Re-exploring Aleppo

Aleppo’s historic hotels

We had the breakfast around 0800 at the same basement restaurant which we ate at last night.  They seemed set up for the German market with a selection of cold cuts in addition to the usual Middle Eastern egg, cheese, breads and pastries (but no pickles).

I ate carefully at breakfast because my tummy seemed a little runny while Kim was fine.  We share our meals on our travels so we can gauge the seriousness of any food poisoning.  Normally if Kim has a bout, I may only have a tinge.  But this time it was the opposite so I’m guessing it’s because my tummy can’t handle the amount of olive oil in the food.

Our hotel, Mandaloun Hotel is one of many historic ones located in the Christian part of Aleppo known as Al-Jedeidah (literally meaning “the new”).  We had realised this on our visit two years ago when we dined in one for Kim’s birthday.  I was eager to return to stay in one of them, so here we are!

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Re-exploring Aleppo

Heading out to explore, we decided on the Great Mosque.  We have no recollection of it from the last trip.  Getting there by taxi, we realised that it was under restoration during our previous visit and was still in progress.

We decided to wander through the souq to get to the Aleppo’s Citadel.  On the way we were approached by “Sebastian” whom we met on the last trip, and a friend.  Sebastian and his relatives  run a shop in the part of the souq facing the Citadel.  He and his friends have a habit of chatting up to male travellers with really suggestive lines.

In Aleppo’s souq.

Since our last visit, we had noticed that Syrian school uniforms had changed from brown to blue.  I had read about this in the New Zealand Herald.  It has to do with a less military look and a more peace-oriented appearance.

At the Citadel, we took a look on the outside.  As we had only been in a couple of years ago we didn’t go in/up.

Aleppo’s Citadel.

We paid Sebastian a visit at his shop had had a cuppa tea there.  He and his brother had aged substantially in the two years.  We couldn’t believe how presumably gay Sebastian “talks dirty” in front of his apparently straight brother.

Back in the depths of the souq, we sat and chatted with Majid (Sebastian’s friend) and a cousin for a while.  It was interesting people-watching and observing the activity of the souq.

We returned back to our Christian area of Al-Jedeidah by foot.  It made sense to try out the other historic hotels and restaurants for lunch rather than eat at our own.  We ate at Beit Sisi, seated at the indoor area rather than the light sandstone-coloured airy courtyard that wasn’t too different from ours at Mandaloun.  We ordered a mezze (pronounced mazza here) of ratatouille, oily green beans, smoked chicken, fried meat parcels, kebab, bread, beer and water.  All food that came to about USD13.

Lunch at Beit Sisi.

After lunch, we wanted to explore some more of the historic mansions.  We made it to Beit Wakil but kinda lost interest with anymore when it came to Kan Zaman and Dar Zamaria.

Back at the room for a rest, my tummy played up again. I definitely had something wrong while Kim was OK.  I put it down to a mishandled piece of food or something that a fly had settled on.

Breaking of fast

We took a taxi to the Citadel to see Sebastian and friends for dinner.  They had invited us to break the fast of Ramadhan with them.  We had kebabs and a fattoush salad.  The latter had pomegranate in them which was refreshing and crunchy at the same time.  Our contribution for the evening were pistachio foldover pastries which we had purchased earlier.

We chatted and watched the business dealings.  We learnt a little bit about some of them, eg. one of Sebastian’s friend was studying medicine in Yerevan, Armenia.  Majid had lived in Sydney before.

Sebastian and his friends say things that can be taken in more than one way, under the guise of English as a second language.  For example, to an American he said “We dream of your land”!

At around 1815 we moved on to Majid’s shop upon his invitation.  We bought some drinks along to share.  All the hospitality goes hand-in-hand with the prospect of them making a sale.  We weren’t in the market for anything and would only consider buying if something was ridiculously cheap.  And that may cause offence after all that hospitality.

Back at the room my tummy still wasn’t right and I started taking tablets after each “occasion”.