All roads lead to Damascus
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2008
1
15
50
Trip End
Dec 07, 2008
Today we had an early start to make our way to Damascus. Bashar(Bish) claims that Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world even though people from Aleppo claim that that city is. After we arrived at our hotel we had to wait a while for our rooms to be ready and once we got ready Bish took us for felafel and fruit cocktail. On the way we walked past Ghraoui which is the chocolate shop that I read about in the Lonely Planet as a must visit. I have been thinking about this shop since 2 months before I left but as it was Friday the shop was shut. We were then given free time and I went to an internet cafe and spent 2.5 hours trying to get updated and I still am behind. The internet here is so slow and I had a message from Lanie and one from Mum and Dad asking if everything was ok cos they hadn't heard from me for a while. Went back to the hotel because we were going to watch the sunset from a mountain. We had a van and a taxi up to the top and it was a very interesting site. The mountain we went up is called Mt. Qasiyoun and the view was amazing but so were the people. There were all these vans parked alongside the road and they were decked out with coffee machines in their boots. They sold everything from coffee, tea and hot chocolate to Milo!!!! Michelle bought me a milo and I was so excited but ened up being disappointed because it tasted horrible. There were even guys renting sheesha pipes out for the people having picnics - this is where the drama began. When our van was leaving we accidentally drove over a sheesha pipe that had been placed right in front of the van so it couldn't be seen. Apparently the owner of the sheesha should have moved it when he realised we were leaving but the owner said our van should have backed out to get out of the park. Our driver and the taxi driver and Bashar were all having a go at the three sheesha guys and were all joking that to sort it out all the women should get out and show a bit of leg. Our driver ended up paying for the pipe even though he wasn't happy about it - the glass wasn't even broken, the stem was just a bit flattened. We all felt so bad that he had to pay for it so we all chipped in and gave hime some money for it. The place we went for tea tonight was amazing. I don't think I would be able to find it again though as it was around all these corners and then the door to the restaurant you had to duck under because it was so short. the place was called Beit Jabri and was situated in a restored courtyard of a beautiful Damascene house. After dinner we went outside and Bashar grabbed my hand and said we were going on a date. Everyone told him off though because according to his marriage story you aren't allowed to touch until you are married, so they all came as escorts. We stopped for icecream on the way back to the hotel and it was the best icecream I have ever eaten. It was strawberry and because I didn't want nuts the guys added some chocolate and some lemon to it. It was excellent. Today was a nice relaxing day but am looking forward to tomorrow because I am going to go shopping!!! Bye
