Syria

For the long weekend in March a few friends and I traveled to Syria and Lebanon. After waiting for about 9 hours at the border, we were finally welcomed into Damascus. We stayed in the city for a short total of about 12 hours, where we crammed as much in as possible. Our arrival was quickly followed by a quick midnight snack run and a much needed sleep.

We awoke early and explored Damascus, the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. We walked down the narrow streets of the Old City- passing through 4ft thresholds, indulging in thick, bitter Arabic coffee from street vendors, and admiring the thousands of years of history at every turn.

Eventually we grabbed a breakfast that consisted of fresh squeezed blood-orange juice and the famous pistachio covered ice cream from Bakdash.

We then marveled at the handicrafts at Souq al-Hamidiyya, a long-established, infamous bazaar. But nothing rivaled the awe-inspiring Umayyad Mosque. Worship in this site dates back 3000 years (9th century BC) and it has been passed down as a holy site for multiple populations- from the Armenians to early Muslims. The sanctity of the mosque was palpable- it was a place of tranquility and introspection. We spent a good deal of time just absorbing our surroundings and the change of energy within the walls of the mosque.