SYRIA
:
SYRIA
:Oblivious of the long queue forming in front of him, the immigration officer is taking his own time in flipping through the pages of my passport. No doubt, the immigration officer is diligently performing his duties in weeding out unwelcomed and dangerous guests to the Syrian Arab Republic...
DAMASCUS : paradise that the Prophet hesitates to enter
"The Turkes say, that their
Prophet Mahomet was once at Damascus, and that when he saw the pleasant
situation of it... ; refused to enter into the Citie, lest the pleasantnesse
... move him there to settle an Easthly Paradise, and hinder his desire
of the heavenly Paradise."
KRAK
DES CHEVALIERS
: Crusader Memories
the Assassins. Headed
by the legendary Rashid as-Din, more popularly known to the West as Old
Man of the Mountain, he had the ability to command absolute loyalty
from his followers through drugs (or as some said, black magic as well).
He used to impress visitors to his mountain strongholds by asking his followers
to jump to certain death off the mountain cliff...
DAMASCUS : Damascus of Islam and the Unknown Damascus of Christianity
"The street called straight
is straighter than the corkscrew, but not as straight as a rainbow.
St Luke is careful not to commit himself; he does not say it is the street
which is straight, but `the street which is called straight.’ It
is the only facetious remark in the Bible, I believe.”
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869
PALMYRA - City of Palms
Hassan, the Bedouin swindler, now turned into Hassan, the swearer. He screamed at me in Arabic, which I could not understand - probably the Arab version of that four letter word...I walked as quickly as I could along the Colonnade, towards the Theatre.
ALEPPO
- Fair City of the North
Under these roofs, one finds
shops selling anything under the sun, cries and shouts of hawkers and labourers
pushing carts, goods-delivery vans squeezing through the narrow pathways
delivering , etc. The whole atmosphere was exotic, although we had
to contend with the dirty and semi-muddy ground, smell of slaughtered creatures
for sale, the reckless van-drivers and the lack of ventilation in the souqs.
DEAD CITIES OF NORTHERN SYRIA - Thirty six years on a pillar
Food is delivered up to these holy men by monks and devotees. (I wonder how they get about their daily digestive business and the products ! The books I read never seem to mention this.)
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