Syria by born2travel.it

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07. 05. 2010 Damascus (SYRIA)

Two uncomfortable, though short, Turkish Airlines flights via Istanbul projected us again into the fascinating Middle East, more precisely into Syria.

The first impact with the Syrian capital was profound... we arrived in the middle of the night (around 3.30) on a Friday of Islamic holiday...

The city had long been asleep, though now and then some "character in search of an author" would pop up: the tyre fitter open 24 hours a day dozing deep in his armchair, the little old man wrapped in his brown turban climbing the stairs of some unnamed building, the porter of our historic hotel who suddenly found himself confronted by fifteen Italians worn out by the tiring and boring journey...

While on our bus we drove along the city streets, always dominated by giant portraits of the president, snippets of films came to mind such as: "The Bourne trilogy", "Spy games", "Syriana"... This city is very mysterious and gives me the idea of conspiracies, plots, betrayals... it intrigues me a lot...

Our hotel is in colonial style and very old, not antique, just old and run-down... someone called it "unsettling", and indeed those immense (empty) rooms, the long corridors at that hour of the night really gave you the idea of the "scene of a perfect crime" in the Middle East... 08. 05. 2010 Damascus (SYRIA)

Morning spent among the Greek, Roman, Phoenician memories in the immense national museum which, in reality, didn't strike me that much...

[Nick]: "On the bus, heading to the airport. It seems they've finally found my backpack... Yesterday it was the only lost piece of luggage. The problem is that they don't send it to the hotel, you have to find out and at your own expense go to the airport to collect it...

What fascinates me, despite various trips to this part of the world, is watching their life flow by, drinking an orange juice and losing myself among the scents of the spices..." 09. 05. 2010 Damascus (SYRIA)

[Nick]: "Today we visit Bosra, a Nabataean city that dates back to the times of Petra, just 100 km from it. In Syria the monuments are not promoted; indeed Bosra itself was inhabited by Syrians until a couple of years ago... From Bosra to Shabba to see some mosaics and right afterwards we move towards the mosque of Sayyida Zeinab, dedicated to a relative of Muhammad... Inside the mosque there was an Arab inviting some women in black chadors to repent for the death of Hassan, nephew of Ali (???)... and how they wept... From there we move towards the Chapel of St Paul and then we take the chance to wander around inside the suq drinking a thirst-quenching orange juice.

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