22nd, 23rd & 24th Damascus and Palmyra

We set off for another boarder crossing today. We shared and international taxi with Ken, the others were split up into 3 other taxis for our drive 0ut of Jordan and into Syria. We passed road signs for the way to the Saudi Arabian boarder and the Iraq boarder.

But we were heading to part of "the axis of evil" Syria! We made it out of Jordan and into Syria with little problem. They checked our passports very carefully, we think they were checking to make sure we had not been to Israel. Our driver was doing around 90mph down the highway and we ended up having to wait for the others to catch up as we transferred to local taxis on the outskirts of Damascus. The traffic in Damascus reminded us of Bangkok & Cairo, very slow moving as there was so much of it. After checking into our room in the hotel Mark took us on an orientation walk around town. We first picked up some small pizzas (4 for 90pounds = just over $2) then some freshly squeezed juice @ 50 pounds or a little over $1, then we found banks for people to exchange money, next on past the sweets shops and the old part of town not in the old city.  We ended up in the Souq al-Hamaidiyya ( a covered market built during the Ottoman period.
We walked past the Umayyad Mosque and looked around the shops and stalls that were selling everything from linen to wedding dresses and food and spices to hair products. We managed to buy a Syrian flag for around $6. Mark took the group out to dinner at a local restaurant where the menu was in Arabic. The food was fantastic.

23rd We had a good breakfast in our hotel and then set off with Mark for our tour of the Sayyida Ruqayya and Umayyad Mosque. The first Mosque Mark called the disco mosque as the inside ceiling is covered with mirror mosaics, chandeliers and bright colours.

 

These two mosques are pilgrimage sites for Shiite Muslims, many from Iran, the women all wore full black coverings. The women in our group had to get "Special clothes" to wear into the mosques. 

This mosque contains the tomb of the Prophet Mohamed's Great granddaughter.Next stop was the Umayyad Mosque - one of the holiest places for Muslims. Built in 705AD over a Cathedral that had been built on the site of a Roman temple. It contains a shrine said to house the head of John the Baptist 

   as well as a Shrine for Hussain,

 

grandson of Mohamed (Sayyida's father). The women were weeping and the Men were chanting and beating their chests all paying their respects to John the Baptist (Considered a prophet  by Muslims) and Hussain. The columns in the courtyard were covered in some beautiful gold and green mosaics.

 

We then visited the Mausoleum of Saladin- the Arab hero who helped defeat the Crusaders. We had the rest of the day to ourselves and being Friday most places were closed. A shop where we could get lunch finally opened at 2pm so we grabed a bite to eat and head off to the National Museum with Sharon. There were many amazingly old things to see, the highlight being a stone with the worlds first alphabet. We bought a

replica from the book shop.  The frescos from a 2nd century Synagogue (the oldest in the world) were also amazing. They had been preserved as they were found burried in Dura Europos. After the Museum we headed back to the Souq to meet up with the others and had dinner in the courtyard of a restaurant that was once an old Damascene house. Latter that night we managed to catch up with Catriona's Mum and Sister Megan on Skype. It was good to catch up with them.

24th Packed up and checked out by 9am and headed back to the Souq. We walked through to the Christian Quarter where there were many little shrines to Mary and many women without headscarves. Catriona bought a couple of damasc table clothes, having found out that Damascus is where they come from. We shopped around first and bought the more expensive but better quality ones.  It was then a mad rush back to the post office  as it shut at 12pm(just opposite our hotel) to send them back home, along with a few other things we did not need. At 1.30pm we all jumped into taxis for the ride to the bus station. Our taxi driver could speak a bit of English and he was telling him his country was safe, which we agree with. We agree with him, the people are very peaceful and we feel very safe. We caught a public bus to Palmyra 200+km away. At Palmyra we boarded a 1950's rickety old bus to get us to our hotel.

 We checked in and headed off to the citadel to watch the sunset.

We had great views over Palmyra ruins and town, the mountains and tombs. We finished the day with dinner of the usual mezze and main of chicken & rice with peanuts and a yoghurt sauce, delicious. There was a cave bar at the hotel where we played a few rounds of cards before heading off to bed.