Damascus 1999-2000 (Other locations...)

Name: maikli

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Other locations...
Date:	08/08/02 (416 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: old city, beautiful mosques, great food, friendly people, safe.

Disadvantages: new city, hot, dusty, noisy, polluted, crowded, and becoming more touristy

I lived in Damascus for 9 months while studying Arabic there. It was my first experience of an Arab city, and at first was quite a culture shock. I used to live with a Syrian family in the old city, which was a great experience as it gave me a unique insight into the Syrian way of life. This will be a hard review for me to write...I wasn't there as a tourist, and was there far too long to be able to describe every little detail. If maybe I'd spent a few days in Damascus and had seen all the sights in that short time, writing this would be a much easier thing to do. I can't possibly put nine months into a short review, but I'll give it my best shot!

Damascus needs time to get to know it properly. Stay more than a week, and you'll see past the veil of pollution and noise, and discover an amazing city. Few people do this, however, so most leave the city complaining. What I'll try to do here is list the various attractions, starting with the Old City, and give a few of my opinions about them...

The old city is huge, and is easy to get lost in (not a bad idea - you'll discover more that way!). The major attraction is undoubtedly the Omayyad Mosque, which is large and very beautiful, but fast becoming some sort of religious zoo. Try to visit outside prayer times, then you can wander round the prayer hall without disturbing genuine worshippers. This was actually the first mosque I ever visited, and it was quite surprising for me how relaxed a place it is. The courtyard is filled with pigeons flapping, men and women laughing, children playing football and chase, cats snoozing, students poring over books in the shade...not at all how I expected it to be. To enter the prayer hall, you should remove your shoes and carry them with you (don't point the soles towards anyone, or put them on the carpeted floor inside). This area is for prayer, thought and sleep...not a place for flashing cameras and chatting loudly, although you mi
ght get that impression if your visit coincides with a tour group or two. Women have to cover their heads (not with plastic bags, as some tourists have tried!), and full length cloaks are available at the entrance for those not dressed modestly enough. Entry costs 50 Syrian pounds (about one dollar) for non-Muslims, and is well worth it.

The prayer hall contains a shrine which supposedly contains the head of John the Baptist. Back outside, just off the courtyard is a small chamber containing the body of Hussein, son of Ali, which is a major place of pilgrimage for Shi'a Muslims, many coming from as far as Iran and Iraq to kiss the shrine. The atmosphere in here can get very tense, as it is always crowded, hot, and filled with a lot of emotion...some visitors find it a bit overwhelming, and if you do go inside, be discreet and don't take photos. If you are genuinely interested in seeing the shrine and learning more about it, then you'll be welcomed, but if you've just come to gawp at the mourners, then you're likely to upset some of the pilgrims. The whole area of the mosque is full of shrines and tombs, too many to list here, but one that is easily visited is the tomb of Saladin, the military leader who fought the Crusaders...his tomb is in a small domed building just next to the ticket office.

The area surrounding the mosque is tourist territory, with many souvenir shops and cafes geared up for foreigners, but take one of the small alleyways and you've entered the real Damascus. Many tourists don't get past the mosque, and are whisked off to the National Museum to conclude their day trip to Damascus...they are missing so much, and you need to spend longer in Damascus before you begin to enjoy it.

Start by picking any small lane leading away from the Omayyad Mosque, and you'll be plunged into the shady backstreets. This way, you'll find far more things of interest by chance...if you try to use a map t
o find anything, you'll almost certainly get lost, so abandon the map and stumble upon all sorts of hidden treasures.

