Jabal Qasiyoon

 

One of the 'must do' tourist things according to all the guidebooks is a trip to Jabal Qasiyoon. We'd aim to get there just a little before sunset, so we could see the amazing views of the city from the mountain.

There are tonnes of cafes and restaurants at the top of the mountain, most of them totally overpriced according to local standerds. We'd usually plan a trip to the mountain to coincide with friends/relatives visiting!La fontane became our favourite:

We only tried the crepes. I'm sure the tiramyssu was delicious, despite the dodgy spelling!

Azem Palace

One of the other 'must see' touristy things in Damascus is Azem Palace. It was built in 1750 for the Ottoman ruler of Damascus called Asad Pasha al Azem.

The house now houses a small museum of art and traditional crafts. Out of all the museums we've seen in Damascus, it's probably the best in terms of cost and things to see.



Here's what Wikipedia says about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azem_palace

The architecture is an excellent example of Damascene traditional houses. The structure itself consists of several buildings and two wings: the harem and the salamlik. The harem is the family wing, which was a private space for the residents (originally, the Azm family). This wing includes the kitchen, servant quarters, and the baths, which are a replica of the public baths in the city but on a smaller scale. The salamlik is the guest wing, and it comprises the formal halls, reception areas and large courtyards with traditional cascading fountains.

Used in the building of this palace were several types of stones including limestone, sandstone, basalt, and marble, chosen to provide a natural decoration for the structure. The ceilings have painted wooden panels that display natural scenes. In fact, Dr.Andrew Petersen, Director of Research in Islamic Archaeology at the University of Wales Lampeter states that the use of Ablaq (alternating courses of white limestone and black basalt) in this building is “A characteristic of the monumental masonry of Damascus.”^[1]

In 1925, the Azm palace was heavily damaged by French artillery during the Syrian revolution. It has since been restored and became a museum of arts and folk traditions. It received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1983.

One thing to watch out for is the dodgy guards... They will often keep the inner doors closed and then open them up 'especially' for you in return for a tip. Very annoying!

The best room is the one with the religious items and the 'going for pilgrimage' display. There's an egg with a whole chapter of the Quran written on it! On my last visit, my friend managed to keep a look out while I snapped a quick pic on my phone!

Surah Waqia written on an egg!

Botanical Gardens

I know, I know it's been ages since I last blogged. After a last-min unexpected trip to London, I came back to Syria and had a month of back-to-back family and friends come to stay. It was great fun, but that, along with the 6 hour daily power cuts are not helping the blogging cause!

Anyway.... here are some pics of one of my fav spots in the Old City of Damascus. It's the Botanical Gardens. Yes, you read that correctly - Syria does actually have a botanical garden! Not much of a site in the winter.... but spring/summer this place is an explosion of colours and fragrances!










There's also a little cafe that probably has the best desserts I've had in Syria so far! Crepes with fruit and even Nutella shawermas!

The new shia mosq in Sayyidda Zaynab!

I'm back to Syria and back to blogging! Yes, thank you all for reminding me that I haven't blogged for a while!

Here's a new pic from Sayyidda Zaynab - its of the shia mosque that's being built on 'the other side of the roundabout'! It's not quite finished yet, but already open for business!

It's called 'Imam Khumayni Mosque'. No prizes for guessing where its funding is coming from. LOL

Random Thoughts

Two things struck me the other day....

The first was seeing a little 3 or 4 year old boy with his parents visiting the shrine of Sayyidda Zaynab for the first time. He looked cute wearing his 'Friday' best - a little suit and red bow tie.

The second was meeting an aunty and uncle (who incidently turned out to be distant relatives!!) telling us about how their suitcases had gotton lost on the way. The aunty commented: 'It doesn't matter that my suitcase got lost because I had only packed old clothes, but uncle had packed all his good clothes'.

It really got me thinking - why shouldn't uncle be allowed to bring his nice clothes? Surely he has recognised the personaility that is is about to visit and wants to look his best!

Why is it that when we go for ziarat, we pack all our old clothes?? Seriously, do we want to be going to the graves of our ideals wearing old trackie bottoms and tshirts with holes in them and scarves that have seen better days??

One of the things we teach children from a young age is that if they are going to visit the queen/president, they would put on their best clothes, so when we pray, we should wear our good clothes too, because our God is far more important than the queen. Right?

So why is it that when we come to visit the Holy Shrines, we bring our oldest and ugliest clothes?! Don't the Imams/Holy Household deserve to see us wearing our nicest clothes and scarves?

OK, so the roads here are dusty and the laundry facilities are adequate, but when we go on trips to the far east and africa etc, we take our good clothes and the roads are just as dusty there and the laundry is just as third world.

My latest Addiction...

... is polo juice! It's a mix of mint, lemon and ice and is soooo refreshing! I just can't get enough of it!

So far, I've tried the one at the Safir Hotel's Fresh Delight's cafe and Anas Restaurant in Babila. But by far the best so far is the one at the Ecological Cafe in the Old City of Damascus.

More Syrian English

This is a picture of the carrier bags from the store that sells designer fake handbags and shoes (Ground floor of the Safir Hotel)

Since when did bags and shoes become 'needs' and not 'wants' ?????

Swimming!

This is the swimming pool that we try and visit once a week. Its a short, 5 lira bus ride away from Sayyidda Zaynab in a place called Baabila. Recently, the prices went up to 250 lira (about 5 dollars) for a 2 and half hour swim. They hardly ever turn the jacuzzi and sauna on, bt when they do, its scalding hot! Luckily though, they heat the pool up.

This pool has really made us miss the lovely, clean, cheap Jamia pool in Qum :-(