Hello to all from Damascus. As we planned our trip, we had a tough time explaining to people why we were heading to Syria at all. We wanted to travel overland from Turkey to Lebanon, to "thread" our travel from Europe to the Middle East but we had little else to justify our stay in Syria. We planned six or seven days to cruise through Syria; it's now been twelve days in Syria and we've barely scratched the surface.
Though we have not had the Servas contacts to draw us past the tourist sights and into the lives of the people, the sights of Syria flood our heads with Roman and Persian history and max out our camera with beautiful desert ruins. Head coverings are common on women and men here. The hijab is worn on nearly all of the women in Northern Syria and a bit less here in Damascus. The streets are crowded with people and litter, the roads swarming with honking yellow taxis.
Honking in Syria deserves a digression. The horn in the US is reserved for emergencies or at least urgency, but in the Middle East it is used liberally. The honk is a blinker when passing another vehicle on the left, it can be used in place of the brakes at a stop sign, or as a greeting to a friend on the street. Honks at a pedestrian could be a warning to stay back, or as an encouragement to cross in front of the giant goat truck. A taxi's honk at a tourist is encouragement to get in and take a ride. Honking in gridlock seems to signal solidarity or perhaps love for the president. A bike might try to live up to the others on the road with a siren/horn combo of Chinese origin or at least a bicyclist whistling his heart out, but inevitably it'll be overwhelmed by the onslaught of car horns.
The food of Syria deserves its own posting but I hope these pictures and words cover for now. After Turkey, which had some incredible culinary moments in a sea of less than exciting grilled chicken shish kebap and greasy cheese borek, the freshness and spice of Syrian food keeps us smiling. Fresh juice smoothies of orange, persimmon, mandarin, pomegranate, banana, honey, and plum are a breakfast staple. Fresh hot falafel wraps are about 30 cents and available on every corner. Tea in Syria is served sweetened and plentifully--coffee is roasted with cardamom and served Turkish style. Dinners are our favorite--Mezze are the mostly cold appetizers we associate with Middle Eastern food. Dishes like hummus, moutabal (what we call babaganoush state side), babaganoush (a chunky medley of roasted eggplant diced roasted tomatoes and peppers), tabbouleh, mouhmara (a new favorite of roasted red pepper blended with walnuts), stuffed grape leaves, and fatoush salad drizzled with pomegranate syrup and speckled with perfectly crisped pita. A selection of these mezze are served with piles of pita bread (often still steaming from the oven) and shared from common dishes. Mercy and I often barely finish the spread and leave the table groaning but so happy!
The "pudding shop" is another uniquely Syrian experience that I hope could spread to the rest of the world. Shops are the size of a Starbucks but dedicated to the perfection of pudding instead of coffee. They have only three or maybe four options for sweet milky snacks but they are plentiful and cheap in the stainless steel, fluorescent lit cafes. You can sit down and enjoy pistachio covered creaminess or take one for the road complete with a little plastic spoon. I make a point of trying the offerings of as many of these establishments as possible.
We head to Lebanon tomorrow (November 13) and I plan to run the Beirut marathon on Sunday November 18. The food is supposed to be the best in the M.E. I can't wait to be the judge of that! We've made contacts with a number of locals in Beirut to meet up with while we're there and I'm armed with great information about family still living in Kab Elias. The adventure continues.
The connections here in Damascus are not so good so we can't get pictures in here, but all of our Syria pictures are labeled and in flickr, check them out here
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