damascus is a fascinating place and possibly the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. the streets are lined with old, old buildings, many decaying badly, some renovated or in the process of being done up, others divided up into a warren of homes. often the streets are so narrow that the wooden overhangs almost touch. there are arched entrances to lanes and buildings, ancient wooden doors leading into houses, shops and stalls... putt putting trucks, bikes and pedestrians.
the hotel we stayed in used to be a merchant's house and has a beautiful internal courtyard with tall orange and lemon trees, laden with fruit. it's paved with marble mosaics and at the far end there are two marble steps up to a platform with long sofas and cushions. there were candles around the fountain at night - magical atmosphere.
woodsy relaxing on the hotel rooftop, overlooking old damascus
the souq al hamidiyya is fabulous
sampling the best icecreams in the souq - delicious but quite a serious proposition for rory who was determined to get it back to the hotel before eating any.
1 comment:
that is cool
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