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Damascus: 6.02.2006
This is said to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world, with a population of around 6 million (Syria is 17 million).
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All the people here, whether Jordanians or Syrians, look practically European. English is a commonly spoken language, less so in Syria, though. However, these countries are not conservative and the veil is positively absent. Women are trendily dressed and black leather seems to be favoured equally by both men and women.......
This is said to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world, with a population of around 6 million (Syria is 17 million).
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All the people here, whether Jordanians or Syrians, look practically European. English is a commonly spoken language, less so in Syria, though. However, these countries are not conservative and the veil is positively absent. Women are trendily dressed and black leather seems to be favoured equally by both men and women.......
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We were at work till around 5.00 pm, when business closes for the day. It was not very cold – around 14-15 degC. Our customer said that he will pick us up at 8.00 pm and take us to two places – (i) on a hilltop with a good night view of Damascus and (ii) to a 1000-year old Hamam for a Turkish bath!
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We first went to a huge souq called Al Hammadiya to pass some time. It was practically a replica of Khan-el-Khalili in Cairo minus the eating places. We ended up buying some things for home, including some warm stuff for Turkey, which was running at 0 degC!......
We were at work till around 5.00 pm, when business closes for the day. It was not very cold – around 14-15 degC. Our customer said that he will pick us up at 8.00 pm and take us to two places – (i) on a hilltop with a good night view of Damascus and (ii) to a 1000-year old Hamam for a Turkish bath!
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We first went to a huge souq called Al Hammadiya to pass some time. It was practically a replica of Khan-el-Khalili in Cairo minus the eating places. We ended up buying some things for home, including some warm stuff for Turkey, which was running at 0 degC!......
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We went with our customer to the hill-top, which is quite a popular view-point with cafes perched on the edge. We spent around an hour in one of the cafes, enjoying the view and having tit-bits (fouls, nuts etc) and swapping jokes with our Syrian friend. He has lived in places like Ghana and Angola and his experiences were both serious as well as hilarious.
.We politely declined the offer of the Turkish bath, saving it for Turkey. Anyway, being massaged by muscular Syrians was an uncomfortable notion ….
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I found that Syrians were much more bureaucratic people than Jordanians, with complex governmental procedures. This was, in fact, a ‘taxing’ city, which used to levy taxes on the trade merchants and caravans ceaselessly passing this way. However, Damascus seemed big and well-developed and prosperous. Korean cars have flooded the streets and I could see Chinese makes as well.
.We’ll see later whether we can see a bit of the Old City. As of now, we are scheduled to travel to Aleppo tomorrow evening, spending the night there.
We went with our customer to the hill-top, which is quite a popular view-point with cafes perched on the edge. We spent around an hour in one of the cafes, enjoying the view and having tit-bits (fouls, nuts etc) and swapping jokes with our Syrian friend. He has lived in places like Ghana and Angola and his experiences were both serious as well as hilarious.
.We politely declined the offer of the Turkish bath, saving it for Turkey. Anyway, being massaged by muscular Syrians was an uncomfortable notion ….
.
I found that Syrians were much more bureaucratic people than Jordanians, with complex governmental procedures. This was, in fact, a ‘taxing’ city, which used to levy taxes on the trade merchants and caravans ceaselessly passing this way. However, Damascus seemed big and well-developed and prosperous. Korean cars have flooded the streets and I could see Chinese makes as well.
.We’ll see later whether we can see a bit of the Old City. As of now, we are scheduled to travel to Aleppo tomorrow evening, spending the night there.
Aleppo: 7.02.2006
We had left Damascus by ‘Pullman’, which a coach type bus, popular here for long-distance travel, as the roads are good. We first disembarked at Hama (or ‘Homos’ as they call it locally) to visit a customer and spent an hour with him. We again boarded a Pullman around 7.00 pm and reached Aleppo by 9.00 pm. Hama is around 200 km north of Damascus (called ‘Miska’ locally) and Aleppo (called ‘Halab’ locally) is another 150 km..
Aleppo is the second-biggest town in Syria. It occupies a strategic trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates. Initially, Aleppo was built on a small group of hills surrounding the prominent hill where the castle is erected. The small river Quwēq runs through the city.
