Damascus - Palaces and Bizarre Medical History

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Now that it's confirmed we won't be staying in Syria, we thought we'd best try to get the rest of cultural Damascus done quickly!! For those who haven't yet heard, we have taken a contract in Baku, Azerbaijan from September and will be there for a year initially. Exciting times and we look forward to blogging from there as there doesn't seem to be a lot already on travelblog!

We ventured back into the Old City to see a couple of sights. First up was the Medical Museum which was bizarre to say the least! The courtyard is lovely and is full of medicinal plants complete with names in Arabic and English, along with descriptions of their health benefits. All around the courtyard are rooms with different exhibits. The strangest was surely the stuffed animals. Can anyone explain the fox to us? (Look at the picture!)

We saw lots of displays about this medical discovery or another was pioneered or discovered in the Arabic world. It was intriguing and interesting. Some of the old medical instruments looked more like something out of a torture chamber though!!

From there we wandered through the souk past all of the spices. The smell wafting through is incredible. That brought us to the Azem Palace. This is a larger but less cosy version of the palace we had visited in Hama a few weeks ago. The courtyard was beautiful and the diaramas in the rooms were very good. The old cafe was especially good with its silhouette theatre projected onto the wall.

There are a few more sights we still wish to see in Damascus and several places we need to visit at weekends. Hopefully there are 4 or 5 more blogs to come but we'll see!

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Photos

Stuffed Animals
How bizarre. Is this a scene from "Little Red Riding Hood"?!!!!

Icarus?
Actually no, but an Arab invented a way to fly with wings quite some time ago.

Eye, eye
The first anatomies of the eye were discovered in this region

Remedy for Headaches
But would you drink this concotion???

Instrument of Torture?
Depends, is circumcision torture???

Visitors
It must be very hot wandering around dressed in a chador.

Self Portrait
If only they would clean the mirrors!!

Spice Market
The smells are amazing!