Christmas in Damascus

Why Damascus?

Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world, it's just over 3 hours flight from Dubai and its population is around 20% Christian so they do celebrate Christmas. I'm also keen to include Damascus in a book I'm researching/thinking about, so I wanted to see the place in the flesh. Damascus also has one of the Middle Easts great souks.

We flew with Fly Dubai, a budget airline out of Dubai where the seats are cheap and you pay extra for everything - headphones, movies, food, drinks etc. It wasn't a bad flight, although we didn't buy a movie for Matija and decided we would on the return journey. We arrived at a small airport that was slightly reminiscent of Eastern Europe or old Soviet-style buildings. We'd heard the airport could be a nightmare to negotiate, but it was 10pm, we'd already got our visas in Abu Dhabi, there were very few tourists and it was pleasantly straightforward. On walking outside we found there were no vehicles that were obviously taxis. A guy called 'taxi' and came over with a trolley so we said yeah and put our bags on board. We only found out when we got to a taxi that he had nothing to do with them and just wanted a tip for carrying our bags. The taxis from the airport are just private cars, no meters etc. so you never really know if you're being ripped off.

Anyway we headed into the heart of Damascus, about 25mins from the airport. Once we drew into town we saw the place was crowded with tiny little yellow taxis, little trucks, pickups and battered cars and the driving was absolutely nuts. We entered the old city through one of the gates and crawled along tiny one-way streets that cars shared with pedestrians and bicycles. Everyone had to stop if someone tried to park or drop someone off and people weren't afraid to honk to tell them they were taking too long. The street was lined with shops on both sides, all about 5 metres wide - there were food stalls, little grocers and countless shops selling 'antiques', inlaid wood items, carpets, ceramic tiles and etched copper and brass trays and coffee pots. It was Friday night and there were hundreds of people out walking and enjoying the food.

We eventually arrived at our hotel, Via Recta, a gracious old two-storey house with ten rooms set around a courtyard and fountain. It was beautifully restored with antique furniture and beautiful touches in all the rooms. We had a large room and they'd set up a small bed for Matija so we were all ready to collapse into bed. We were the only ones in the place for the first few days.

Breakfast the next morning was a treat. The breakfast room was down a flight of steps from the courtyard and it had a low-domed ceiling with a lovely tiled floor. An arched door led into a similar room used as a hamam next door. There was cereal there, but the breakfast was really a plate of various cheeses, and olives with another plate of mixed croissants and buns. There was fresh fruit (mandarins and oranges in season) and another plate of dates, apricots raisins etc. Later the guy came down with fresh hard-boiled eggs and coffee.

We headed into the streets after breakfast. We were on Straight Street, which ran right from one end of the old city to the other. There were more upmarket shops, churches and a few hotels at our end of the street (in the Christian quarter) and when you got to the other end there was a massive covered Souk with thousands of shops. Mostly the shops selling similar items are grouped together - the spices shops are close to each other, then there'll be a section of leather coats and bags, then there might be ladies clothes shops, then some foodstalls and some metalwork places, then carpet sellers etc. The Syrians are more similar to the Turks than the Emiratis. They are generally lighter skinned and shorter, most wear moustaches (including the women), and Western clothes and they were very friendly . In Turkey there were plenty of guys trying to drag you into shops, but the Syrians did it in a much friendlier way, they were just as happy to invite you in for a coffee and a chat and they didn't really do the 'hard' sell. It was also a very quiet time for tourists, which may have taken the pressure off. We had a big walk around in the morning, took it easy in the hotel for a while, then went walking and out for dinner in the evening. We took Matija's stroller - probably for the last time. She had to walk herself in the morning and in the afternoon she was allowed to use the stroller. It made life easier for everyone.

On the second day we visited the Ummayad mosque on the edge of the Old City. It is apparently Islam's third most famous mosque and a magnificent old building. There were once beautiful mosaics in blue and gold tiles all around the walls and some of the remains still exist. This mosque allegedly has the preserved head of Saint Paul, which was discovered many years again during excavations. Salah-ah-din, the great leader who liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders has a tomb here and there is also a crypt for some famous Shia dude. Busloads of Iranians come along to pay their respects.

It was a pretty religious day really, in the afternoon we visited the church of Ananias, where legend has it that Ananias had a 'vision' that told him to lay hands on Paul 'on a street named Straight'. He laid hands on Paul, who had also had a vision that this was going to happen. Instead of rounding up the Christians he became one of them and became a roaming missionary - not a popular move with Rome (they caught up with him in the end). Finished the day with a few beers and dinner in a little bar not far from the hotel.

The next day we were up early - we'd booked a car and driver to take us to Krac de Chevaliers, one of the worlds most famous Crusader castles and home to the Hospitallers. Jihad (our driver) turned up, he spoke pretty good English and we had a good chance to talk about Syria, Damascus and the Middle East. It was about 2 1/2 hours to the castle, when we got there we had a coffee and then toured the ruins with a local guide. Ande has been to many old English castles and none were in as good condition as this one. It's perched high on a hill top, it has vertical outer walls, a big moat and a massive inner fortress that slopes in to save it from earthquakes. There were 400 knights with horses here and another 500 - 600 soldiers and archers at it's peak. The horses were all stabled inside (with soldiers quarters above the stables to keep them warm) and there were massive store rooms and cisterns to enable everyone to withstand a 5 year seige. The place had plenty of spots for dropping boiling oil on anyone who attempted to take the place, there was a system of pipes and drains for water and sewage and there was a massive oven in the kitchen for catering to everyone. On top of the inner fortress there was the remains of a massive round table (knights of the round table stuff) and the rooms for the top brass at the time. There was also a tower for guests and princesses and a gothic-style church. Our guide knew his stuff pretty well and his English wasn't bad, he just lacked a little excitement and needed to get a bit more enthusiastic about his job. He also complained of a bad back and avoided climbing up and down stairs where possible.

On the way back the car got a flat tyre. That was okay, there was a spare, but one of the wheelnuts was smaller than the others and Jihad couldn't get it off. He ended up driving on the flat for a couple of kays till we were close to a garage and hopping across the six lane highway about 4 times before he got a socket and wrench to fit. Matija was asleep in the back, Ande and I just chilled out and watched the scenery. We were close to a bedouin camp. It was the middle of winter, about 7 degrees celcius and the families live in big tents out in the paddocks, usually with a herd of goats of sheep nearby. Usually the man has a couple of wives and a big mob of kids and they all work for the local farmers, doing the manual work and living in tents. There were similar tents on the outskirts of the city, but gypsies live there, selling a few things but (according to Jihad) making most of their money from pick-pocketing and thieving.

Anyway, with the tyre fixed we continued back. We stopped at Maloula, where Aramaic, the language of the bible is still spoken and a number of overseas religious people visit to learn the language and read the bible as it was written. It is a beautiful village in it's own right, carved back into the rocky mountains. We also went to Sadniya, another village where the world's oldest monastry lives. We visited a church there and one of the nuns gave Matija a bracelet with religious icons on it and a funny tasting little loaf of bread. A very religious experience for us all! It was neat to drive into the old city after that and see all the Christmas lights strung around the Christian area. Very Christmasy.

The next day we did a big walk outside the walls of the old city. We visited the more modern part of town, found an artisan's market and went wandering through a leafy old suburb. Outside the old city the place is crawling with people and markets and sellers of all types. Syria is not a rich country and everyone is trying to make a living one way or another, we saw guys selling everything from toys to goldfish to shampoo and books off the side of the road. There were a few people begging (not many) and more guys who were obviously sleeping rough on building sites. There were quite a number of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees and areas of housing that were slapped up in a weekend to avoid officials preventing their construction. Any waste land was pretty well covered in plastic bags, cans and rubbish and there were very few parks anywhere in the city, apparently land prices there are astronomical and it's not surprising given the density of living.

We were starving by mid afternoon and found a little place in the 'burbs that made foul madamas - cooked beans or chickpeas with a little parsley/yoghurt sauce and fresh bread. Very tasty. Unfortunately after I ordered it I sat at an outside table and proceeded to drink the bottle of water there, thinking it was ours. It wasn't and I suspect that led to the very bad case of travellers diarrhoea that I suffered from for the next week. If it was just a crook tummy it wouldn't have been so bad but the headaches and fever made things very uncomfortable for the rest of the trip.

On the 24th the sick tummy was in remission and we booked Jihad again and went out to Bosra where we saw ruins of an ancient town dating back to the Nabateans (same ones that built Petra). Frien

ds from Abu Dhabi Cognition were in Damascus too (Jenny and Kevin) and we shared a guide around the ruins. There was a massive Roman cistern, hammams, churches and a huge amphitheatre which is one of the best preserved in the world.

On the way back to Damascus we stopped at Jihad's in-laws for a turkish coffee and some nibbles. It was a beautiful day and we sat out on the deck enjoying the sun and having a chat. They were lovely friendly people, Matija played with the kids and it was a very enjoyable afternoon.

That evening we went out to a nice restaurant with Jenny and Kevin. It was a massive place that served 500 meals a day, but it was well run, there were a host of waiters and they did very tasty food. They also gave us complimentary Arab sweets and fruit after the meal and sent us away with a big white Christmas cake in the form of a log, which Matija loved.

On Christmas day we managed to Skype through to Mary and Denise, then did a wander around the local area. I crashed out in the afternoon while Ande took Matija for a wander and a visit to a hamam, where you wash and get scrubbed and massaged. Ande loved it, Matija was a little sceptical of all these women washing and scrubbing together, but got used to the idea and had a great time. We all had a very tasty shwarma over the road that evening, then packed up for an early flight back to Dubai the next morning.

It was a very different way to spend our Christmas, but one we thoroghly enjoyed. Merry Christmas to every one of our friends and family that reads this , and a happy New Year.

love, Vince, Ande and Matija.