I took a 5 day holiday to Syria last week with my mum and a friend. I did not really know what to expect, except that everyone i met who had visited the country said that the Syrians are one of the most welcoming and hospitable people they had ever met. I heard stories of how Syrians went out of their way to help foreigners, of how foreigners would be invited over to their house, to meet their families and shown their beautiful country.
And..Syria was all of that and so much more. It is a beautiful country, filled with historical sites, a place where one gets transported back to biblical times. Damascus and Aleppo are reputed to be the oldest inhabited city in the world, dating back to 2000 BC. It has all the elements that people associate with the Middle East - the old souks, the spices, scents, the chatter, shisha, tea, paintings, buildings. It's also so peaceful...while the souks are bustling with activity, nearby there is always a deserted cobbled alleyway, or an empty courtyard that one can escape to.
We made our way around Syria - from Damascus, Syria's capital, site of the Old City filled with souks and beautifully restored courtyard houses, to Palmyra, home to ancient Roman ruins. From Palmyra we made our way to Crac des Chevaliers, one of the oldest, best preserved castles in the world, and north to Aleppo, home to the oldest medieval souk in the world. Along the way we met amazing locals, who invited us to their houses, who struck up conversations with us in bus stations, or airports, or just along the street...always telling us "Welcome to our country" or "Wish you a good stay", or who went out of their way to help us (most Syrians do not speak English so taxis were a big problem!). We met a nice Syrian English teacher at a local coffee shop, where an ancient storyteller still tells a story every night. She came by herself to have her shisha and asked if she could sit with us, and told us so much about Syria and their lives and the education system. We also met a nice local lady who walked with us for 20 minutes trying to get us to the right entrance into a famous mosque in Damascus. We were also exempted from paying entry fee into the same mosque as we were "malaysians"..We were also so fortunate to meet 3 malaysian ladies travelling on their own staying in the same hotel we were (WHAT ARE THE ODDS!), who had a friend who was local, and he offered to bring us around. So, we got to see another layer of society that was so different to the typical tourist areas.
To round it all off - the food is AMAZING. I've travelled around the region quite abit, and most of the food appears similar but Syrians have found a way to make the same food extra special and tasty. The place is filled with wonderful cocktail stores selling fresh juices for 30US cents, with shops selling mountains of baklava and yummy sweets, and small hole in the walls dishing out hot toasty bread and snacks. Definitely the best food experience I've had in the Middle East!
I wish more people would head to Syria to see how beautiful the country and the people are, instead of believing the media and government hype about how dangerous it is there. Everyone I spoke to said there would be no protests in Syria as people were happy with the government, they were contented in their jobs and they were just getting along with their lives. Definitely a place I want to visit again, especially now that I have invites from such nice locals I met along the way!
My photos are up on http://www.flickr.com/photos/michelle_d/ - it tells the story much better than I can!
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