Chris and Paula’s World

Salaam from Syria!

We crossed the border from Turkey into Syria yesterday and have been amazed ever since! Crossing the border was a little time consuming, but pretty easy. We had received our visas back in Canada so had no issues, in fact the border guards were extremely friendly and almost fell over each other to help!

We are in an internet cafe in Aleppo,on the second floor of an ice cream shop. It is 10:30pm and I am sitting in at a computer by a window overlooking the street. There were just three young men waving to get my attention, and when I looked all three gave big smiles and waves. It has been like this since crossing the border. The people here are just amazing! Many men, women and children say “Marhaba - welcome” when we pass in the streets. A guide we had today told us that since 9/11 there have been fewer tourists, so it is likely that they are truly happy to see us! Unlike other cities we have visited, we get a genuine feeling of hospitality without pricetag.

Aleppo is hotly contested as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world (we have also heard that it is Damascus). Yesterday afternoon we got lost in the bazaar (the longest covered bazaar, apparently) and were amazed at the variety of things on offer. I would guess that if you couldn’t get it there, it doesn’t exist! We had our first falafel of the trip served in a pita with the most amazing yogurt and garlic sauce with fresh cucumber and mint. Mint and lemon are becoming quick favorites. We are seeing fresh mint on offer with each meal we eat. When tea is served, they bring a plate piled with fresh mintsprigs and lemon slices. We strolled through a large produce market where we bought a big bag of local cherries for about $1.00. Amazing.

We toured a monastery today (Saint Simeon’s) from the 11th century as well as an area close by that was a pilgrim’s city… St. Simeon apparently cured a few people way back when, and his home quickly became the place to travel to! Our group also visited a mosque from about the same period… it has been really good learning about the Muslim faith, and so interesting learning about where religion and deep seated traditions intersect (both in Turkey and Syria). Syria has a secular government and approximately 90% of the country is Muslim (70% Muslim in Aleppo)…surprising, isn’t it? There are more Christians (most of which are Armenians) in Syria than elsewhere in the Middle East. It was very surprising on our first night to pass by a Catholic church! We are in the birthplace of the World’s religions, so I suppose it shouldn’t be such a shock.

We went for a Turkish Bath today. Men and women go separately, so I went with four others from the tour. A little more shocking than our bath experience in Cappadocia! You get a towel to wrap around your lower half (more like a big dish cloth), and one to wrap around your shoulders while getting to the women’s area. You are also given a bar of soap. In one steamy room the women pour water over themselves from taps and basins around the room, and use the soap for cleaning. Once done, a male attendant (which we later heard is NOT done here normally) lies you down on a marble slab (without your covering!) and scrubs your skin with a rough mit. The skin literally peels off. He then gives you a sudsy massage, washes your hair, and rinses you off. All five women were done buck naked. While we were each being worked on, the man at reception kept coming in for a good gawk. No doubt this would not have been tolerated by a local. Over dinner we just learned that we were meant to wear bikinis!! I think we shocked our poor guide Basaar! Oh well, no harm done… that guy is likely the envy of all of his friends. Crazy experience that I will not soon forget!!

Anyhow, after one full day in Syria I am tired and definitely looking forward to seeing more. I never dreamed that I would be travelling through Syria, and so far all of the pre-conceptions that I’ve had have been challenged. That is a lot for one day!

Hope life back at home is very good!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 8:02 pm and is filed under Syria. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.