Blogs from South, Syria, Middle East - page 8

Before I get into my Syrian blogs I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped me have a wonderful time. Thank You mima, lara, adam and my parents, mays, collete, and the rest of mays family. Yazan and his family, hana and her family, elias, beabars and anyone else who I forgot to mention. ... read more

On Saturday, we woke up around 8, packed up and had a nice breakfast at the hotel. As we were leaving, we were torn between catching the bus back where we got off, or over near the pancake house, where we had seen a bus schedule posted outside. We asked a young guy from our hotel, and he pointed us in a third direction, so we headed off that way with some reservation. Along the way, approximately 10 taxis stopped us to yell, "Damascus, Damascus?", and then tell us "no money" to take us to the bus station. Last time we got in a cab that said "no money" was the guy we now call the kidnapper - the guy from the border who was supposed to take us to Hama but instead took us to ... read more

Syria exceeded our expections in all ways. Great food, amazing sites, good transportation, cheap and the Syrians themselves were excellent hosts. Fair prices and honest, tolerant people, what a treat! We travelled to Damascus from Amman on a cold, dark and rainy day. Our passports were scrutinized carefully for Israeli stamps and Canadians get hammered with a 56USD charge for a 15 day visa at the border. Our initial survey of hotels in Damascus had us worried, not what we would call budget rates, but eventually we managed to find a reasonable place. Fortunately it had a heater since nearly all of our cold weather clothes were wet and it was chilly! Damascus is one of the oldest continuously-occupied cities in the world. A strategic point in both east-west and north-south trade routes, Damascus has been ... read more

Hey all Well having been back in Syria for over 5 weeks now, its starting to feel as if I never left it for Christmas! The sun is still shining, the drivers are still loud and crazy and the language is still as frustrating as ever. I’ve just finished Level 3 at the University of Damascus - which now means that I am no longer considered a beginner and have moved up to the much better sounding intermediate level. The first exam went pretty well and I passed it with 91%, though much of that was courtesy of good guesswork with the multiple choice questions. The 2nd exam was pretty hard and so reduced my overall mark to 82%. I’m actually taking a break from University now until April or May so I can concentrate on ... read more

El Sultán Selim conquistó Damasco en 1516 y permaneció en el Imperio Otomano hasta el final de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Durante esa época se hiceron varios edificios importantes como el Tekkiye Süleymaniye, obra de Mimar Sinan, donde se encuentra la tumba del último sultán otomano, o la estación de trenes del español Fernando de Aranda. 1516 yılında Sultan Selim'in Suriye'yi ele geçirmesiyle Osmanlı Eyaleti haline gelen Şam, hac yolu üzerinde olması nedeniyle de ticari yönden önemini korumuştur. şehri ele geçirdikten sonra buraya pek çok tarihi bina kazandırmışlardır.Ve şehrin en güzel yapıtlarından biri olan Tekkiye Süleymaniye, Mimar Sinanin isi, orada son Osmanli Padisanin türbesi yer aliyor, ve tren garını, Fernando de Arandanin isi, osmanlılar yapmıştır. ... read more