Country Info
- Damascus
- Capital
- Syrian Pound (SYP)
- Currency
- 16,728,808
- Population
- SY
- Country Code
Syria Slideshow
Travel Blogs from Syria
Turkish Delight
This is a top pick! ... it’s better that we’ve been in touristy areas, I’m not sure we could take this day after day - nice as it is. But if all I’ve heard is true, this is a mild introduction to what we could experience in Syria. ...
Queen Zenobia
This is a top pick! ... in the assassination and sent an army to deal with her. But she fought and won several battles and eventually ruled Syria, Palestine, and part of Egypt. As a descendant of Cleopatra, she was willful, strong and beautiful. She even ...
How do you say 'Merry Christmas' in Arabic?
This is a top pick! ... the right thing to do on Christmas. Plus, what a perfect place to me. Reading through Luke, I hear mention of Syria in the Christmas story. This is the biblical landscape. Even the everyday dress of some people is the stereotypical ...
Crusader Castles
This is a top pick! ... day it is and it usually doesn't matter! From Hama, we travelled south and west to Crac des Chevalier, one of Syria's premier sights. Our guidebook describes Crac as "the epitome of the dream castle or childhood fantasies" (a quote from Paul ...
Bye Bye Bicycles
This is a top pick! 2010. I haven't had anytime at all to think about it. Everything in 2009 was about starting this trip. House sold, jobs quit, belongings in storage, 10 year anniversary...What could be left for 2010? Actually, I feel that 2009 is ...
New Year, New Journey?
This is a top pick! ... lanes of traffic. This was much less insane than trying to cross the roads to get to the proper side. But in Syria it doesn't matter at all. Most vehicles swerve around, honk or flash their lights to let you know they're there. On ...
Date pancakes vs. bananas
This is a top pick! When we left Crac des Chevaliers it dawned on me that the 3 day Syrian holiday was over. This is very good news for two reasons: A) More shops and eateries will be open. 2) No more little bastard pikey kids running around shooting everyone in sight ...
Squat toilets in a ghost town
This is a top pick! ... , Asia, Africa. Syria got me! Lots of other people had bad stomachs too. This is supposedly quite normal for people coming into Syria from Turkey. We continued on to our destination for the night: Hama. A few more stops along the way for people to run off ...
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!
This is a top pick! When learning a new language, I usually cover the basics: hello/goodbye, please/thank you, yes/no, how much/too expensive, and maybe a few numbers. But ‘welcome’ is not usually one of them. However, to Syrians, this ...
Man Problems...
This is a top pick! ... the seems with them, stores were crowded with them, sitting along the side of the road, walking, driving - men, men, men! Now in Syria, it seems to be very much a ‘man’s society’ again with men everywhere and in large numbers. But ...
Heading South
This is a top pick! ... the 75 km to town before lunch. Even 2 puncture repairs couldn't’t slow us down. Crazy road surfacing…I hope Syria’s a might bit better as we’re running out of tubes and patches. Now we’ll spend a day in ...
Boarder Patrol
This is a top pick! Today was the day. The infamous border crossing into Syria. Maybe not so infamous, but interesting because we are going without Visas. All the ‘official’ literature tells you that you must have a Visa prior to arrival. ...
Unsuccessfully sneaking into a mosque
This is a top pick! ... sectors, but as we approach the city centre it clears up nicely and the cleanliness is a nice change from other parts of Syria. There are hills surrounding the city, but they are slowly being overtaken by the grey box shapes of houses. The concrete seems ...
Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Really Bad Day!
This is a top pick! ... I was finally sent downstairs into a little room. They wanted all sorts of crazy information like phone numbers and address in Syria. When I finally got through all the hassles the woman tried to rip me off. As if I could grow to ...
Desert Oasis
This is a top pick! ... 't help that Western movies and the media portray Western women in the way they do. We've certainly noticed the litter in Syria. Several times Martin has caught people laughing at him when he's been very careful about putting cigarette or a piece of ...
