Al Khair Palace Hotel Damascus

... in fact space there: on the roof. There were about 15 beds set up under a tarp on the roof. 7 bucks a night as long as I had my sleeping bag (it gets cold up there and they don’t provide much more than the bed and the tarp). I brought my own sleeping bag in anticipation of the cold night temperatures. It ended up working quite well in the 45-degree nights.

With the whole day in front of me, I began exploring. The first place I stumbled across ...

Manuel didn't feel well during our stay in Aleppo so we decided to head for Damascus to get him to a real good doctor. The doctor spoke English and it was even possible to have a lung x-ray performed in the clinic. After it was found that Manuel wasn't actually deadsick and had only pretended to be so to receive Heli's and Herman's attention, he was given several medications which should pep him up soon.

So what is there to tell about Damascus? We are slowly getting sick of ...

... of the men wore clothes that would be right at home anywhere else in the world.

While I was walking around I was thinking about how Beirut repelled me withing minutes but Damascus has drawn me in. Something about Syria has just captured my imagination and I love wandering around with no agenda or list of things to see. My visa is good for 15 days and I am sorry I don't have 12 more here to explore every inch of this country. This is one place I will visit again.

... it was a good night to just chill at our place and have drinks. DeVan and Adib picked up ful and hommus but forgot bread. So even though we were staring at the hommus like it was a juicy steak Adib and I headed out to pick up some pita. Clearly a simple task since it can be found everywhere...um...apparently not. I swear it took us nearly half an hour to find bread and bring it back to our place. Totally ridiculous! Everyone we asked kept saying leiko ...

... of Syria went to the conference where the
victors divided the spoils expecting to be given control of Greater
Syria. Instead he was turned into a puppet ruler. One clear example
of his emasculation was the eviction of local Syrians who were living
inside the Palmyra ruins by French archeologists at the beginning of
the mandate.




The same is true of the Krac des
Chevaliers, where an entire village was living until the European
Damascus, Syria adamandmandana

... fauttoush and freshly baked bread. The dancing durvishes were late so we waited a long time, listening to an Arab band play music. Eventually the dancing durvish came and it was a cool sight. The dancing durvish kept spinning over and over again. He would stop after a while and then would continue doing it again. When it was over it was almost midnight.We were all exhausted so we walked the long way back to the hotel and fell asleep.

... preparation Ben! It can only get better from here I hoped..... Arriving at the airport suitably on time, the rest of the journey went remarkably smoothly. I guessed when at the departure gate that I was in for an interesting if not hair raising time when the next youngest people due to board my flight was a couple of ladies in their early fifties with greyish hair, and was promptly sat in between a retired couple from Derbyshire who had for the last 15 years been teaching ...

I woke up at 6am all fresh and ready for my trip to Syria. I was quite looking forward to getting going as I have heard good things about Damascus. I was joined by Alex an Aussie from the backpackers and we headed out for the bus. He didn't have a visa for Syria so was not sure if he could get on at the border so he tried his luck. The ride to the border was fine and getting through immigration was really easy on both sides. Alex managed to get a visa on arrival ...

... hands. This went on for 25 years, with visions, special messages, ecstacies, and the oil oozage. This woman healed blind people, back pain and people from all over the world had come to see her and be healed by her. She was beautiful and had amazingly soft hands (I suppose oil does that..!), the house was full of images of jesus and Mary and it was a very religious and faithful house. It was quite lovely to be here after a bit of a day, it was a lovely safe haven ...

... mosque incorporates details of the prior residents...roman columns are used and some of the Byzantine window frames have been retained. As with any mosque, shoes are removed. I'm so glad that it wasn't hot and that I'm not female (for many reasons) because non-Muslim visitors are required to stop at the "Putting on Clothes" room where they get to choose an appropriate cloak to wear. Had it been hot, and I had been in shorts I ...