.We had enquired with our customer for a good hotel in Aleppo and he had recommended Hotel Baron’s in Baron Street. His idea of ‘good’ varied from ours, since, as we alighted from the cab, we were quite non-plussed by the ‘bhoot-bangla’ look of the place. It turned out to be the oldest hotel in Aleppo, built in 1811, and had been practically the only building in town for some time! The counter-clerk (owner?) was also pretty ancient and next morning we were hard put to get a hotel bill! Having said that, however, the rooms were heated by hot-water radiators, the bathroom was half as big as the bedroom and the TV (21”) had cable. Manihar stayed in the ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ room and I in the ‘Agatha Christie’ room, as these personages had graced the chambers at one time.
.Aleppo was colder than Damascus and it was almost 11.00 pm when we went out for a walk and found a nearby falafel sandwich centre who made bumper sandwiches for us.
Lattakia: 8.02.2006
We had only half-a-day’s work in Aleppo and had originally planned to return to Damascus this evening and spend one more day there. However, our work in Damascus was already over and we had heard of the nearby port city of Lattakia, from where goods came into Syria; so we decided to travel there instead and spend the night. The route was also supposed to be scenic and it was a seaside town
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On the way to the train station, we passed Aleppo’s Citadel and collected some knick-knacks from a nearby soup.......
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We boarded the chair-car at 3.30 pm and reached Lattakia at 8.00 pm. It was a pleasant journey, though slow. But the weather was so murky that it turned dark before we passed the scenic hilly stretches.
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We stayed the night at the Meridien, right on the beach, which was closed for the winter. A pre-dinner walk along the beach-side showed up a rough sea, whipped up by cold and gusty winds, shoving the clouds across a dark sky. Nobody would even dream of swimming out here in such weather!......
We boarded the chair-car at 3.30 pm and reached Lattakia at 8.00 pm. It was a pleasant journey, though slow. But the weather was so murky that it turned dark before we passed the scenic hilly stretches.
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We stayed the night at the Meridien, right on the beach, which was closed for the winter. A pre-dinner walk along the beach-side showed up a rough sea, whipped up by cold and gusty winds, shoving the clouds across a dark sky. Nobody would even dream of swimming out here in such weather!......
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Had a soothing dinner in the room of lentil soup, pasta and french fries.
Had a soothing dinner in the room of lentil soup, pasta and french fries.
Damascus: 9.02.2006
At Lattakia, the wind worked itself up to a gale last night, howling away outside the windows. In the morning, there was a burst of hail and the verandah was full of sparkling cubes.
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As we had breakfast, the rain gradually stopped and the clouds seemed less black. There was even a splash of sunshine for a little while.
.We check out by 10.30 am, did a round of the business districts and boarded a Pullman for Damascus, that left at 11.30 am and reached at 4.00 pm, with a 30 min break in between.
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Luckily, neither Manihar nor I are very finicky about food. Mostly our lunches would be pretty loose affairs — fafafel sandwich if we were lucky, or just chips and chocolate like today.
.The bus journey was a nice scenic one. The route travels south along the coast till it hits the border of Lebanon, then cuts east across the mountains to Hama on the Damascus-Aleppo highway, then south again to Damascus.
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The mountains were full of melting snow and the brown-and-white patchwork grounds that we were driving through looked beautiful. How I wished we could have stopped for a minute!.
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We collected our suitcases from the Sheraton (we had travelled to Hama-Aleppo-Lattakia with only small bags) and checked into Meridien instead, just for variety. Went out for a long walk to loosen our limbs. The rain was a fine mist and it was below 10 degC. We had an early dinner at the only Indian restaurant in town — the Taj Mahal, as expected! Food was good, after all the irregular grub.
We collected our suitcases from the Sheraton (we had travelled to Hama-Aleppo-Lattakia with only small bags) and checked into Meridien instead, just for variety. Went out for a long walk to loosen our limbs. The rain was a fine mist and it was below 10 degC. We had an early dinner at the only Indian restaurant in town — the Taj Mahal, as expected! Food was good, after all the irregular grub.
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We returned along a well-known shopping street, the Sara Shallan, and did some window-shopping. Manihar ended up by buying a pair of boots that seemed built to tackle the snows of Turkey.
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Tomorrow we leave for Istanbul via Amman.
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We returned along a well-known shopping street, the Sara Shallan, and did some window-shopping. Manihar ended up by buying a pair of boots that seemed built to tackle the snows of Turkey.
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Tomorrow we leave for Istanbul via Amman.
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