I had an awful stomach ache last night, but we had the most exciting part of the trip coming up today, so I toughed it out and we were awake and in the hotel lobby for 7:30 for a driver to pick us up and drive us over the mountains (same route we had driven on Tuesday) to the Syrian border. The driver escorted us through the border out of Lebanon and facilitated us exchanging Euros for Syrian pounds. After several kilometres of no man's land, we reached the Syrian border, where a new driver met us and navigated us through the Syrian border procedures (including a subtle "gift" here or there). All-in-all the border process was less than an hour, but I was sure glad we were not navigating it alone, especially on the Syrian side!
Once across the border it was a quick 40 minutes or so into Damascus. We were dropped off at the Bab Touma (Thomas Gate) of the old city, where we met our guide, Marie. Marie walked us from the car into the old city . . .
. . . and to our hotel, Dar Al Mamlouka. The dar's doorway does not adequately promote what is inside!
After a drink in the courtyard and reviewing a bit of the itinerary and so on, we headed to our room on the second floor. Outside our room, the seating area shows off some of the handiwork of Damascene artisans, including brocade and inlaid woodwork.
Our room is also lovely--look at the bathroom mirror and stained glass window!
Here are some other photos from around the dar.
After a rest and some time to freshen up it was off to the National Museum of Syria, which is maybe a couple of kilometres outside of the old city. We took a taxi there.
You cannot take photos inside, but Marie led us on a little tour of the museum, which has artifacts from the several ancient civilizations that made Syria home.
From the museum we walked several blocks to the Marrota tour company's office to settle up our bill. These are some photos from our walk there, and then back to the old city.
We entered back into the old city via the Al-Hamidiyah Souq.
We exited the souq into the Umayyad Mosque plaza through the entrance of the ancient Roman Temple to Jupiter, which now serves as an entrance to the souq.
The Ummayyad Mosque is massive, and we skirted around it.
You can see one of the ubiquitous Bashar Al-Assad photos up on the wall in the photo below. There are so many photos of Assad that apparently one tourist told Marie "I've seen your president more than I've seen my dad," which I found quite hilarious, mostly because it could possibly be true!
Marie had us stop on the other side of the mosque at a bakery to pick up some fresh baking (I am not sure what it is called, but it was a type of cheesy flat bread).
We were able to go inside and watch them bake the bread in what is surely a very old oven.
From here Marie took us to visit "the professor," one of her instructors from the university where she studied tourism. The professor has a lovely old home in which he collects all kinds of things, including modern Syrian art. It is a very interesting place! We sat at his table, drank arak, and shared some food while the professor shared many interesting stories about his experiences as a tour guide (he has guided Jimmy Carter and Brad Pitt, for example) and Syria more generally.
After a long talk, the professor showed off his home, including the art collection.
Among his collection are some war relics, including this base of a rocket which he has converted into a flower vase . . .
. . . and a book damaged by shrapnel.
After visiting the professor, we walked back into the alleys of the old city to the Al Nawfara cafe, perhaps the oldest cafe in the world (it is something like 250 years old).
Besides its age, the cafe is famous for its storyteller, who reads a passage from the Arabian Nights as patrons drink chay and smoke shisha.
The story teller holds a sword which he waves around and occasionally smacks on a metal table at dramatic points. Like this:
Meanwhile, a server keeps the shisha pipes glowing happily.
The cafe was a great experience! You can read more about it in this newspaper article (https://www.arabamerica.com/storytelling-at-the-al-nawfara-coffee-house-enhances-damascuss-charm-2/); one funny thing is that the men in the photo in that article from 2017 were also there tonight in March 2023! Someone told Marie that they are there every night!
After the cafe we wound our way through the darkened streets . . .
. . . to a restaurant called Naranj, where we ended our night sharing a wonderful dinner of lamb (on the left) and fish (to the right).
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