Venezia Damascus

... I acknowledge you, and may blessings be upon you.<br><br>How many words must one express to convey this simple, all encompassing friendliness? <br><br>I find a little bottle of hooch in this archly anti-alcohol society. <br><br>Sniffing the aniseed odour on me, my hotel desk clerk, the slightly odd Wahid, asks: "How can you drink something that drinks your brain? It makes you dance like a monkey, sleep like a snake and talk like a dog." Fair enough, guv.<br><br>The different ...

... the Lords' Prayer in Aramaic for us. Afterwards we walk<br>through a gorge that apparently was created by the Lord to help St<br>Thakar escape from her persecutors, this of course leads to her<br>shrine, and here again we find that Muslims make pilgrimages here for<br>the healing powers in the water there. Seidnayya church is the second<br>holiest church for Greek Orthodox. That night back in Damascus we sit<br>in a cafe with Kate while she tells about a video call she was ...

... five of us (minus Omar because he left in the afternoon to back to Amman) headed to Bate Jabri which is very well known for being delicious. DeVan and I let the guys order because we knew that whatever arrived would be awesome. Once it started arriving however, the joke was on us because the portions were huge. PLUS they had ordered a lot because we were all so hungry. I believe our order is as follows: fattoush, corn salad, fries (aka chips), hommus with meat, hommus ...

... Theoretically if I drove a car in Amman I might describe it theoretically and emphasize that choosing to drive in Amman is like choosing to **** yourself off unless you can switch into fun aggressive mode...my driving tourettes came in handy here...theoretically speaking of course.] <br><br>So driving, driving, driving and BAM the border. It was just like crossing into Canada except not at all. Well, actually I felt prepared for a-hole border peeps because even ...

... which had a quiet and tranquil campus, far more impressive than the university I visited in Aleppo. That evening we dressed up and went to Dar Al Assad, Syria&#8217;s National Theater, where we saw the Moscow Ballet perform for &#8211; get this &#8211; 50 Syrian pounds ($1!). The show was outrageously good. <br><br>The next day Karam and I set out for Deir Mar Musa, an isolated Christian Monastery located about 60km from Damascus, currently featured on the cover of ...

... the Euphrates - we again had crowds of girls taking photos of us whilst we ate lunch and eventually they asked if they could get in a photo with us - this is one aspect of the Middle East I like - being white you feel like a celebrity!! Hahaha! That evening we got our first glimpse of the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, at sunset from the arab castle on an impossibly steep summit Qala 'at ibn Maan. WOW!!!!!!! I COULD NOT WAIT to get down there and explore the next morning!! It ...

... were missing their heads. We found their heads inside the museum. There were quite a few mosaic tile pictures, which I am sure we could have taken pictures if we wanted to pay the guard. There are a lot of coins, jewelry and figures from Palmyra, our next stop. We seen a reconstructed underground burial chamber from the Valley of the Tombs at Palmyra. There is a fresco-covered synagogue in the back area. It was quite beautiful, the guard told us ...

... in the opposit direction! "Damascus was that way I pointed." He replied "We can still get there from this way, I have to go by my house to pick up my son." Next thing I know we are driving off into the boonies. Inside I start to panic and think to myself, " **** I am so stupid! Here I am in the middle of God knows where in Syria with some man taking me somewhere and no one knows where I am!" I thought to myself, I have so much cash on ...

... there is no new visa on my passport, but just a stamp. This may be a problem as I try to exit the country, if that day ever comes. The service taxi dropped me off at a junction from where I took a yellow taxi to the Damascus International Airport. As usual, the driver spoke absolutely no English. I pointed at the taximeter and told him to turn it on. After a couple of minutes, he understood what I was trying to say, and told me that taximeters were ...

... for a "Meet and Greet S**vice" from the Four Seasons Damascus. (Yes, th**e's a Four Seasons in Damascus too.) This was the best investment I made. Rath** than standing in an immigration line, the representative took my passport to the immigration offic**s while I stood ov** at the side. A few minutes lat** he returned with the prop** stamps and we w**e done. While I waited I chatted with a couple of *****ians and a couple ...