Within five minutes walk of the Omayyad Mosque are several sights worth seeing. Down a side street lies the Iranian-built Sayyida Ruqqaya Mosque, another site of Shi'a pilgrimage, containing the tomb of Ruqqaya, one of Prophet Mohammed's grand-daughters. This mosque doesn't recieve that many visitors, but they do have cloaks available free of charge, and the atmosphere is generally very welcoming. The courtyard is striking for its turquoise tiles, very typically Iranian, making the mosque stand out against the dusty coloured Damascene houses. Once inside the prayer hall, it is segregated so men should follow men, and women should follow women...the two halls are separated by a curtain, so even the men can hear the haunting sound of women wailing as they kiss the other side of the shrine. As I said above, many of the pilgrims are Iranian and don't speak Arabic, so a Western tourist is likely to strike up conversation in English in here...I was quizzed by some young Iranian pilgrims on all subjects from religion to English cars and football!

The Azem Palace is one museum which deserves a visit, although, it has to be said, more for the beautiful buildings and grounds than for the exhibits. You'll soon come to recognise the format of Syrian museums...there is always a badly labelled room of old artefacts, a room with traditional costumes of the region, a few ill-looking dummies, and a room dedicated to the president. However the Azem Palace does have a couple of restored rooms, such as the hammam (bath house), and an interesting music room with ancient musical instruments. Don't miss the grain of rice with Qur'anic inscriptions...you can view them through a magnifying glass (at least, I think this is at the Azem Palace...could be wrong!).

Another museum which stands out as different from the
standard mould is the Bimaristan Nur ad-Din, tucked away in the souqs. This is a former hospital, and still keeps the medical theme. For me at least, a look at Arabic medicine was fascinating, not least because I wrote a university paper on the subject! Maybe others won't spend so long here, but you might get a kick out of seeing some of the treatments on show...some look like pure torture to be honest!

There are lots of other museums, some more interesting than others, such as the National Museum (even if you don't go inside, you can sip tea in the artefact-strewn gardens for free) and the Islamic Caligraphy Museum (again, the building is more impressive than the exhibits)...others like the Army museum are not worth seeing if you don't have much time. Some are less advertised as well..for instance, the "Panorama" ("Baa-noo-raa-ma" in Arabic), which can usually only be visited on a school trip...I was "lucky" enough to go on one of these for free - it turned out to be one of the biggest anti-Israeli propaganda pieces I have ever seen!

Of course, there is more to Damascus than just museums. You might learn a lot about the history of this ancient city if you restrict yourself to museums, but you won't see much of real life...to see that, you need to explore the souqs and narrow alleys of the old city. Souq al-Hamidiyya is often called the "mother of all souqs", and indeed it is an impressively wide and long covered market. Some of the shops are beginning to get touristy, although the touts are not yet as overpowering and annoying as in other cities (When I visited Istanbul's Grand Bazaar on a later trip, it was almost unbearable!). Souq al-Hamidiyyeh is actually the term used to describe the collection of mini souqs running off this main street. Each one seems to have a theme...a perfume souq, an alley catering for lengths of material, one for spices...there is even a souq dedicated to rau
nchy underwear (you can be sure that most of the customers rifling through these items are the heavily-veiled women!).

After exhausting yourself in the souqs, the best way to recuperate is with a trip to a traditional Arab cafe. Two of the most popular with tourists are the Nofara and its rival directly opposite, both located just outside the eastern gate to the Omayyad Mosque. On some days, it feels as if tourists have taken the cafes over completely, while on other days it seems to be locals only. Either way, the tea is still good. You might be lucky and come across a Rawi (traditional storyteller), although if you don't understand Arabic, it won't mean much.

A very good alternative is hidden away in a restored mansion down a backstreet. Bayt Jabri is where the young and trendy meet to drink tea or Turkish coffee, and smoke nargileh (the famous "hubble bubble" water pipe).