Syria - Into the 'Axis of Evil'!
This is a top pick! ... welcome. The customs agents even offered us tea and cigarettes (despite the big 'no smoking' sign in the lobby). Syria's location between Israel/Palestine and Iraq hasn't made Syria a popular tourist destination, which became apparent to us quite ...
Another Day, A Different Country
This is a top pick! ... it's supposed to work. We have heard of some people having difficulty (like New Zealanders who don't have a consulate in Syria). The bus driver collected everyone's passports for customs on both sides of the border and ensured they were processed. Mohsen ...
Idols and Ruins in the Syrian Desert
This is a top pick! Leaving the Fertile Crescent town of Hama, with its norias and entering into the heart of Syria's limestone desert, I looked out the bus window as the ruins of Palmyra and its oasis appeared, with the Baal Temple as its centerpiece. Palmyra was thriving ...
Defenders of The Faith
This is a top pick! ... main gripes people here have with America is that it supports Israel. Likewise one of the main gripes America has with Syria is that it supports Hezbollah, with posters of Assad next to Nasrallah everywhere. Over dinner, I talked with the ...
The Welcoming Monastery
This is a top pick! Perched high in a canyon in the Syrian desert is a Syriac monastery that opens its doors to all and encourages dialogue between faiths. I climbed several hundred steps past olive trees and shrublands on steep rocky slopes. At the top, I met ...
Difficult to see though the haze...
This is a top pick! ... ; Did manage to get the great deal on the scarfs I mentioned above though! Took a few days to warm up to Syria mostly because I wasn't feeling well in Damascus. We stayed in a grotto like hotel. The rooms were mostly underground ...
Successfully crossing into Syria
This is a top pick! ... sofas and it is wonderful. I decide to get some strawberry shisha and it is also delicious and pleasant. I definitely like life here in Syria. After dinner we find our way back to one of Rani's hangouts. It is another rooftop, but this one has a view ...
"Tickets, tickets please!"
This is a top pick! ... Assigned seating that people actually followed...I felt like I was in North America! So unlike anything we've seen in Syria. Other travelers boarded without tickets as would be expected. However, after a few stops and the bus filled ...
Layer Cake of Civilization
This is a top pick! Damascus is a layer cake of history, with thousands of years of iceing. Of course, in most places, only the top layer is visible, the others buried or destroyed over time. But even the top layer in Damascus is old, with mosques dating to the ...
The long road to Damascus
This is a top pick! ... east, forging the new world. The dots somehow begin to join up. Modern Western nations issue government warnings against visiting Syria. There is a peculiar vacuum in the incredible hub-hub of thousands of feet on ancient, smoothed granite walkways, lanes ...
The Oldest City in the World
This is a top pick! ... run off with their carts to another location. I think it was mostly a big game. Damascus (population 6 million), the capital of Syria, is purportedly the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, dating back to 5,000 BC. Much of what there is ...
Doin' the Pigeon in Syria
This is a top pick! ... cooing of pigeons marks the start of a new day. Keeping pigeons is not for everyone, but it is popular in the rooftops of Syria, something they share with Bert of Bert & Ernie Fame, Sesame Street Style. Like Ray Charles shook his tail feather and did ...
The Islamic Capital Of Culture..
This is a top pick! ... in hand we made our way to the border crossing by way of an eastern Turkey minibus and simply walked across the border into Syria. After about a week of hearing, 'hello donkey, money money' it was nice to hear all the Syrian border officials saying, ...
Palmyran Pimps..
This is a top pick! ... interests. Since then a steady flow of travellers have made the trek out into the desert from Aleppo and other parts of Syria. Palmyra's greatest days were when Zenobia started ruling Palmyra on behalf of her son Vaballath. Zenobia with the help of her ...
Palmyra - decidedly surpassable
This is a top pick! ... for us to stay longer. Our next destination is Hama, the best town to stop in when you want to see Syria's other prime attraction, the great Crusader-era castle Crac des Chevaliers. The young Italian guy who we met yesterday joins ...