What an amazing trip! I just came back from a five weeks journey through the Middle East, visiting Syria, Lebanon and Turkey and I´d like to share some of my impressions with you.
Baklava
Today I´ll write about the three weeks I spent travelling around Syria, one of the most impressive countries I ever visited. What made this country so special, besides its natural beauty and historical ruins and monuments, is its people. Their friendliness and hospitality is far beyond normal. Wherever I went I was invited for some tea, sheesha, lunch, dinner or even to stay over at peoples homes. Travelling on public transport people shared food and drinks with me. Anytime I looked lost in the streets of Damascus, Aleppo, Hama or whatever place, people approached asking if they can help, mostly no even knowing more than three words of English. Children were practicing their little English whenever they crossed me; “Hello! What’s your name? Where are you from”, was often all they knew.
Then, of course, I should not forget about all the delicious food the country has to offer. Besides the always available Shawarma and Felafel there were good and cheap restaurants offering tasty varieties of Mezze, Kafta, Kibbeh, … and a lot more dishes, which names I don’t remember. Sweets, sweets, sweets: there was no way to get around Baklava or all the different kinds of pastries. Vitamines were provided by incredibly good fresh fruit juices which are available a many street bars.
Flying in to Damascus, that’s where my trip started and ended before crossing the border to Lebanon. It also is the place where I spent most of my time during my three weeks in Syria. The map above sketches the places I visited and more or less the itinerary I followed.
Damascus, the capital, also is the most open and busiest city in Syria. With its amazing old city, hosting the beautiful Azem Palace, various Madrassas, the impressive Umayyad Mosque, which allows an escape from the busy city, its authentic souqs, where the locals come to make their daily shopping and Bab Touma, the beautiful Christian Quarter, where one could exchange tea and sheesha for glass of beer or wine, Damascus is a city, where I could have stayed all three weeks without getting bored and probably still not seeing everything there is to explore.
Damascus - Umayyad Mosque
From Damascus I went to Hama, stopping over in Homs for a night. Homs itself has not much to offer but is a perfect overnight stop to visit the impressive crusaders castle Qala’at Al-Hosn (Krak de Chevaliers) – definitely a must on every trip to Syria. Hama in contrast, is a lovely place to hang out for a few days, doing day trips to Apamea, walking on the ancient city’s colonnaded two kilometer long cardo (main street), or to Qasr ibn-Wardan, a sandstone palace in the middle of nowhere and the close by Beehive Houses or to the Dead Cities, some ancient ghost towns that have been abandoned a long time ago. All those places can easily be reached by a combination of public transport and hitchhiking. Of course, you can also always get a licensed driver for a day who takes you around all this places. That would save you a lot of time and cost you a lot of money … and additionally you’d miss the most fun part, finding your way around in Syria and meeting lots of friendly people.
In Hama itself I enjoyed walking along its river banks, visiting the stunning Norias, centuries old wooden water wheels, or just having tea and sheesha in the attractive city’s old town, chatting or playing cards with the locals.
Hama Noria
From Hama I went on a pretty scary minibus ride over the mountains to Lattakia. The idea was to get the scenic train ride from there to Aleppo the next morning.
Probably most dangerous thing in Syria is the traffic! People drive like crazy and there seem to be no rules – at least no controls. Walking you have to watch out carefully for traffic, and, well, on a bus- or car-rides you’ll better close your eyes and pray. You can’t do anything anyways! The safest I felt when I was taken along in a big lorry, hitchhiking from Qasr ibn-Wardan to Hama. I felt almost invulnerable, and compared to be seated in between 15 persons squeezed in a little van racing through the mountains, testing out the vans limits, I was!
Besides its stylish bar and its less conservative people, Lattakia has not much to offer. It isn’t a very typical Syrian city, you don’t see many women with a hejab, there is a lot of party and alcohol is sold almost everywhere. The city is right on the Mediteranean and could have a boardwalk and beautiful beaches, but they put an industrial harbour all along the cities coastline instead … As well as Homs it is a good place to stop over for a night, experience the different lifestyle of its people and party with them. Don’t miss visiting the sensational crusader castle of Qala’at Salah ad-Din, which is located nearby.
