in range of mobile data services, and it's time for me to retake the
reins after the excellent job done by Liz of keeping this page
updated.
Syria was, in general, a fantastic place with great historical sites
and wonderful people. I did my time riding in its vast eastern
deserts, but also discovered that its western half is rather more like
Provence than Arabia, making for some extremely pleasant - albeit
mountainous - riding through terraced olive groves.
Along the way I visited classical ruins left by Alexander or the
Romans, Mosques built by Umayyads or Abbasids, Churches from the
earliest days of Christian monasticism, and of course castles built by
the Templars and Hospitallers to consolidate the gains made during the
First Crusade.
I stayed in a restored Ottoman courtyard hotel in Damascus, in a date
plantation in the desert, on the hillside overlooking Krak des
Chevaliers, on the floor in the cell of a Maronite priest in Banias,
with the Isma'ili family of a local politician / poet / taxi driver in
the Assassins' town of Masyaf, and in the medieval maze of the Aleppo
souk.
There have been very few dull moments: I have had a town oud maestro
summoned to serenade me over a nargileh, seen the meagre tomb of
Saladin, become lost in the dungeons of Krak des Chevaliers, attempted
to answer a Damascene imam's questions about the Christian tripartite
God, heard that the crusades were retribution for muslim depredations,
heard that the crusades were an act of unwarranted religious
aggression, had coffee in the shop of an oil man turned plastic flower
salesman, taken tea with a family of rather impoverished Kurds, and
heard grace sung at dinner in Syrian Aramaic. And that's just one week
in Syria...now I move on to Turkey, and the road across Anatolia to
Istanbul.
--
Sent from Gmail for mobile mobile.google.com
No comments:
Post a Comment