Streets 1-Damascus

In the past two months, I've often walked through old alleys in Souk Saroujah and Old City. The streets in these old neighborhoods in Damascus are narrow but beautiful with old Syrian houses built around. However, there are too many cars on streets. Normally they don't stop for pedestrians, so crossing streets here is quite challenging.

Markets-Damascus

People cool breads soon after they bought them.

A flee market near the downtown area in Damascus

Modern dresses attract the local women no matter who they are.

Western style clothes are on sale everywhere in the city.

Friday Market is an old open market at the north of Damascus. The images of the country's leaders can been seen everywhere.

There are numerous markets in Damascus. Most of them are run in an old traditional way. Small shops focus on the sale of one or two types of goods. People here shop in many stores to get for their daily needs.

I did miss the convenience of shopping at supermarkets and groceries in the States during the first month in Damascus. Now I know my way around after being here six weeks. Doing shopping in Damascus has become very enjoyable.

Mar Musa

Visitors have to go through this tiny entrance to the inside of the Monastery of Mar Musa.

The frescoes inside the ancient church

Visitors attended the Mass in this small beautiful church inside the monastery.

The shadows of Linda and me on the road toward the top of the mountains around the monastery

The view of sunrise from the monastery

A simple dinner inside a tent

Father Paolo talked to a group of students at the courtyard.

Without classes on Friday and Saturday, I invited Linda, who is from Kentucky, to visit Monastery of Mar Musa. After a microbus dropped us off, we followed steep and long stone steps to the monastery. Many visitors, including backpackers and the locales, come to spend one or two nights here.

Visitors help clean the tables, prepare the food, and attend the meditation and mass in its ancient church, in which there are frescoes on the walls. For me, it’s an unforgettable experience to listen to Father Paolo’s preach in Arabic and sit on the floor sharing food with more than 70 people.

Seidnayya

I visited the Greek Orthodox Convent of Our Lady of Seidnayya with three travelers who have been backpacking through several countries since last summer. This convent is famous for having a portrait of the Virgin Mary painted y St. Luke. It took less than one hour for a minibus ride from Damascus to get to one of the most important places of Christian Pilgrimage in the Middle East.

Maalula

Maalula is a predominantly Christian village. We took a minibus for one hour to get there. It is the home of two ancient Christian convents: Mar Sarkis and Mar Taqla. The rocky hills around the village make the scene intriguing.

Palmyra-People & Streets

While walking on the streets in Palmyra, we were often invited to have tea with them. People here were friendly and always tried to be helpful. We also saw a lot of Bedouin people (nomadic tribes) and their tent houses here or there. People and streets seemed more attractive to me than the ancient site.