Middle East – Top 5 Destinations!

No. 5 – Damascus, Syria

My Top 5 Destinations starts with Damascus, Syria – known as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

Damascus resembles a large metropolitan city in a typical third world country. The streets are crowded, traffic is crazy, and apartment buildings everywhere indicate a huge and dense population.

However, it wasn’t until I visited Old Damascus when this place really stood out for me. The narrow alleys lined with antique shops are full of shoppers and tourists, any time of the day or night. It’s quite unique compared to the city outside, and visitors comprise of a spectrum of Syrians as well as foreigners. One needs at least two full days and nights to venture into these streets, sit down for some sheesha, check out a few hidden eateries and cafes that are packed till the wee hours of the night. If you can fend off the mulititude of vendors during shopping hours, the place is a must visit.

The best way to enter the old city is through the Al-Hamidiyeh market, an ancient outdoor shopping mall. At the front of the market is the statue of Saladin and the Damascus citadel. Once inside the market, the pathway leads to the Umayyad Mosque, easily the main attraction in the old city. Full of worshippers as well as tourists, the mosque looks stunning both during the day as well as the night.

In 2007, the Old City of Damascus was recognized by The World Monument Fund as one of the most endangered sites in the world.

Once outside of the old city, the old Christian quarters is also worth seeing. Also, one can get an awesome aerial view of Damascus from Mount Qasioun. The Four Seasons hotel in downtown Damascus is an iconic building, and can also be seen from here.

As I travelled throughout Damascus and its outskirts, I noticed that of all the places I visited during my trip, Syrian women are the most beautiful. The women in Lebanon are a close second, mostly because they are more stylish than pretty, whereas Syrians are more naturally beautiful. I became aware of this fact when I visited a local bank to exchange some currency. I swear, Syrian women have two part time jobs – during the night they are supermodels, and in daytime they’re bank tellers! I struggled to do basic conversions because I was so distracted by the eight or nine gorgeous women working there. I almost felt like saying to them, “Why don’t you just hang on to your money, cause whetever I came in here for, ain’t happening!”

A highlight of my trip to Damascus was visiting the staff of the Canadian Embassy. The meeting was to discuss a relocation program for Palestinian refugees who were forced out of Iraq due to the current war. Currently living in camps between the Syrian-Iraqi border, the familes will be moved to Vancouver as well as other cities, with the help of the embassy as well as local efforts to raise awareness and funds, among different groups.