The Road to Damascus

 

 

 

 

 

Shortly after returning from Beirut I found out that one of my roommates had decided to move to Damascus, so we began to search for a replacement for him. He had been talking about his previous experience in Syria ever since I got to know him. And as the prospect of returning became more real, he began to prevail upon me to to travel with him. Not much prevailing was necessary, as I had been wanting to visit for some time. The only real reason that I had not tried to visit was that I had heard from several sources that it was somewhere between difficult and impossible. This was contradicted by Ben who had traveled a month prior to Syria with an American with little trouble but a long wait.

 

So on Saturday the 19th of April at about 8:30 am we left the apartment we had been sharing in Amman, and began our journey. The first stop was the British embassy in Amman where Ben had to pick up his new passport. This was accomplished quickly and from there we took a taxi to Abdalee in Amman where we would hire a taxi to Damascus. After bargaining we got a  service taxi (busses won’t take Americans due to the wait at the border) and we left Amman. We arrived at the border about 11 am where Ben got his visa in about 15 minutes. I was told that it would be between 30 minutes and never, so we released our taxi because we did not want to pay to have him wait a few hours and then be refused entry or get the visa too late in the day for him to take us across (Jordanian  taxi’s cannot cross the border into Syria after 3:30 pm). This proved to be a wise decision as I did not get my visa until nearly 4 pm. During this time we had secured another taxi to take us into Damascus and soon after getting my passport stamped we were on our way again and after a couple of more official stops, headed to the old city. Immediately after crossing the border the landscape changed becoming flatter and greener. 

 

On escorting us to the car our driver pointed out that his pants had been torn and said that he had to stop at his house and change. Neither of us had a problem with that so he turned of the main road and headed toward a town that looked to be about a mile down the road. We zig-zagged into the heart of this little town and pulled up to a gated courtyard where he tooted his horn,, said he would be right back and got out and went through the gate. As soon as he crossed the gate about half a dozen children swarmed in and around the car! It was like a pit-stop in a NASCAR race! Trash (and coins) were removed from various compartments and also a couple of tools which I thought was odd. The trunk was opened (I had seen some dry goods in there so thought nothing of it) and the children began removing some of the drivers things. We began to hear muffled clangings and bangings as if the jack and other tools were being moved and when it didn’t end right away we began to wonder what was going on. We peered through the gap between the trunk lid and the bottom of the window and saw them removing cigarettes from a hidden compartment in the trunk! We had caught a ride with a smuggler! Soon they had retrieved the last of their hidden cargo and after more noises had everything put back together and we were on our way again. Regrettably I did not get any pictures of this first stop in Syria.

First look at Damascus

 

 

 

On the outskirts of Damascus we were told that he wasn’t authorized to operate in the city itself, and he drove us to an underpass where there were several taxis waiting. Three hundred Syrian pounds (about $6 US) and about 20 minutes later we were standing at Al Bab Al Shar’i (The East Gate) of the old city of Damascus. Ben led me to the room he had reserved for himself for the next month which he would be sharing with me the next few days.

Another look at the historic East Gate

 

East Gate looking down Straight Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtyard at our house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The house we were in was of traditional middle-eastern design with several small rooms surrounding a central courtyard. The owners were very hospitable serving us tea and cookies (and also a small amount of very strong Syrian style coffee in cups not much bigger than a thimble (thankfully) while the room was prepared. It was the most unusual coffee I have ever tasted. It was heavily laced with cardamom (normal for an Arabic coffee) as well as other spices I couldn’t identify, but what made it most unusual was that it was salty. I could probably have developed a taste for it at the cost of ever sleeping again. It was strong!

the door to the left is our room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were shown to our room about 8 pm and after dropping our bags we went out for a bite to eat being joined by Ben’s American friend Dillon who had a room upstairs. Ben had been talking about Syrian food for the last two months and the first place he takes me to eat was a Italian restaurant! The lasagna was different but very good and after finishing we returned to our room for a well earned night’s sleep.

 

Our room

The best place to see my photos is at my facebook

page:http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=1485654007                                                         

I should soon have the rest edited and posted.

Beirut Trip

I apologize that I have been so negligent in posting but things have been pretty hectic. A couple of months ago I had to move to a new apartment so I found a place with a couple of British guys and shortly after getting that move out of the way, I had to leave the country for a day for visa reasons (routine). After much hand-wringing over costs I finally decided  to pay JD220 ($310 US) for a ticket to Beirut for an overnight stay with friends of friends as opposed to a similarly priced 4 night stay at an Egyptian beach resort. Mainly I did this to control hidden costs but also the Egypt trip involve a long day of travel each way, by bus and ferry.

 

The view of Lebanon from the air was spectacular particularly the coast near Beirut. Regrettably I did not have my camera handy on the flight out Amman. I had been expecting to see sand beaches and resort hotels, but instead, saw a very interesting combination of sand and rock shoreline with what looked like slums and damaged or unfinished buildings in the background. When I asked about this later I was told that this area was controlled by Hammas, and going there to get  pictures would be a really bad idea. 

 

In the airport I  realized that I had foolishly forgotten to write down my host’s phone number and address and, since there was no wireless access in the airport I was simply stuck. After a wait of about an hour and a half I was finally able to explain that someone was probably waiting for me at the exit, and someone escorted me to the front of the airport where my contact was waiting. I got the information from him and was on my way. I was a little surprised by what seemed to be a lot of soldiers at the airport and on the streets. It turns out that there really were a lot of soldiers but, not as many as I thought as the police use a very similar uniform. I also saw several pieces of armor stationed at intersections in the city. I didn’t think it was a good idea to photograph those.

 

I was hosted by a friend of a friend named Matthew and his wife Kristi who were very gracious hosts indeed.  They fed me like a king (Kristi is a great cook) and dinner was mexican food! Matthew had earlier given me a quick tour while going to pick up the groceries. I was interested to see the number of old and seemingly abandoned buildings, most showing the signs of armed conflict, which were sitting side by side with new buildings. 

 

The overall look and feel of the city seemed european, rather than middle-eastern, with almost no traditional dress at all. Another surprise was that it seemed fewer people spoke english in Beirut than Amman. As I mentioned earlier I was only to stay one night, so I really didn’t get to see all that much, but, what I did see made me decide to try to get back to Lebanon when I had the leisure to do so.

After dinner Matthew made arrangements for my taxi ride back to the airport the next day, and insisted on paying for it as he had the ride from the airport. I resolved to have my camera available for the return trip, and the next morning I got to the airport and boarded the plane without incident. I got a few pictures on the flight and  arrived back in Amman about 2 pm and got home about 2 hours later.

The best place to view these pictures is on my facebook page:

 

 

http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=1485654007