Al Iwan Damascus

... mall.<br><br>Our Syrian transit visa allows us three days to rush through the country. In contrast to Jordan, Syria seems a bit of a backwater, tourists are few, as are facilities. A blessing when you want to wander undisturbed through Crac de Chevalier, an 11th century crusader castle &#8211; a curse when your dreaming of clean and comfortable accommodation (or ice-cream for that matter).<br><br>We leave Syria with ...

... rain heavily. So I decided to end my day then and walked back in the direction of the hotel. I found a cafe close to the hotel and pretty much spent a good deal of time there with coffee after a late lunch.<br><br>4 Oct<br>As I exited the hotel to go to the National Musuem in the morning, there were 2 shoeshine guys blocking the path. Both in Turkey and Syria there are alot of these people (some as young as 5), who would try to get people on the street to use their services ...

... and handling. That's right, three for the price of one. Call now..operators are standing by. Oh man, I can see it now. I wonder if there is a market for digital scriptures back home in the bible belt? <br><br>All the excitement of digital Allah left me needing a quick break so I stood against a wall to people watch. A group of middle age camera wielding Japanese tourists amused me as the paraded by single file like ducks. They were dutifully following behind their ...

... in a teaser summary however, let me just say it was an amazing trip. I had no idea what to expect and I really left a bit in love with the country, or at least what we saw and experienced of it. After about 5-7 hours at the border depending on what you are measuring, we stayed in Damascus and also visted Siddnayya and Maalula. The food was amazing, everyone we met was so kind and accomodating, the cost of living was much cheaper ...

... once in his life. It is not<br>easy to see the desert oasis any more, such is the sprawl and the dry<br>river bed (caused by damming up stream). But the quiet alleyways of<br>the bazaar and serenity of the grand buildings, especially the<br>stunning central Mosque, provide relief of a different sort. In the<br>end though it is the Damascenes who set the tone. Everywhere we come<br>across people happy to chat but not wanting to unnecessarily disturb.<br> Even the shop ...

... night just around the corner a bakery that at midnight the chocolate croissants would come out of the oven ready for the next day, but if you went there he would sell them to you through the back door. So with time to kill before our warm croissant we headed up to the local coffee shop to play a game of backgammon and sip on some tea.<br><br>At 12 o'clock on the dot Dino ran up there to buy everyone in the hostel freshly baked goods. The perfect end to the perfect day.

... I had no packages.  That's a first! Lunch was at Costa Coffee by the Four Seasons hotel.  I had an iced mocha and a sandwich and the others also ate while we relaxed before getting on the bus.  Now it was time to pack up!  I had brought 2 bags from the grocery store and everything fit in the bags I had.  Oh, forgot about the sconces! We all packed up and were ready for the buses at 2:00 as we were going to see the Target ...

... agradable. Després de la rutina fiaria de perdre'm pel laberíntic zoco una vegada i una altra, el millor per refer-me una mica de l'esgotament, i per entrar una mica en calor, es anar a un hammam, i posats a fer-ho be, incloent una exfoliació (surto amb la pell radiant i envermellida) i un massatge (que no sempre es tan tonificant com un esperava). *************************************** ************************* Whipped by the wind ...

... old damascean houses wýth an amerýcan frýend I met ýn Beýrut. It was nýce. And then, because of everythýng thats goýng on down south ýn Israel and Gaza (the arab reactýon FYI has been very ýnterestýng..) I decýded to head up to Turkey!! (I thýnk If ý went to egypt I stýll would have been tempted to výsýt the land of conflýct.. out of sýght out of mýnd out of money!!)

... who killed the Muslim prophet of Mohammed by beheading him and parading his head around the city of Damascus. The now lead a pilgrimage to this Mosque every year to say sorry and show the guilt they have. Mohammed is now believed to be buried at Mecca which is where they face to pray. Weirdly also in the mosque is a minaret (tower) which is named Jesus Christ Minaret. This is where the Muslims believe that Jesus will appear on judgement day.