In Damascus at last- Fallen in love with Al Sham!

Fallen in love with Al Sham!

My second night in Damascus. I returned after less than a week in Germany and again, even more so, it was somehow like coming home... My hotel is 400 years old and my room is up two narrow stone stairs which probably carry the foot prints of many, many generations of Damascene Arabs followed by many backpacker travellers, I sleep in a large heavy wooden bed in a small room with thick old walls, filled with pieces of antique Arabic furniture.
Tonight I ventured out into the souk again, this time I was almost ablle to find my way among the winding alleys, around the famous mosque, past countless shops selling bellydance costumes, fashionable hijab scarves, spices, perfumes, dried fruit, pastries, appliances...I already started to doubt whether the information I got from a fellow female traveler who works here as an intern, that "there are many places that say 'restaurant/cafe'" might actually be something like 'mataam wa kafwa" written in Arabic that I missed when I finally managed to discover where the alley with the restaurants was. Had dinner at "Bait al Shami", another old Arabic house with a large courtyard where dinner was served under a lemon tree and trellises of dangling grapes. I had my first glass of mulberry juice ever, and watercress salad which turned out to be chopped ruccola, perfectly fine with me, and "Shami kabop"/ Damascene kebab which was great.
Again I spent most of the evening communicating with my bits of recently acquired Arabic, and still don't know whether people actually speak English here as I have been told they would. I am so happpy, every time I manage to form another sentence from my Arabic vocabulary. And they do understand, yay! Nobody tries to switch to English when I do that. ; )
Then I picked my way back between the carts of nuts, little shops full of perfume flasks, raising my arms in mock despair at the car stuck and trying to move between the stone walls, pedestrians and carts of merchandise, exchanging smiles with a couple Arabic women in hijab. Walking home, feeling happy, and deeply inhaling the mixture of fragrances emanating from the shops, a heady blend of spices, perfumes, soap and waterpipe tobacco, and relaxing into my ancient surroundings, feeling part of it and very much at home. I am in love with this city, Al Shams/Damascus is called the oldest city in the world!
see 62 photos of Damascus and a bit of Zahle https://picasaweb.google.com/113264861998536374583/SYRIAANDLEBANON#

Sun, August 29, 2010 - 3:09 PM