Damascus

I’m from the U.S. and people ask me, “Was it Syria?” Westerners, especially Americans, have a horribly distorted view of the Middle East. I had no problems telling the hospitable Damascenes that I am from the United States. The typical response was, “Oh, you are welcome here!” And when heard speaking English in the streets, the locals would ask if they could help us find anything.

Besides friendly folk (about the friendliest on earth), central Damascus also boasts wonderfully clean streets, beautiful architecture, a fantastic souq, and the best food I had in the Middle East (wow!).

Damascus is a beautiful city, oozing with history,religion and culture; people are very friendly (especially when they know you’re Lebanese ;) ) and walking around the streets of Damascus to see people and its old buildings,especially at night, is a very nice experience; I would love to visit Damascus again one day!

Worth visiting!

I’m going back to Damascus on a business trip for a week. Like last time (I’ve been there in march 08), I have no time to go arround much.

but what I really want to do, is to find time to visit the places on the UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage List in Syria.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/

One of the most wonderful cities in the world. You can hear the history breathing, for real. The whole city is full with historical sites. People are very nice and friendly. Food, oh God the food, amazing food. I have to admit, I gained 17 pounds from this trip. You just can’t stop eating. Very safe city though, even at night. Stayed in a nice small hotel and the service was great. Very cheap transportation. The old city is amazing, you can spend days walking the narrow streets and visiting places and shops.

I went to visit Syria with not many expectation except that the people I was told were very friendly. I loved everything about it, the people, the narrow streets, the souqs, the art, the history. Amazing! What I loved the most is the tolerance and harmony displayed by Syrians. I recommend to all. Would love to visit again. We stayed in a Hotel in the old, right in the middle of all the action. It was also a conversion of an old style Syrian house. The interiors, gardens were an art form in themselves.