Umayyad Mosque of Damascus

Moving down to Damascus

Today we head from Aleppo down to Damascus to join up with Pat and Fiona who should have arrived from Hama and Palmyra.  We checked-out of Mandaloun Hotel after breakfast and took a taxi to the bus station.  We were able to hop on a departing bus immediately after a cursory security check, which was new since our last visit to Syria.

We arrived in Damascus some four hours later, including a 15min stop at the same diner that we had stopped at two years ago.  From the station we took a taxi to Al Majed (or Al Maged) Hotel where Pat and Fiona had checked-in a little beforehand.

After a quick catch-up with Pat and Fiona we took a taxi to the souq.  We walked around and found the underground Palace Restaurant.  It offered only a buffet and it suited the others.  I wasn’t feeling well and hadn’t eaten much today.  I didn’t have much of an appetite but it didn’t matter as nothing in Syria is too expensive.  With our bellies taken care of, we were able to focus on showing Pat and Fiona the sights of Damascus, a city which we were in only two years ago.

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Umayyad Mosque

We began with the nearby Umayyad Mosque.  It was built in 634AD on a basilica dedicated to John the Baptist (who is a prophet to both Muslims and Christians).  His head is supposedly kept in the building.  The mosque is also believed to hold the remains of Hussein, grandson of Muhammad who is very special to Shia Muslims.  Some Muslims also believe that Jesus will return to this mosque on doomsday.

Despite prayers being in progress, we were able to wander around freely, to my surprise.  The courtyard is still as beautiful with the smooth white marble floor that’s dotted with a few pigeon droppings here and there.

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Leaving the Umayyad Mosque we took a brief visit to Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque around the corner.  It contains the remains of Ruqayya or Sukayna bint Hussein, the daughter of Hussein.  Many Iranian pilgrims dressed in black chador come here.  The architecture is also Iranian with lots of mirror-work.  We finished our sightseeing with another walk around the souq.

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We had dinner at Al Marjeh Square (Martyr Square) in the more modern part of the city at a simple upstairs restaurant called Karnak.  We finished the day with a frustrating visit to the internet café where the speed was erratic and many pages wouldn’t load without errors.

And at night, we heard a couple of explosions, to add to the one we had heard during the day.  Not sure what that was all about.

The driveway to our hotel.