Mediterranean Travels: The wonderful land of Syria

Syria! Where do I start? Syria has been just incredible—I love it! We’ve seen so much and experienced the true Middle East. Not to mention GREAT food, beautiful lookout spots, and one really awesome city (Damascus).

The first thing that must be reported about our experience in Syria is our border crossing ordeal. We drove to the Turkey-Syria border, disembarked the bus and put on our huge backpacks. As we waited in line to go through passport check, a slimy-looking Turkish man approached our group. Apparently, he was trying to sell us unnecessary exit visas (which we had already purchased ahead of time). We politely told him no and turned away, but the man would not leave! He was trying to scam us five dollars each to leave the country. No matter how hard we tried to walk away, he followed and kept poking his head in our faces trying to sell his scam product. “Five! Five? Five!” he kept shouting, insisting on our five dollar fee. Bruce proved to be the hero of the day, as he stared blankly at the scam man babbling on in Turkish, then coldly removing his sunglasses to glare in his eyes and stated loudly and clearly, “NO FIVE.” After calling his buddies and trying to scare us by driving their car at us, we called over the security border guard and the scammer FINALLY left.

After this first impression, things only improved. Here were my other first impressions of the country, as I wrote in my journal:

-Sheppards are grazing their sheep in the freeway divider grass…what??

-All the women are wearing headscarves or burkas…starting with girls as young as 8 or 9!

-Everyone stares at us…I feel like I’m a zoo exhibit.

-There are bloody sheep heads in a bucket in the market. Why is this necessary?

Our first stop in Syria was the city of Aleppo. We got some good exposure to the Middle East, and explored the citadel in the middle of the city. I learned some background info about Syria, like the fact it’s 10% Christian.

On Sunday morning we observed part of the liturgy at a Syrian Greek Orthodox Church. The service was in Arabic and a new experience for me, as I’ve never even been to a Mass. The church building looked a lot like the many Catholic churches we observed in Europe, with icons and Catholic-looking symbols. I found myself wondering about the actual differences between a Catholic service and an Orthodox one.

Along our bus ride, we stopped at Crak des Chevalliers—an ancient castle on the hill overlooking that area. These castles we’ve seen are so clever—the engineering is so impressive and it was built so long ago! The castle made for a fun playground as we jumped and climbed over the fallen rocks.

Another pitstop was the Christian village of Ma’aloula, whose inhabitants still speak the traditional Aramaic language. The river had carved out a nice canyon through the surrounding mountainsides which reminded me of some of the National Parks back in the US.

The next three nights were spent in the capital city: Damascus. A short walking tour introduce us to the city. Here were some highlights:

-St. Anania’s House (the man who baptized Paul after his conversion experience on the road to Damascus)

-The Syrian National Museum, specifically the ancient wisdom tablets. One of these read: “Never marry someone you meet at a party.” Wise words.

-The Umayyed Mosque, where us girls donned ugly grey hooded cloaks. Observing the Muslims worshiping in this huge mosque, and praying at various shrines was super interesting.

-Azam Palace, with its beautiful garden and displays of ancient Syrian clothes and furniture. Unfortunately, when we left this palace we accidentally left Sarah Spencer behind…she had been sick so we forgot she was with us that day. So apparently she attached herself on to some elderly British women and found her way back to the hotel! The ancient Syrian saying: “Clean your house because you never know who will visit, and wash your face because you never know who will kiss it!”

-Meals of Syria. The food is amazing here, and mealtime is a community experience because you all share the dishes. Mealtime goes like this: Cold appetizers first (pita bread and 400 kinds of humus and dips, veggies, lentils, etc.). Then hot appetizers (rice or fried stuff), and the meat course (chicken, beef or lamb). Thankfully, they don’t eat much pork in the Middle East, because both Jews and Muslims don’t consume it. That is great for me, because I am sick to death of pork—it’s the go-to meat of France.

Funny story: One night, we ate an amazing Syrian meal. Then we went to a hookah bar and got some great strawberry hookah. I’m sitting there sipping my drink and smoking my hookah when all of a sudden I feel super dizzy, and I start sweating and shaking…to spare you the gory details, four of us got sick from something in the meal. It was a great bonding experience all throwing up together in that Syrian bathroom. Not something I’d choose to repeat, but we felt fine after and I haven’t been sick again since!

Turkish baths. An experience all their own. Basically it’s this: fifteen girls, wrapped in a tiny towel sitting in a circle in a steamy Turkish bath (like a spa basically). One at a time, we are called up to the front to a seat where a large Syrian woman removes our towel and scrubs us down. In front of everyone. This is followed by a nice massage. It was great bonding. I felt super clean after at least. Haha…

Shopping in Damascus is much more fun than at home. The bright colors, scents and sounds are overwhelming and make the experience exciting and exhausting at the same time. I had fun exploring the Souk market and buying some Syrian silk scarves, fake Ray Bans (called “Roy Boys” haha!), cheap Dior perfume, and other fun stuff.

Hopefully some day I can come back to Damascus. Apparently it’s a hotspot for Arabic learners—how fun would that be someday?!

Photo's from Syria: