On Friday, we broke with the traditional breakfast of tomato, cucumber and boiled egg. Lydia had arranged for the Pancake Kitchen in Palmyra to open for us and many of the group decided that a change to some form of pancake was well worthwhile. Favourites included banana and chocolate varieties.
We then took a local bus from Palmyra to Damascus, which is about a 3.5 hour drive. The local bus is a comfortable coach. The trip is largely through desert, generally featureless, with scattered low vegetation and occasional buildings or wayside stops and that pass by without comment.
As it was Friday, Damascus was very quiet - most of the city was closed and there was little traffic.
We went to an Islamic Centre - basically a very large educational institute associated with a mosque and had a meeting with four of the staff and scholars there. We were invited to ask questions about Islam and we were given a very polite and friendly reception.
Afterwards, we walked from our hotel to the Old Town area. While most of this was closed, we did manage to get our bearings and to visit the Azem Palace. This was a luxurious Damascus house in the late 18th century (it was the Governor's House). Like much Muslim architecture, it was peaceful, with excellent courtyards and water features and finely decorated rooms.
For dinner, we decided to go the the Neutron Restaurant, which was in the Christian Quarter of the Old Town, most distant from our hotel. We armed ourselves with the destination written in Arabic and sallied forth. Of course, our taxi driver got lost, so we abandoned him and found another. It was all fun and we found the restaurant, which provided good food and some good Lebanese wine.
On Saturday, we set off to see the Old Town. We wandered all round. With the group, we visited the large Umayyad Mosque. This is a popular destination, particularly with very large groups of Iranian tourists (which seem to mainly consist of women clothed in black cloth wrap-around cloaks or shawls that cover their heads and body. The Iranians are Shia (most Syrians are Sunni) and they have slightly different practices. The Mosque is an important site for all Muslims (they believe that the Second Coming of Jesus will be to a minaret at this mosque), and particularly for Shia, as the relics of one of their early martyrs is here.
The mosque itself is large. The group sat inside and Bernadette started a discussion on the role of women in Islam. She claims that it was tiring sitting, so she stood up and continued the discussion. At least she can say that she has preached in a mosque.
We continued to ramble. We had a good lunch at a restaurant in the Christian Quarter (which meant that we could have a beer also). The Old Town is quite large and is a maze of streets, alleys and cul-de-sacs. There is on straight street (which was called Straight Street in antiquity and is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles).
It was Nico's last night so the group from Turkey went to a special farewell dinner. Nico dressed from his extensive wardrobe of Arabic clothing; he looked just like a local sheik. Our restaurant had a great view over the city and a great view of the large thunderstorm that started as we finished. We had to find a path back to our hotel that avoided the flooding in the Old Town streets, due to the volume and scale of the rain. We were told that it was the heaviest rain for five years.
We then took a local bus from Palmyra to Damascus, which is about a 3.5 hour drive. The local bus is a comfortable coach. The trip is largely through desert, generally featureless, with scattered low vegetation and occasional buildings or wayside stops and that pass by without comment.
As it was Friday, Damascus was very quiet - most of the city was closed and there was little traffic.
We went to an Islamic Centre - basically a very large educational institute associated with a mosque and had a meeting with four of the staff and scholars there. We were invited to ask questions about Islam and we were given a very polite and friendly reception.
Afterwards, we walked from our hotel to the Old Town area. While most of this was closed, we did manage to get our bearings and to visit the Azem Palace. This was a luxurious Damascus house in the late 18th century (it was the Governor's House). Like much Muslim architecture, it was peaceful, with excellent courtyards and water features and finely decorated rooms.
For dinner, we decided to go the the Neutron Restaurant, which was in the Christian Quarter of the Old Town, most distant from our hotel. We armed ourselves with the destination written in Arabic and sallied forth. Of course, our taxi driver got lost, so we abandoned him and found another. It was all fun and we found the restaurant, which provided good food and some good Lebanese wine.
On Saturday, we set off to see the Old Town. We wandered all round. With the group, we visited the large Umayyad Mosque. This is a popular destination, particularly with very large groups of Iranian tourists (which seem to mainly consist of women clothed in black cloth wrap-around cloaks or shawls that cover their heads and body. The Iranians are Shia (most Syrians are Sunni) and they have slightly different practices. The Mosque is an important site for all Muslims (they believe that the Second Coming of Jesus will be to a minaret at this mosque), and particularly for Shia, as the relics of one of their early martyrs is here.
The mosque itself is large. The group sat inside and Bernadette started a discussion on the role of women in Islam. She claims that it was tiring sitting, so she stood up and continued the discussion. At least she can say that she has preached in a mosque.
We continued to ramble. We had a good lunch at a restaurant in the Christian Quarter (which meant that we could have a beer also). The Old Town is quite large and is a maze of streets, alleys and cul-de-sacs. There is on straight street (which was called Straight Street in antiquity and is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles).
It was Nico's last night so the group from Turkey went to a special farewell dinner. Nico dressed from his extensive wardrobe of Arabic clothing; he looked just like a local sheik. Our restaurant had a great view over the city and a great view of the large thunderstorm that started as we finished. We had to find a path back to our hotel that avoided the flooding in the Old Town streets, due to the volume and scale of the rain. We were told that it was the heaviest rain for five years.
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