Friendliness was our overwhelming impression of Aleppo today as we wandered around the city. A man came over to see if he could help when we looked lost (we were actually waiting for SPOT to go); directions were proffered every time we checked the map; a man shouted 'Welcome to Syria' as he drove past in his car; help was offered in the souk 'For no money'; an elderly gent stopped to talk for a few minutes as we sat outside the mosque; money was refused for the coffee I 'bought' from a street stall; and everybody we met asked us where we were from, to which they replied ìEngland, very goodî.
The souk exceeded expectations, being a maze of alleyways packed with every type of shop and stall you could imagine. Mainly for the locals, the place was full of people going about their business with just a handful of tourists seen during our few hours of wandering. Whilst parts date from 13th century, the majority of the souk was constructed between the 16th to 19th centuries, as were the many khans (travellersí inns), which are now used for storage or additional selling space. Numerous small mosques and hammams (bath houses) can be found within the souk, with the Great Mosque marking the northern edge and the citadel the eastern side.
Anne had to hire a hooded cloak to enter the Great Mosque even though she had donned her head scarf, but the sacrifice was worth it to see inside the grand, yet simple, courtyard and the long, narrow prayer hall (in stark contrast to the colourful tiling, expansive hall and domed ceiling of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul). The head of the Prophet Zacharia is supposed to be in the box behind the grille to the left of the minbar (pulpit) and is a place of pilgrimage. Padlocks had been hung on the grille, apparently they gain strength from the blessings emanating from the tomb (although Anne reckons the blessings are probably no match for a good crow bar).
We grabbed a kebab from a stall outside the mosque and enjoyed an alfresco lunch in the sun before wandering up to the citadel. Unfortunately we couldn't visit it as it is shut on Tuesdays, as we found out from a shopkeeper where we stopped for Anne to look at jewellery and for me to enjoy a cup of tea. The jewellery was nice, but as it was silver it was priced by weight and a bit steep for our budget especially as we had been talked into buying a scarf for me and a long top for Anne in the souk earlier, neither of which we really wanted (not quite sure how that happened but it was fun and we did get a 'Very good price because I like the English').
Wandering up through the streets of the Al-Jdeida area our ears were assaulted with the sound of metal beating as men shaped copper into huge cauldrons and other smaller items in the myriad of workshops lining the narrow streets. This neighbourhood of Aleppo is perhaps even more evocative than the souk. We popped into one of the metal shops and picked out a slightly battered bowl through the dust, which we bought after a bit of haggling. We never know if we are really getting a good price but the bowl was only a few pounds and we had fun, so it was worth the price we paid to us.
Continuing up into the affluent Al-Aziziah neighbourhood to the north had us passing a KFC restaurant, which somehow seemed strangely out of place (although we had seen numerous other recognisable brands such as Samsung, Nokia and Pepsi).
After a fairly exhausting day on our feet we staggered back to our hotel to recover.
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