Blogs from South, Syria, Middle East - page 9

With the On The Go Tour over, this tourist had to fend for himself and he headed North to Syria for a day. The original plan was to go to Jerusalem, but with the current conflict in Gaza escalating, and no end in site, I decided to keep out of harms way. The bus trip took around 4 hours, which included obtaining a Visa at the border. Sites included the exterior of the Damascus Citadel (closed for restoration) the Umayyad Mosque, Souq Hamadyeh (Market), Azem Palace and various points around the old city. The Azem Palace was the highlight, with many rooms laid out in beautiful ornate Ottoman style. The no pictures rule in these rooms is necessary to preserve the colours, but makes for a less interesting blog. The Umayyad Mosque also unique experience, with ... read more

Our day started bright and early at 7:30am in the Safran restaurant where mum proceeded to eat the entire buffet. The breakfast was lovely however so I couldn’t really blame her. Abdul met us in the reception of the hotel at 9:30am and we wandered off to start our city tour of Damascus. First stop was the museum were we got to freeze our little fingers and toes off. Mum made the comment that museums are always freezing and you know what, she is right. What is it about museums. Why do they always have to be so cold. Is there some kind of rule in the museum etiquette book that says that they must be 2 degrees below bloody stupid temperature. And all that marble really doesn’t help. A nice woolly carpet would go a ... read more

Well, I'm back home for Christmas. And considering a few weeks ago I couldn't wait to leave Syria - I'm now pining to go back. Damascus and Syria might have their faults but I already miss the friendliness of the people there (taxi drivers excluded), the bustling markets and the almost constant sunshine. I could tell I was back home when at Heathrow Airport, I was left waiting for my luggage for over an hour after I had landed. As normal the UK had a special way of welcoming people! Its been a while since I last updated the blog and to be honest its partly laziness and partly being rushed off my feet with University finishing for the term and the multitude of parties that were a result of lots of people leaving Damascus. When ... read more

The first half of the day was taken up by an uncomfortable coach journey back to Damascus. Previously it had swung from side to side. This one bounced up and down a lot. Fortunately there were no obstacles which tested it. Having checked into the hotel we started in (albeit in a more comfortable room) some of us went off to an Islamic Cultural Centre to chat with some locals about cultural issues. This was quite interesting, especially when the head of the centre came in to talk with us and mentioned he had been speaking to the Foreign Secretary in the same room less than two weeks ago. The same chap then invited us to his country villa for lunch and we duly got on a bus and headed out into the suburbs. His house ... read more

Coming Soon! I haven't had time lately to properly write part 3 of the series. However, I will write this soon enough. For the meantime, I am going to release a handful of photos from part 3 for your viewing pleasure! ENJOY! All Pics Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/maikbyrne/Syria#... read more