Last Full Day in Syria -Maaloula and Deir Mar Musa Monasteries

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Dave

After contemplating what to do for our last day–either resting or taking one last journey–we decided to hire a driver and head to the Maaloula and Mar Musa monasteries north of Damascus.  It was a great decision because the driver kept us entertained with his non-stop stories on history and politics of the Middle East and both sites turned out to be excellent.  We were told that Maaloula is the only place in the world that still speaks Aramaic–the language of Jesus.  I have embedded a YouTube video from the English Al Jazeera website that includes an interview from the Father Tawfic from the Convent of St. Serge and Bacchus in Maaloula discussing the use of Aramaic in Maaloula (Father Tawfic served us a small glass of wine while we visited the monastery).  We were lucky enough to hear the Lords Prayer recited in Aramaic by one of the convent guides.  We also visited the Maaloula monastery of St. Takla.  Here are a few pictures from both sites.  I still want to post a detailed description of the middle few days of our trip as well as my feelings concerning Syria’s current troubles.

There is also another really good three-minute YouTube video on Maaloula—you can view it below:

Derek at the St. Takla Monastery in Maaloula

 

 

St. Takla Monastery in Maaloula

St. Takla Monastery in Maaloula

St. Takla Monastery in Maaloula

Mar Musa Monastery

Mar Musa Monastery

Gift shop at the bottom of the steps leading to the Mar Musa Monastery

Walking the steps leading up to the Mar Musa monastery

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Quick Update – Syria

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Dave

The last 3 days have been hectic and I am really tired so I won’t go into many details but I will post a few pics from the last few days.  It has been a crazy 48 hours where we crisscrossed the entire country of Syria–Palmyra, Crac des Chevaliers, Hama, Apamea, Aleppo and everything in between.  We are back in Damascus right now and have one day left before we return.  Derek heading back to the States on Wednesday and me to Rome for one night before heading back home on Thursday. I will post more tomorrow or Wednesday in Rome if I have an Internet connection.

Yes–we had more ice cream tonight–needed the energy.

Derek at the Damascus Hostel

St. Ananias Church - Damascus

The two tombs of Saladin - Damascus Umayyad Mosque

Palmyra

Palmyra

Apamea

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Syria–Day 2–the ice cream

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Dave

OK–Internet availability at the Cairo hotel in Hama–connected to the world again.  First, we definitely have our act together in Damascus and can now navigate the city without significant discomfort.  I want to dedicate this post to one thing only–ice cream.  With great apologies to my adopted country of Italy, the best ice cream, gelato or dolce in general cannot be found in Rome or Florence.  Rather, we have found ice cream nirvana right in the heart of the Damascus Al Hamidiyeh souk at the Bakdash ice cream shop.  It is  a fairly simple vanilla ice cream that is quickly swirled in a thick coating of chopped pistachios.  The ice cream is fantastic, the pistachios seem like they were just harvested and the combination is other-worldly.  Sorry Vivoli in Florence and Giolitti in Rome–you have been bested.   A very close second is a small place on Sharia al Quwatli street in Hama–about 20-30 yards from the Cairo hotel.  The concoction is served in a beer mug and seems to be a combination of plain yogurt, honey, raspberry sauce, almonds, pistachios, some other unidentifiable nuts, pineapple, kiwi, strawberries with bananas on the bottom.  Not sure what it is called–looks like a parfait and simply unreal.  When I think of Syria, I don’t think desert but, wow, what a surprise.  Here are a few pics of the Bakdash ice cream shop.  More posts soon.

 

Posted in Damascus, Middle East, Syria | 6 Comments

Confusion rules on the first full day in Syria

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Dave

Day one in Damascus and we get lost as soon as we walk out of the hotel door. We tried our best to find the Street called Straight (Via Recta) and ended up circumnavigating Old Damascus until we eventually stumbled upon Bab Sharqi (our planned destination). Unfortunately, a walk that should have taken 20 minutes took us about 75…still it was a learning experience and we are fairly confident that we have Damascus figured out. We crammed much into one day including a visit to Bosra, the souks of Damascus and a good deal of time at the Umayyad mosque in the evening. Mostly a good day with a few uncomfortable experiences…hope to go into details in a later post. As usual, I will include some photos from today’s adventures–enjoy!

Roman Theater - Bosra

Roman Theater - Bosra

Roman Theater - Bosra

Ancient City - Bosra

Ancient City - Bosra

Ancient City - Bosra

Ancient City - Bosra

Umayyad Mosque - Damascus

Umayyad Mosque - Damascus

Umayyad Mosque - Damascus

Posted in Damascus, Middle East, Syria | 4 Comments

Italy behind us…..on to Syria

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Dave

Flew from Rome to Amman to Damascus today. 8 hours of waiting in the Rome airport…not fun…but did give me some time to get some photos posted from our last day in Venice.

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