syriously

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May 8th 2008

Published: June 3rd 2008

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kimbob

giant tea pot

there are 3 pages of photos so click next at the bottom of page to look

" here's a newsflash: contrary to what the US state department may wish the world to think, syria is not populated by terrorists, zealots and other boogeyman. in fact, syrians are among the most friendly and hospitable people in the world, and most visitors to their country end up developing lifelong infatuation with its gentle charms" - guidebook

as you can see from our photos, syria is amazing, seriously. from the second we got there, we couldnt stop taking photos, and commenting back and forth to eachother "look at that" "wow" "awesome". i know some of you out there think that it is unsafe, we are living proof that it was one of the most genuine and hospitable places we have been to. we did a whirlwhind tour to see as much of the country in the time frame, a little hectic but definately worth it. in the end we got some extra time there b/c the day we were about to leave to go to lebanon, the border closed b/c of protests in beirut. we were really upset b/c we had heard

market shot

inside the old city in damascus

such good things about lebanon too, but BAD timing!! i guess its better to find out before than to be there and be evacuated back to canada......although i am sure some people out there wouldnt have minded if we came home early!! ( mom...dad ?? )

damascus is where we started off, which is one of the many cities in syria listed on Unescos world heritage list, and is one of the most scenic cities i have ever seen. it was like eastern europe collided with middle east. there were french/italian cobble stone rodes and ivy mixed with brilliant and intricate mosiac mosques. the country has this black and white brick theme which was also quite unique. we went to Ummayad Mosque, a museum of traditional and popular arts, and Azem Palace an old old hotel the first day. we also wandered through the souqs ( markets ) in the old city, narrow pathways (venice-esque) where shops would alternate between crap imported from china, to traditional, to workshops where they made the traditional items like carpets, wood with islamic design, glass ect. when you paused to watch them at work, they would actually invite you in to see, and

damascus

having tea and shisha in teh old city

explain what they were doing! with a giant smile no less. amazing!!

next stop, another unesco site was palymyra where we saw rose-gold ancient ruins ruled by Queen Zenobia who claims cleopatra descent. we dont have any pics yet unfortuneately. we went to aleppo next, not too much to mention about this city other than its fresh squeesed juice!!

our last stop was a place called hama, which was famous for giant water wheels. they are wooden water wheels up to 20 m in diameter that scoop up water from the orontes river and tip it into mini aquaducts where it travels to irrigation channels to water surrounding fields. since the water wheels and the blocks on which they are mounted are wooden the friction when they turn produce mournful groaning which is actually pretty loud!

one of my favorite things about this place, was there national obsession with fresh squeezed juice. every block had a stand, and sometimes 4 or 5 next to eachother. you'd just pick a fruit or veg and they juice it right then and there, and it was about 50 cents. we'd "go for juice" like thrice daily. yum

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