Blogs from South, Syria, Middle East - page 12

Je crois que nous allons définitivement tomber amoureux du monde Arabe ! La Syrie c'est comme Marseille en gratis ! Tout nous est offert, les rencontres amicales se comptent par centaines et les rencontres édifiantes (les plus rares) par dizaines ! Premier jour à Alep : trois étudiants, Bassel Ymard et Elias nous accueillent et nous prennent intégralement en charge, bières comprises ! Puis viens le sommet du voyage... 6 jours au monastère Deir Mar-Musa un "mini-Taizée-sauce-orientale", savoureuse spécialité du chef italien, le père Paulo! On avait spécialement prévu de venir pour la semaine de dialogue Islamo/Chrétien, 5 jours pour vivre avec toutes sortes de musulmans, de précieuses rencontres et de profonds échanges à la clef! Après une plutôt drôle de nuit passée dans la tente bédouine de Rasheed au sommet de la montagne avec ses ... read more

We had a great day out in Bosra. The city is a couple of hours on the bus to the South of Damascus. It seemed that we had to travel halfway to Beirut just to get the bus though! When we arrived in Bosra we were unable to find any accommodation. There were 2 options: sleep on blankets on the floor in a big room behind the “1001 Nights” restaurant, or pay US$200 to stay in 5 star luxury. We took the third way - exploring the site and returning to Damascus! The restaurant allowed us to leave our now unneeded baggage with them and they even booked our bus ticket for us. Then they pointed us in the right direction and we went out to see the ruins in 40 degrees of midday heat! First ... read more

Wherever you go through Maloula you could hear a fable that tells a parable allegory composed by the creative imagination of the man. It was conveyed to us by generations, till it reached us in this splendour shape, and the remaining ruins are good proof of this area-mans will, and his ability to defy the time. The best example for this is the spoken language among the people of Maloula. You will be amazed for these utterances, and the language that is still used in common without any knowledge of rules of writing, or its alphabet. Its is amazing when you discover that: this language or as it is called (the language of Maloula) as one of the most ancient languages of history, was spread before the Islamic Conquest that helped the Arabic language to be ... read more

Damascus is proving to be a fascinating place to live. For us, it’s our first experience of living in a Muslim country. Mosques are everywhere and at prayer times the sound of the muezzin calls are haunting as they echo around the city. Working every afternoon and evening isn’t leaving much time for exploring the city. That’s why we try to go somewhere new at every opportunity. This week we went to the Great Umayyad Mosque, a huge but beautiful place on a site which has been a place of worship for various religious groups since the 9th Century. To get there we take a taxi to the entrance to the Al-Hamadiye Souk. Walking through there is quite an experience. Everything seems to be on sale if you wander down the labyrinth-like side streets. We have ... read more

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