Meridien (Deluxe) Damascus

You know you're suffering a mild logistical hiccup when even your Turkish taxi driver decides to dump you and forgo the rest of his fare.<br><br>Crossing national boundaries is normally a case of submissively following the little arrows from window to window, genuflect, genuflect meekly at all appropriate times, and carry a particular state of pofaced nonchalance.<br><br>Patience is the real key. Make it plain (especially if your documentation is tickety-boo) that you are quite ...

... going to overlap for a bit in Israel, and I'm definitely going to meet up with them in Auckland when I get there around March.<br><br>So it's off for a quick hop in Jordan en route to Israel.<br><br>-Dave<br style="font-family: yui-tmp;">NB: no photos for Damascus at all. It took a few days to find a charger which doesn't work all that well. Besides, as mentioned I spent most of my energies on shopping and eating and it's not a photogenic city anyways.<br>

... to prayer five times a day. The melodic singing from the mosques is something I really enjoy listening to and I heard the sounds as I was rolling into town. Each mosque has loudspeakers on top of the minaret that blast the singing out to the neighborhood and it really is a beautiful and other worldly sound. The call to prayer tells me I am definitely not in Georgia anymore and I am getting everything I could ever ask for out of being over ...

... were successful!<br>That<br>evening Kate takes us to a posh restaurant at Al Qassioum &#8211; the<br>mountain overlooking the city. We have a first taste of Lebanese<br>wine, and enjoy the breathtaking views of a sprawling city sparkling<br>green (all the mosques are lit up by green lights).<br>The<br>following morning we wander in one the modern districts &#8211; full of<br>leafy parks and timeless stone buildings, the shops are Benetton and<br>Promod, and people stop their car ...

... us for our packs, but Littleman jumped on top of them so his seat could be sold.<br><br>Hama was a beautiful town with massive waterwheels dotted along the river. We wanted to stay longer here, but also needed to push on as we&#8217;re unsure about Lebanon &#8211; it might be good and we want the extra time there. So we took up a day tour to a cool mosaic museum, The Dead Cities (towns deserted thousands of years ago but still look amazing) and Apamea (old roman ...

... something which evokes memories of Minas Tirith, the fortified capital of Gondor in Lord of the Rings! It is truly breathtaking and the experience inside and the views from the towers were equally impressive. I heard for the first time here a sound I was to become very familiar with in the Middle East - a Muezzin's call to prayer (adhan). It is one of the most delightful aspects of the towns and cities here, and as we stood at the top of the citadel looking out over the ...

... ceiling, and beautiful stain glassed windows. Then down the street to the old city area. We pass a fire station, this is the first one we have seen since Ayutthia, Thailand. There are several men sitting out front, they have navy coveralls on, so that must be their uniform. Three are 2 big pumpers and 1 small on. He explained the small one is to go into the old city where the streets and narrow. Len took some pictures and he gave the man a City of Winnipeg fire ...

... under Communist rule. Izzat took me for a tour of the old city as he promised and I loved it. From the narrow streets in the residential areas all you can see are tall walls and plain doors but behind many of the doors are magnificent courtyards and old houses that have been transformed into hotels and restaurants. The crowning glory of the old city is the Great Mosque that houses a magnificent shrine said to be ...

... I got most of my information from the guide book...Kamal wasn't saying a whole lot. Upon entering the convent you better duck. The door is small. I don't know if this is more for penitence or for defensive purposes. This convents and monasteries doubled as fortresses in the past. So I ducked, but then proceeded to slam my head against the ceiling after passing through the portal. I didn't realize it was a tunnel. Coming from ...