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Published: November 15th 2009
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Aleppo, Syria
In the afternoon before arriving in Aleppo we visited the hillside castle of Crac De Chevallier or Castle of the knights. It has other names because at various time throughout history the Castle has been occupied by Christian and Muslim armies. It is sited on a hill near Homs, in Northern Syria and for the most part looks impregnable. According to the history notes the castle was being defended by Christian Knights. A Muslim army had laid siege and a forged letter from the Knights Bishop was presented to the Castle commander ordering them to surrender.
Kate warned me about how friendly the Syrian people are and the people in Aleppo live up to her expectations. She was very taken with Damascus and the friendly people there but we have found that for the most part people everywhere in Syria are quite friendly and very willing to practice their English with you.
The Hotel we are staying in gets a 1 star rating. After 2 nights here I can say with some authority that all water ceases precisely at 8pm. I had my hot shower at 6am this morning and as we are required to be ready to
depart at 5.30am on Wednesday getting a shower in the morning shouldn’t pose a problem. Sean’s theory is that they pump water to a tank on the roof during the day which does not have enough capacity.
Last night we went for a walk to find some “street food” and ended up at a Burger and Frits (Fries) place which was next door to a very popular Falafel shop. Five of us chose Falafel and the owner of the business gave everyone a sample of a fresh cooked Falafel in the shape of a do-nut. We all thought this was rather nice and a very good marketing ploy but surprisingly when we ordered five full Falafel wraps our money was refused. Tonight when we returned he charged only 25SN each and when I arrived later I was only charged 20SN (about 55 cents). I think this is ½ the going rate. We stood on the side walk enjoying our food and as we were about to finish the owner sent out one of his boys with a bottle of water and plastic cups which was again complimentary.
Here in Syria I feel quite relaxed about people approaching me
and wanting to talk without the pressure of them trying to sell you something. Not at all like Egypt.
I spent a fair part of the day wandering the Old Bazaar, not knowing where the new Bazaar is or even if there is one, I just followed the ubiquitous brown and white tourist signs. The first part of the Bazaar was the meat market. This is not where you buy slaves. Perhaps 2000 years ago you might have had your choice of a fine selection of slaves but today it has all manner of fish, bird and hoofed creatures carved up for sale. A picture does tell a 1000 words but I wasn’t brave enough to take my camera out. I was attracting a lot of attention as the only obvious non Syrian in the market place and I didn’t want to cause a riot with my camera. Some of the things that I saw that were so far removed from and Australian butcher shop were Chicken skins, goats’ heads, full animal carcases hanging up with all the organs available for purchase, washed intestines for sausage making, sheep and bull testes and the penis still attached - ouch! Whatever
your nightmare is it seemed to be on display.
From the meat Souq I visited the Mosque on my way to the Citadel. Most of the Mosques in the Middle East are “all faith”friendly. The Muslims are quite happy to share their places of worship to Christians and people of other faiths so long as you observe the customs and requirements of the Muslim faith. In Damascus we had to buy a ticket for 50 Syrian Pounds (about $1) and women had to cover arms, legs and the head so a gown was provided. Men have to have their shoulders and upper arms covered and legs covered to the ankles. In Aleppo they were more relaxed about the head and leg covering to visit the Mosque so long as you didn’t go inside the prayer rooms where those rules still applied) There was no charge to visit the Aleppo Mosque which like most Mosques is quite beautiful.
Interestingly enough at the Northern end of the Mosque one of the doors looked like it opened into a clothing shop for wedding gear or possibly very fancy dresses for girls. Later when I walked from the other direction through the
Old Bazaar I realised it was simply that the Bazaar and Mosque merge at that doorway. I could have retrieved my shoes and continued through had I known, instead of backtracking and circling around and up to Aleppo Citadel. The Citadel appeared to be closed to visitors and there were a number of ugly pipes along the ramparts leading down to the moat. I was told that these were for clearing rubble during the reconstruction stages. They are old and rusty so I have no idea until I can “Google” the Citadel pages and see how long the reconstruction has been going on. Years I expect.
For lunch I decided on a Beef Burger and plate of salad. For 80SN pounds ($1.20)I got a cooked to order Burger, a plate of fresh salad and some fries along with a can of soft drink. My opinion of Aleppo is that it is well worth a couple of days to visit and if you can make a local friend and breathe in a bit of the ambience here then it is well worth your time and best of all you can trust the locals not to constantly try to cheat you.
Looking over Town
The View from the Crac Du Chevellier, Castle of the Knights As a bonus to my visit to the Citadel there was a photographic exhibition by a French photographer Bertrand, who has a travelling exhibition “The Earth from Above”. Carol and I first saw this exhibition in Singapore in 2005 but it has changed to incorporate many more images of Syria and I was fascinated and pleased to see images from above of places that we had visited in recent days. I have borrowed a couple of his images to include I hope he forgives me if he should stumble on my travel blog.
Visit http://www.yannarthusbertrand2.org/ for over 2000 images that you can download for free.
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David on tour
David Muir
How much??
I wish I'd have found that Falafel shop when I was In Aleppo I had to pay the full amount of 50S it was daylight robbery. Looking at the news it appears that you didn't start any wars - the famous Tasker diplomacy:-) - so that was we could have hoped for:-)