walls and cealing. Again there was quite a few people there considering it is ramadam. We then walked through the souqs and the old part of town. I am so impressed with this city. It is realtively clean and more modern that I had expected. Women are dressed very fashionably although some still maintain the use of the burca and head scarf. Women here look very similar to Latino women. It is like looking in a mirror sometimes.

In the afternoon I went shopping to the souq, but did not buy a thing. I haven't been much in the shopping mode during this trip. Probably because many of the things I see are things I have seen before in other trips. Why buy more of what I already have? Main things to buy here would be fabrics, head scarves, damasque boxes and head scarves. My brother is looking for a Turkish coffee pot but has yet to find one he likes.

Tonight we are heading to town for dinner.

 Day Three: My brother and I decided to visit Azem's Palace this morning. All the museums and tourist sites where closed yesterday, so this was our last chance before leaving Damascus. The palace dates from the 14th century and was used during the Ottoman Empire. It is not as well preserved, but you get a glimpse of palace life during this era. It is located right next to the Gold Souq, so after sightseeing we went shopping. I haven't been in much of a shopping mode, but did see a beautiful silver bracelet yesterday that I want to check out again. After some bargaining I got the bracelet for what I think was a fair price.

We went back to the hotel to get our bags out of the room and check out before leaving via bus to Krak des Chevaliers this afternoon.

Photos / videos of "Pleasantly impressed":