The Syrian Experience

I'm writing from Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. I'm here only for two days which have already ended but I managed to steal some time and look around. As soon as I got out of the airport, accompanied by a very friendly officer who loved me instantly just knowing I'm Egyptian and insisted on taking me to the car, I noticed how I did not feel away from Egypt. For all the next days I really felt at home, the buildings, the streets and the shops all exactly like Egypt. No wonder why Syria and Egypt had that famous union in the fifties. As usual I headed straight to the old areas, Al Sham city as the Syrians call Damascus, has an ancient wall with several doors one of them is Bab Touma (St. Thomas door) which is really attributed to st. Thomas who spreaded Christianity in this area. The whole area is christian with ancient churches and monasteries. The narrow streets are amazing and the architecture of the houses....My God. I visited the Omayyad mosque (Al Masjed Al Amawy) that was established 706 AD When Damascus was the heart of the Islamic world at that time under the rule of the Omayyad empire. It is believed to be a pagan temple and this is clear from the roman pillars all around the place then it became a jewish synagogue, a church and finally a mosque. One of the huge rocks building the outer walls really has the carving of Jesus!! Inside there's the tomb of Prophet Yahia (John the baptist/Yo7anna al ma3madan) and the beautiful Islamic architecture prevails. My Christian Syrian friend Kareem took me in a tour INSIDE the mosque (Moslems and Christians live in a beautiful harmony and amazing acceptance for each other) We went to the very famous Hamidiyah market where you can find thousands of small shops selling beautiful hand made ladies' gouns, table cloth, fabrics and cushions. I went to the herbal store of course and made some shopping, the city is really cheap. We had booza, delicious creamy rich ice-cream covered with about quarter of a kilo of pistachew, we had fresh blackberry juice prepared just by soaking blackberry in sugar and drinking the syrup!! Dinner and lunch are more than I can explain, with all the famous dishes that we hear about in Egypt as Shamy food, Oh just go there and taste the real shamy food. Forget what you have in Egypt... Kebab 7alaby, kebba, Fatta, Farrouj with lemon, kefta, lamb meat are just amazing. Kebba naya (a paste of raw meat with herbs and spices) and sawda (raw liver with spices), fattoosh and tabbooleh are the most famous and delicious appetizers. A very famous restaurant is kasr Al Narjis (Narciss palace) a very old Syrian house that is now a restaurant with oriental music and beautiful atmosphere, I didn't want to go to my dull modern hotel toom. The Syrians are very friendly, you make friends just walking in the street, they love egypt and the Egyptians so much with abnormal passion for Um Kalthoum and Abdel haleem songs. One of the waiters asked me to send his regards and kisses to Adel Emam, can anyone help me having this message delivered???