Orient Gate Hotel
Travel Blogs from Damascus
Omzwervingen in de 'oude stad'
... zich qua kledij een beetje aangepast aan de plaatselijke zeden, de meesten –ik ook dus- dragen een lange broek (geen blote beentjes!) en hebben ook zedig een ‘foularke’ rond de schouders hangen.
Vanavond zijn we iets gaan eten in restaurant Abou Kamal, op een 200 m van het hotel. Goed gesmuld: eerst een linzensoep en daarna tournedos met heel veel groenten en pittig gekruide rijst.
Morgen trekken we noordwaarts. Op de planning staan Hama ...
First Days in Damascus (Damask)
... upmarket affair and where the president occasionally eats at the weekends. Starters, a big meal finished off with a nargeela amounted to around $15. Bargain. And thrown in free of charge is a large plate of sweets and fruit. Wow, no way could I eat all this. But I could stuff my backpack with them, which I duly did! Cant take me anywhere!
I slept well that night!
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Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me? Damascus.
... is the place where the head of Husayn (the grandson of Mohammed ) was kept on display by Yazid I. From this brief description, we see the importance of the Mosque for Christians and Muslims.
I was surprised to meet hundred of Shiah pilgrims, mainly from India and Iran.The entrance to the Mosque in the morning is like a black cloud formed by the black chadors of the Iranian women. They love to be photographed with a foreigner and I was asked many times ...
Sweatin' it up
... out into the sweet air of the resting room, where an attendant wraps me in fresh cotton sheets, and brings me cold water. It's hard not to feel like a king after such a treatment and thankfully the cost doesn't diminish this euphoria. The whole treatment costs 320SP ($7). For amusement sake I searched on-line for a hammam in Vancouver- $112, gets you all the same treatments. I figure if I go ten more times, I've paid for my flight.
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Damascus and then...I'm out!
... really high on that front. That's a good thing because while the country does some have some interesting sites, on the whole I wouldn't rate it that highly. On the plus side are the ancient cities of Damascus and Aleppo, the desert ruins of Palmyra, Krak des Chevaliers castle, Euphrates river, waterwheels of Hama and a few other secondary ruins, castles and towns. I'm really glad I came but don't think I'll be hurrying back anytime soon.
Bye bye Syria!
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