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Published: February 18th 2007
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Random alley
Left, no right nah maybe straight ahead. Ahhh who cares lets have some tea! Well to say that Damascus was a small revelation would be an understatement. I had been told by friends about this amazing city and was ready to explore all it had to offer.
Damascus had a lot to live up to. The city is thought to be the oldest continuably inhabited city on the planet. Its 12000 or so years of habitation a touch longer than Sydney's 220 years (since colonisation). The city is now home to about 4.5 million humans and possibly more cats. The city has seen the passing of possibly all the major civilisations and conquerers the earth has know, invluding those crazy cats the crusaders! It has been on the path of the Romans, was the capital of the formidable Ummayyads (thus making it a Muslim city), and over the next several thousand years was conqured and held by among others the Seljuks, Atabegs, Ayyubids, Memluks, and in more modern times the Ottomans (from around the 1500 to 1918 when WWI broke out and the Ottomans sided with the German empire).
Between 1918 and 1946 the city saw a rise in Arab nationalism. Through both world wars the city and Syria itself managed to remove
A trusty steed
A great form of transport in the city. itself from the yolk of other would be suitors, particularly the French who after sustained bloodshed bowed to international pressure left Syrian terrıtory on in Apri 1946.
The Damascus of today is a fantastic bustling city of the Middle East. Damascus contains all those fascinating, intruguing and ill stand up and say it frustrating things that a vibrant middle east city should have.
We landed in Damascus late in the night somewhat weary but I was pretty stoked to be back in Syria! As was to be the standard over the next three or so weeks us and our bikes attracted immediate attention. The attention this time was from a young looking soldier protrolling the bus station. I was a touch wary of him at first, well probably more wary of the AK47 he was sporting. But a quick smile and hello and he was over to have a chat. In broken languages and sign language we got a couple of messages accross, in the meantime a few other soldiers had come over for a look and a yarn. It was pretty cool to realise that these guys were not the mad millitary types I had had preconceptions
about. They were super chilled out and up for a laugh and chat, this was to be the usual reception of all the army guys in Syria. Smiling Syrians with rifles!
Off to find the hotel we went. I had heard stories of how crazy Damascuss' traffic could be and we ventured straight out into it. I have to say that it wasnt too mad, there were plenty of cars trucks and a mass of taxis to contend with but they seemed to be pretty tollerant of our pressence. Kris and I peddled as gracefully as the Atlantic Salmon swims aginst the current on its spawning run. We rode with the traffic and aginst the traffic and after recieving directions from several helpful Syrians made it to the Al Rabie Hotel which to our unending delight sported a 'pleasant courtyard'.
We had a great sleep (in spite of the dull drone of car horns and random arabic music) and set out early to explore the city. Being duitful travellers we had closeley examined the Lonely Planet maps of the city planning a route through the old city that would take in several sights and ensuring we found a
biked shop to get a new wheel for Kris's bike.
About two minutes after leaving the hotel we were swallowed by the bustle of people and traffic, after three minutes we were resonably lost. But being lost in this city was not a bad thing. Around every corner we discovered a new alley a new street all overflowing with people and animals and shops. The life of the city was enthralling everything seemed to be out in the open and on display. There were meat shops that had carcases hanging from the windows ready to be flayed and sold on the spot. Sweet shops proudly displaying their creations. And a curious shop that seemed to be selling nothing but large chunks of animal fat- and which sported some champion owners who had Kris and I over for lunch and tea each time we passed the store over the next couple of days.
Over the next few days we experienced amazing hospitality. Free food tonnes and tonnes of tea and people that would just come up and want to talk to us. I think the last aspect of the city may have been a function of me being 6foot3
and Kris being 6foot7- it was somewhere in Damascus that I gave him a new nickname- the Spectacle due to random Syrians coming up looking him up and down and waving their arms up and down to show their amazement at the freak of nature.
We also me some cool people in the hotel. A mad Irisman (g'day Rory), Jase an American dude studying Farsi in Tajikistan and a cool Aussie chick checking out the Middle East on uni holidays. Being good tourists we went out and had a few beers one night at a Damascus pub which we were told was pretty much a gay bar. But this didnt deteer us and we had a great night sampling some of Syrias fine ales (an adendum to this night being that the American was hit on by a Syrian guy in the toilets. It seemed to involve a little too much attention at the urinal and a sly kiss on the cheek and montioning towards the toilet cubicle).
There were a few cool sights we checked out. The best two being the large and inpressive Roman Wall that still had some origianl sections that are now over 2000 years old. And the Umayyad Mosque that was built a mere 1300 years ago. We also took the bikes for a spin up the back of the city to climb the hills that surrounded it. There were some great views to be had and were followed insecently by a maurading bunch of kids (one of which took a liberty with Spectacles wallet and nicked some cash!).
On the last night we were shown around the city by Misto a guy we had met earlier in the day. He and his mate showed us around some parts of the city we would never have found on our own. It was great fun just cruisin around teaching Misto and his mate some choice Australian slang- we ran into a Syrian wedding, a shop selling Hezbollah gear and some great sweets shops. Good clean fun for the intrepid riders and a great last night in Damascus.
As I said at the start of this now very long chapter Damascus is an amazing and colourful city. It is a true city of living history. Every day I was litterally stepping in the footsteps of a thousand generations of humanity. This history was on display in the Mosques, ancient soqs, city walls and just in the buildings themselves. And while in general in cities in the West people can tend to be a bit hard to reach and are cautious to the general stranger we found the Damascuns (bad term I know) to be friendly, hospitable, welcomming, and generous. It is a great, safe city that continued to offer surprises up to the last minute.
We got to bed early anticiopating the next leg of the ride- into the desert and beyond!
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