Sunday 24th January - Damascus

As we’d planned to visit the National Museum this morning we weren’t too bothered that it was drizzling as we left our hotel.  The museum is best visited after you have gone to the various historic sites as the collection of artefacts, arranged by period or location, mean more having been to the place they were found.  We were impressed by the reconstructed underground burial chamber from Palmyra, complete with the stone busts of the occupants sealed within the loculi (pigeonhole like niches in the walls into which the individual coffins were placed), and also the synagogue from Dura Europos with its 2nd century floor to ceiling frescos.

After the museum we headed back into the Old City to find some lunch and have a last look around the souk.  We returned to the shwarma stall by the Umayyad Mosque as we knew we could sit and rest our legs, and this time splashed out for the garlic mayonnaise and salad to go with the wrap (I think we might be addicted to shwarmas).  For desert we headed further east to find the croissant shop on Sharia al-Qaimariyya street that we had passed yesterday, and fresh from the oven and chocolate filled they must rate as the best croissants we’ve ever tasted.

Hunger satisfied, we meandered our way back to our hotel for a quick rest before meeting with Mohammed, a guy we had first meet at a petrol station outside Palmyra last month.  He and his business partner (also called Mohammed) had spotted the Land Rover and had driven over to say hello and have a chat as they were in the process of setting up the first 4WD adventure tour company in Syria and were interested in our experiences and opinions of our time in the country.  They were on their way back to Damascus at the time, so we said that when we got to the city we would text them and meet up for coffee.  As we were somewhat delayed in getting to Damascus due to our change of plans, the second Mohammed had gone back to Dubai (where he’s based), but we met up with the first Mohammed and his friend Saleh.

Over coffee (and a hot chocolate for Anne) we told them about where we had been in Syria and what we especially enjoyed, and Mohammed told us about their plans.  We discussed the merits of Land Rovers verse Nissan Patrols, although to complicate matters if they went with Land Rovers they would have to “bring” in Defenders from the west and then fit the mechanicals into Series body shells (vehicles prices are at least twice that of the UK).  We told them what we would be looking for in a tour company, and hopefully gave them some useful information to help with the plans.

Mohammed kindly invited us to diner at a restaurant in the Old City, in the courtyard of what was once a private house.  He dropped us off at our hotel to get ready as he needed to finish off some work at his business and pick up his wife (his main work is importing electronics, with the 4WD adventure tour a new venture), so we agreed to meet at 2000 which is early for Syrians who don’t normally eat dinner until after 2200, but he made allowances for us strange English people.

The restaurant was lovely, as was the food, which we allowed Mohammed, Oula (his wife) and Saleh to pick in order to gives us a proper Syrian dining experience.  We talked further about the tour company and tried not to bore them with too many of our photographs, then moved onto Syrian life and the outside view of their country, as well as about the root cause of many of the tensions in the Middle East - land (and specifically the Israeli continued occupation of the Golan Heights).  The place was packed by 2200 and nobody else looked like leaving in a hurry as, after their meal, out came packs of playing cards, backgammon sets, water pipes or just cigarettes and conversation.  We had a great evening and hope to be able to repay our generous hosts’ kindness sometime in the future.

Both rather full we got to bed after midnight, the latest in a long while.