Omayad Hotel
Travel Blogs from Damascus
On the road again!
Today at 4:00, 17 teachers with families left for Damascus for the Orthodox Easter holiday. We took 2 school busses along with Mohamad-our ACS guru for visas and such. While it really isn't that far to Damascus, it took us about 4 hours to get from school to the city but much of that time was sucked up at the borders dealing with visas, exit …
Surviving Syria
... country. For a Japanese passport holder it was $13, for a European Union passport holder about $35 and for an Australian - a whopping $108 because apparently, that's how much an Australian visa costs.
Oh well, who am I to argue. Although I don't know of any Australians who get a Syrian visa with the intention of settling in the country and I can only imagine that all of them, like me, will end up parting with much more than $108 while in Syria, as opposed to ...
Damascene Days
... had a greater aura about it than the mosque itself, though this is of course because I am not of a religious disposition. There I was, a fraction away from the embalmed monument to one of great heroes of Middle Eastern history. There he was, Salah ad-Din.
Going into and out of the mosque is an experience in itself, being as it is rammed full of Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims, the women cloaked in the black chador from the ...
First Impressions
... without touching the other cars or the huge steel separator. I could actually close my eyes and breathe, without reciting the Shahada under my breath. So we get to my host family – which includes an old mother and her daughter. I had specifically asked for a women only family because of the hijab issue. The area where my family lives is called Muhajirin and its basically in the mountains on the outskirts of downtown Damascus. Picture the hills of ...
Discover Old City Damascus
... by an earthquake in 1758, the khan was restored in 1990 and today hosts the Natural History Museum of Damascus.
Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyed Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Located in one of the holiest sites in the Old City, it sits where the temple of Hadad, ...
Location
Amenities
- Room service
- Restaurant
- Business Services
- Free parking