Hotel Sultan Damascus

... never&#8230;and Damascus is quiet by about 10 pm) and bought some pro-Hizbollah trinkets. Highlights include a Nasrallah key chain and Al-Assad button. Feeling completely safe in the city at night, I went back into my room and crashed on my bed without even turning on the light. It&#8217;s a good thing the light stayed off, and you&#8217;ll find out why in my next entry, which I&#8217;ll post sometime soon (juggling a lot of schoolwork right now).<br><br>

... Old Town, I found myself walking down the street just outside the surrounding wall (apparently the mosque itself is at one of the gates). Along the other side of that street was a moat running across and under the front of a row of houses, like some communal aquatic front yard.<br><br>Anyway, not much else to report on Damascus. After almost a full week of traveling together, it was a bummer to have to part ways with Reuben and Cath, but we ...

... of my two hands. It was like that "Clap on, clap off, the clapper" commercial but only better. I discovered the joys of having fun like a kid and that is something we forget in our grown up worlds. I feel bad for whomever's cars bore the brunt of my childlike fun though. Don't park under a tree is my solution to fix that problem.<br><br>Last year during my Middle East travels I got to know the sound of the muezzin calling all the ...

... frescoes depict stories from the Torah and are largely<br>intact, thanks to a landslide which preserved the colours for<br>centuries and 2) a tomb from Palmyrie which has also survived<br>amazingly well, and is filled with sculptures of family members and<br>mythical creatures! Most of the items have tags saying that they were<br>found in the handicrafts market just outside the mosque so we head<br>there hoping to spot a valuable item or 2! I'll let you guess whether<br>or not ...

... a castle) was next, after stopping over in a small town (not much to report on it to be honest). We decided to carry onto Hama so had our packs with us. Not the easiest as they are HUGE (we&#8217;re working on that). The first half was fine, but the final leg was in a packed minibus with our packs on our laps. The dude then circled the town looking for more people (not sure where they were going to sit)... but ended up not finding any more suckers. He then wanted to ...

... some strangely made omelet sandwich wrap.....the night before we had asked for brains as a mezze, but unfortunately they were out of brains - this would have to wait for another night! But the souq really did feel like a magical place, and made me think about the many stories the walls and the people must have to tell, considering that this is believed to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, with over 4000 years of history. Aleppo also has the most incredible ...

March 6, Friday Our breakfast is served to our room! I guess that is why there is a table and 2 chairs in the room. Len has a sore back from his lumpy bed. Mine was o.k. We ask for a different room and are moved down 1 floor and to the other side of the building. We are off first to the old train station to look at the stately building and take a picture of the old engine out front. There is a book fair on inside so we go in and have a look at the ornate stone work ...

... It is due to take place in Jerusalem next year but the Israeli government may not allow it, if that is the case other cities in the Middle East will take a month each. In preparation for the year, Damascus got a major facelift and many of the sidewalks got refurbished. Syria is going through some major transformations and new government policies are being put in place to clean up the country after years of ...

... by St Luke as well as women who come to pray for fertility. The convent was built on the site where Justinian saw the vision of the Virgin Mary who told him to build a church here. So, who wouldn't? As you climb the steps you reach the spot where a nun spilled oil on the step resulting in an outline of the Virgin Mary. Do you see it in the picture? At least they have a cage around you so you won't slip on the spilt oil. Again ...