As mentioned before, I came to Lattakia because of the supposedly stunning scenery on the train ride to Aleppo, but in the end I didn’t see a lot of it. Waiting for the train I met this guy from Aleppo and we started some interesting conversation, which we continued on the train’s café during most of the journey. So in the end I can’t really tell if the scenery was stunning as I’ve been told … I guess it is! Arriving in Aleppo my new friend invited me to his house to have lunch and dinner with his family and, thanks to his mom, he made this the best food of my journey. In the end I spent most of my stay in Aleppo with him, his family and his friends and had a real great time.
Aleppo, competing with Damascus for the biggest city of Syria, has its charme in its even more authentic souqs, with donkeys passing through the small alleys, topped by the impressive citadel on a hill in the middle of the city, overlooking the whole area.
Palmyra
From Aleppo I went to Palmyra, probably the most well-known sight in Syria and definitely a “not to miss”. The thing that bothered me a lot about this place is its dedication to mostly tourism. Since everyone in town depends on tourism, there’s a big competition going on and people can get really annoying trying to sell you their services or whatever and baksheesh is asked for everywhere. I spend one night there, to climb up the nearby mountain in the afternoon and watch the sunset over the ruins and to get up early the next morning to take my photos in a warm sunrise light. It’s not a place for a day trip! Late evening and early morning are the best times to visit, not only because of the light, also because of the busses of tourists arriving during the day!
From Palmyra I went south to Deir ez-Zur, one of the less visited places in the country, close to the Syrian-Iraquian border. It’s a pretty, little market town on the side of the Euphrates river with high probability not to meet any tourists at all. Also a good place to visit the ancient ruins of Dura Europos and Mari. Since there is no public transport going to this places I had to hitchhike all the way through the beautiful desert and as many times before, got there and back without any difficulties. The side of Dura Europos is really amazing because of its location besides the Euphrates river. Just behind the ruins you´ll find a little stretch of green in the middle of the desert!
After Deir ez-Zur I went back to Damascus, from where I planned to do day trips to the sights of Bosra, Quneitra, Maalula and Mar Musa. At Mar Musa, an old monastery in a beautiful deserted mountain scenery, people are welcome to stay over and eat for free, while helping out in the kitchen and attending meditation and mass in the morning and evening. I stayed two days and enjoyed very much the silence and spirit of that place. But I actually only joined one mass. Two hours of listening to prayers in Arabic was more than enough for the whole trip!
Mar Musa
Bosra is known for its impressive, still intact and used roman theatre ,built completely with basalt stones. Besides the theater the basalt stone ruins around it and the village itself are well worth a visit. I found it stunning to see how the locals used the existing basements and what there is left from the old constructions and built their new houses on top of those.
In Maalula, a little Christian town, about an hour ago from Damascus, there is actually not much of historical interest. But it’s such a beautiful, little village, with colourful fairytale houses in between a mountaineous scenery, that it should not be missed! I spend almost an entire day there walking around and exploring. It’s all about people and beauty …
Quneitra, shows the sad part of modern-day Syria´s history and the Middle East conflict. These “new ruins” were once a little Syrian town situated in the Golan Heights, before lost to the Isrealis in 1967 the Six Day War. In 1973 it came to and international agreement in which Israel accepted to give back part of the Golan Heights to Syria, including the town of Quneitra. Before withdrawing from the area, the Israelis evacuated all of the people living in the town and systematically destroyed it … It’s not a beautiful place to visit, but part of the younger history. To visit one has to get a permission from the Ministry of Interior in Damascus.
Taking it easy on my last day in Damascus, before leaving to Lebanon the next morning, I lingered around the old city, having a tea here and there, a waffle at a Syrian friends bar and then went to get “steamed, cleaned and massaged” in Hammam Nurredin during the afternoon. I’ve been to steam bath’ before, but this one was really special. Located in an 1000 years old stone building, it has been a Hammam for hundreds of years and still felt like that.
Clean and relaxed I´ve had a few good-bye beers afterwards with friends. I could have stayed so much longer …
Syrian Woman (Hama)
A few last words: It’s a shame that the country has such a bad reputation and people are afraid of visiting. It’s sad that we don’t know much more about Syria, its culture and its people! All we know is either long ago history or about the Middle East crisis, war and politics … I can only recommend anyone to go there! You will have a real good time and come back with a different impression!
At the same time there is something positive about, at least for the traveller: it keeps tourism low and therefore the country and its people more authentic, which is already hard to find at other places in the Middle East. Tourism is a good thing, it helps the economy, opens up the country, but also changes the local people … don’t get me wrong! go there and find out for yourselves!
You can find more of my pictures on my facebook account or on better quality at flickr.
