Syria Re-visited



Posted: Thursday, February 17, 2011

by Nick Laing
http://www.steppestravel.co.uk

Anyone who has visited Syria will say how friendly the people are. They are extremely proud of their country and offer a warm welcome to foreign visitors.       After visiting the dramatic Crusader castle of Saladin I was invited to sit with my driver and his friends for a cup of tea. These three men were keen to ensure that my view of them and the Syrian people was not what they felt was portrayed by the media.
We are all people before we are anything else they told me.  They went on to tell me of a friend who owns a small, modest shop and who during Eid this year (the festival signaling the end of Ramadan, the fasting month), had filled a truck with sugar and rice and handed the food out to local people more needy then he. As I left and thanked them for the tea I was greeted by a chorus of 'you are most welcome' a greeting I heard many times during my travels.

Having already visited the classic sites of the country on previous trips, this visit was a chance to explore those less visited spots such as the ancient sites of Dura Europas & Mari. Located on the Euphrates river & close to the border with Iraq, this area of the country is a test for the best of drivers with truck loads of Arab families crossing borders, convoys of wedding vehicles hooting horns and spilling over with families as well as others celebrating a family members return from the Haj pilgrimage. Along the road lie small villages, their resident families working the land with the women of this area colourfully dressed with beautifully made up faces.

My trip was at the end of November & I was blessed with unusually warm weather. Another advantage of this off season period is the chance to visit sites with few other tourists - exploring the walled desert city of Rasafe with only a local family and 2 other tourists was certainly one of my highlights. It is so much easier to lose yourself in a site when you are alone with only the silence of the desert.

I spent a wonderful day in Damascus with my local agent and friend Bashar visiting numerous new boutique hotels which have sprung up since my last visit. There is now a great choice of beautiful character hotels in both Aleppo and Damascus with rooms set around a pretty central countryard.

Whenever I am in the Middle East I always try to spend some time in one of the Mosques - I am not a religous person myself but sitting in the courtyard area of the Umayyad mosque with its elegant domed architecture & beautiful mosaics while men and women wash and prepare to pray is a special experience. Women robed in black chat while children run around playing and the overwhelming sensation is one of calm and peace.

My recent visit to Syria has only served to re-enforce my passion for this wonderful country. If it is not on your list of places to visit in the near future....it should be.

 For more info visit http://www.steppestravel.co.uk 
This Article has been viewed 109 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.