Head east from the Omayyad Mosque, following the cobbled street called Qaymariyyah, and eventually you'll arrive in the Christian quarter of Bab Touma. There are few specific sights to see (one is the Chapel of St Anania, but every time I tried to visit, it was shut...a shame, i only lived five minutes walk from here!), but the streets are more lively, the dress code more liberal, and on a Friday, this is the only part of the city which continues to be busy. A recent trend has been to open upmarket restaurants in restored houses...a couple worth noting are Arabesque and Elissar, where an excellent meal with free rooftop views can be had for around $10 per person. This is also the quarter where you'll find a couple of bars/nightclubs (the favourite among foreign students in 2000 was Mar Mar) and a few shops selling Syrian Araq (a local aniseed-based spirit, closely related to Turkish Raki and Greek Ouzo).

Most of the churches in Bab Touma are relatively new, but have a look inside at least one if you get the chance, choosing from G
reek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Armenian Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox. Occasionally, classical music concerts are held in churches, although these can be difficult to find out about unless you have local contacts.

South of Bab Touma and the minaret-like Bab Sharqi (bab means gate...in this sense, the terms refer to the gates of the old city) is a maze of narrow streets, partly forming the Jewish quarter. Nowadays, there are less than a dozen Jews living in Damascus, and most of the synagogues have been converted to private homes or mosques. Reprotedly, one still functions as a synagogue, although I never found it. There is a marked difference between the Christian and Jewish quarters...the Christians (many of whom are Armenians, known to be good businessmen) have well-kept houses, partly due to the large numbers of foreign students who lodge with families in this district, while the former Jewish quarter has many grand buildings which are now just shells of their former selves. Tourists don't normally venture to this part, and it is fast disintegrating.

The new city is, by and large, an urban sprawl. Still, it should not be neglected, as it is certainly never a dull place to be. The centre of Damascus is a large square, officially Martyrs' Square (Sahat ash-shuhudaa' in Arabic), but commonly referred to as Merjeh. here, you'll find an eclectic mix of animal markets, travel agencies, moneychangers (be discreet if you decide to change here, and be careful not to be ripped off...bargain like mad!), souvenir shops, restaurants, tourist hotels and brothels. It is strange to see upmarket tour groups eating at outdoor restaurants, blissfully unaware of what's going on in the building opposite! However sedate it may seem, this is not a place for lone women to wander at night, and lone men will almost certainly recieve propositions.

Cross the six-lane Shoukri al-Quwwatli Street (not as difficult as it might sound...a good tip
is to cross behind a veiled woman, as everything swerves to avoid them like crazy!), and you'll find the old district of Saroujah. One small alleyway is fast becoming a backpackers' ghetto due to the three excellent hostels in restored buildings (I stayed at the Hotel al-Haramain until I found my host family), although most of them don't ever make it away from the very same block. Quiet lanes with ancient run-down houses stretch from here right along the north of the walled old-city, on both sides of a busy highway...you can almost guarantee not seeing another tourist if you take a walk in this part of town.

Guarding damascus to the north is the unescapable shadow of Jebel Qassioun, a mountain topped with a huge TV station. The old quarters of Salihiye and Rukn ad-Din on the slopes of Qassioun used to be villages, but now they have been enveloped by Damascus' modern suburbs. Still, they retain a village-like atmosphere with ancient mosques and houses connected by stairways, and one of the cities best fruit and vegetable souqs. An ideal time to make the trek out here is late afternoon before the sun sets, giving you ample time to explore the maze of streets, stairways and souqs, before climbing through a cemetary to a steep park for an amazing view of the city. I used to come up here during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which all Muslims are required to fast between sunrise and sunset; towards dusk, you get a bird's eye view of the city streets, horns honking and people rushing to get home before sundown. As the sun disappears, the honking horns die away to be replaced by the sound of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer and signalling the end of fasting. Suddenly everything becomes deathly quiet as everyone is at home eating; watching the minarets light up one by one in green in almost total silence is something magical.

To the south west of the old city lies another old quarter yet to be discovered by touris
ts. I don't know the name of this particular area, but it soon became one of my regular haunts. Basically, it consists of one long narrow souq...it is noisy, dirty, smelly, but it is genuine and fascinating. Just don't go in windy weather...it is bad enough when you have to swerve to avoid brushing up against veiled women, but when you add swinging camel carcasses into the equation, it becomes downright dangerous!

If you prefer your souqs a little more sanitised and touristy, then you could do worse than make for the souvenir souq in what used to be a Qur'anic school next to the Tekkiyeh Suleymaniyyeh Mosque. This is in the new city, close to the national museum, but the mosque is worth visiting in its own right...a superb example of Ottoman architecture.

One last recommendation for Damascus is reserved for a visit to the Hejaz train station. You might be thinking "has he gone mad?", and it must be hard to imagine that a train station constitutes a tourist attraction. But nowadays only one or two trains leave from here, and an old steam engine has been transformed into a pleasant cafe, one of the few which serves the local Barada beer...a great place to escape from the heat if you find yourself in this part of town.

By the way, the Barada is the dirty brown/black trickle which runs through central Damascus along the northern wall of the old city leaving a nasty smell. Many poems and songs have been written about this polluted stream, often referred to as the Pearl of Damascus...I can only assume these weren't written recently! To see the Barada in a slightly cleaner state, take a minibus to Dummar, a suburb behind Qassioun, where there are several good riverside cafes and restaurants.

Close to Damascus, there are several places worth a day trip, like the Christian village of Ma'aloula, spectacularly built into the mountainside...famous for being one of the last bastions of the Aramaic language. ne
arer to the border with Lebanon are the mountain resorts of Zabadani and Bloudane...Bloudane being my favourite. Not much to do there, but if you spend a long time in the capital, it is nice to get out to the mountains for some non-polluted air. You could also make easy day-trips to the Hauran region which includes the ancient Roman cities of Bosra, Shabwa and Qanawat. And don't miss Quneitra, the Syrian town in the Golan Heights which was demolished by Israelis as they withdrew. The Syrians have kept it as a propaganda museum piece, and allow tourists to visit, with an army guide and a permit from the Ministry of the Interior (easy to get...just takes 5 minutes). You could also make longer day-trips to Hama, or even the desert ruins at Palmyra, although these are best done as longer trips.

The food in Damascus is always tasty, but every restaurant seems to have the same menu (kebabs, hummus, salads etc), which makes some travellers call Syrian food boring and bland - if you get invited to eat with a Syrian family, it will be anything but boring and bland, and you'll have the chance to eat food never found in restaurants.

Damascus is a predominantly Muslim city with a large Christian population...even so, dress is conservative, and you never see Syrians wearing shorts, and women never wear suntops...not all tourists observe this simple dress code, and tend to suffer a certain amount of harrassment for it.

Because of the Christian population, alcohol is widely available in the Christian quarters and in most hotels. Araq is the regional drink, aniseed flavour and similar to Ouzo or Raki. You can also get Syrian wine but it is very vinegary!

Avoid Damascus in the summer, as temperatures reach the forties regularly, and it is also a busy time of year for tourists. Winter is surprisingly cold, and most buildings are not heated very well, but it can be sunny right up until November, beginning again in February.

Be
careful what you say in public, because the secret police (mukhabarat) are everywhere. There is a group dedicated to foreign tourists, and a favourite hang-out seems to be the Cafe Nofara (the large "authentic" cafe just outside the Omayyad mosque). Don't talk about politics if you can avoid it....never say anything bad about the government, or mention Israel - the mukhabarat are trained to hear "When I was in Israel..." in every language known to man!!!

Try to speak some Arabic, even if it is just hello and thank you. English is not that well known here, but many young people have studied it and are keen to practice.

There is much more I could write about Damascus, but I don't want to bore you! All I will say is that Damascus is a very under-rated city...don't form any opinions of the place on your first day. Damascus is another one of those cities which grows on you, so spend a while here and try to get to know the city...who knows, you might even get to like it. As for me, I miss it like crazy!

Summary: