On Sunday we travelled to Syria. We left Iskenderun and travelled a short distance by minibus to Antakya. Antakya is the site of ancient Antioch, which was a very major city in the Roman era. We stopped in Antakya to look around the local museum, which has an excellent collection of mosaic floors found from local sites. We had time to grab a quick snack and then we headed to the outskirts of the city. There we said farewell to Gurjan, our Turkish guide, and packed into two small taxis which were to take the eight of across across the Syrian border to Aleppo.
The ride was interesting, if a little hair-raising. As you come to the border area, you see lots of barbed wire and guard-posts, but all the guard-posts are on the Turkish side. We had our documents checked out of Turkey and then we drove on about three kilometers to the Syrian entry point. There we went through the same procedure - with no haste, but no hassles. A further hour brought us to Aleppo, where the taxi drivers managed to find our hotel.
Aleppo is a city of 4 million and is the commercial capital of Syria. It is a very ancient city. Some claim that it is the oldest inhabited city on Earth (people from Damascus dispute this) and was one of the major end points for the Silk Road. It is clearly dirtier and more "Middle-Eastern" then we found in Turkey. We met our guide who took us to the ATM, the felafel stand and then guided us to the entry gate of the souk. The entry gate is part of the old walled city and is called the Antioch Gate (it was the gate leading to Antioch).
The Antioch Gate leads into the souk, a very large and old covered market area of numerable streets and alleys filled with merchants of all kinds. Men push handcarts of goods (crying "beep beep" to get by), meat of all sorts hangs from racks, the air is filled with the scent of spices, black garbed women in groups seek out bargains, local boys approach to try their English and a donkey is led through laden with goods. This is as it has been for hundreds of years. The shops for various goods seem to be clustered together - a spice section, a gold jewellery section, a bridal section - everything you could want. The main "street" of the souk continues for 1.5 km and ends at the ancient Citadel of the city, a large fortification on a very high circular mound.
We continued our wanderings in the souk and found an exhibition on the restoration of this old town housed in a beautiful building which was once a Franciscan school. From there we went to see the Grand Mosque, an old and well restored building. Syrians are really friendly and seem to look to help and welcome tourists without hassling them to buy carpets or whatever. At the mosque a young man said hello and insisted on guiding me into the mosque, including ensuring that I saw the relic of Zacharias (John the Baptist`s Father) and praying at it.
We had an evening briefing from our guide and met the other eight people who have now joined us. We are now a group of 16. Our guide Bashar ("call me Beesh") then took us to a local restaurant.
On Monday, we decided to forego the optional trip to the ruins of St Simeon's Basilica and took ourselves off to explore. We looked around the old Christian area and looked in on Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches. This is an area of winding narrow streets, but seems to be very well kept and very clean. We continued our wanderings and eventually found the citadel. We did the tour - it's a large fortification (much ruined by an earthquake in the 1800's), which is being excavated and restored. It has excellent views of the city.
We had a look at an ancient Khan, which is part of the souk area. A Khan is an inn of sorts, or a caravanserai. Merchants would travel with their goods on camels and stay at the khan - the camels are tied in the enclosed central courtyard, with storage areas on the ground level and accommodation on the upper level. At night, the gates would be barred against robbers.
We had a good lunch at the Bazaar d'Charq Retaurant and continued to wander. We found the Baron Hotel, which is now much faded but which was the place for important people to stay (Agatha Christie wrote part of Murder on the Orient Express here, Lawrence of Arabia stayed and didn't pay his bill, Charles Lindberg, Kingsford-Smith and De Gaulle all stayed). We had a G&T in the bar, just so we could connect with the past glories.
We collected some drinks (not easy!!) and had a small cocktail party on our room terrace before we went to the evening briefing, followed by a meal.
While Syrian people are extremely friendly, the Syrian government clearly exercises a significant measure of control. There are pictures of the President and his predecessor (his late father) absolutely everywhere. Annoyingly for me, Syria blocks access to Blogspot (and Facebook and lots more) - I've finally worked out how to get around this enough to put up some belated details of our travels.
The ride was interesting, if a little hair-raising. As you come to the border area, you see lots of barbed wire and guard-posts, but all the guard-posts are on the Turkish side. We had our documents checked out of Turkey and then we drove on about three kilometers to the Syrian entry point. There we went through the same procedure - with no haste, but no hassles. A further hour brought us to Aleppo, where the taxi drivers managed to find our hotel.
Aleppo is a city of 4 million and is the commercial capital of Syria. It is a very ancient city. Some claim that it is the oldest inhabited city on Earth (people from Damascus dispute this) and was one of the major end points for the Silk Road. It is clearly dirtier and more "Middle-Eastern" then we found in Turkey. We met our guide who took us to the ATM, the felafel stand and then guided us to the entry gate of the souk. The entry gate is part of the old walled city and is called the Antioch Gate (it was the gate leading to Antioch).
The Antioch Gate leads into the souk, a very large and old covered market area of numerable streets and alleys filled with merchants of all kinds. Men push handcarts of goods (crying "beep beep" to get by), meat of all sorts hangs from racks, the air is filled with the scent of spices, black garbed women in groups seek out bargains, local boys approach to try their English and a donkey is led through laden with goods. This is as it has been for hundreds of years. The shops for various goods seem to be clustered together - a spice section, a gold jewellery section, a bridal section - everything you could want. The main "street" of the souk continues for 1.5 km and ends at the ancient Citadel of the city, a large fortification on a very high circular mound.
We continued our wanderings in the souk and found an exhibition on the restoration of this old town housed in a beautiful building which was once a Franciscan school. From there we went to see the Grand Mosque, an old and well restored building. Syrians are really friendly and seem to look to help and welcome tourists without hassling them to buy carpets or whatever. At the mosque a young man said hello and insisted on guiding me into the mosque, including ensuring that I saw the relic of Zacharias (John the Baptist`s Father) and praying at it.
We had an evening briefing from our guide and met the other eight people who have now joined us. We are now a group of 16. Our guide Bashar ("call me Beesh") then took us to a local restaurant.
On Monday, we decided to forego the optional trip to the ruins of St Simeon's Basilica and took ourselves off to explore. We looked around the old Christian area and looked in on Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches. This is an area of winding narrow streets, but seems to be very well kept and very clean. We continued our wanderings and eventually found the citadel. We did the tour - it's a large fortification (much ruined by an earthquake in the 1800's), which is being excavated and restored. It has excellent views of the city.
We had a look at an ancient Khan, which is part of the souk area. A Khan is an inn of sorts, or a caravanserai. Merchants would travel with their goods on camels and stay at the khan - the camels are tied in the enclosed central courtyard, with storage areas on the ground level and accommodation on the upper level. At night, the gates would be barred against robbers.
We had a good lunch at the Bazaar d'Charq Retaurant and continued to wander. We found the Baron Hotel, which is now much faded but which was the place for important people to stay (Agatha Christie wrote part of Murder on the Orient Express here, Lawrence of Arabia stayed and didn't pay his bill, Charles Lindberg, Kingsford-Smith and De Gaulle all stayed). We had a G&T in the bar, just so we could connect with the past glories.
We collected some drinks (not easy!!) and had a small cocktail party on our room terrace before we went to the evening briefing, followed by a meal.
While Syrian people are extremely friendly, the Syrian government clearly exercises a significant measure of control. There are pictures of the President and his predecessor (his late father) absolutely everywhere. Annoyingly for me, Syria blocks access to Blogspot (and Facebook and lots more) - I've finally worked out how to get around this enough to put up some belated details of our travels.
No comments:
Post a Comment