Damascus is a three hour bus ride in the other direction across the desert from Hama but this was a bit more expensive at £1.90 each. We weren’t sad to leave Palmyra and our extremist host behind and nor were we sad to leave behind the somewhat desperate taxi drivers who just hounded us and drove us (me in particular) to distraction. We got chatting to a chap from Oregon, Tucker (I asked straight away if that was his real name – he must get that a lot I think from the look he gave me!) and ended up sticking together for the night in a dorm room which seemed to be the best available option. A lovely old house with a big old courtyard in the middle.
We didn’t see that much of Damascus this time as we’re heading on down to Jordan and will have to come back through on our way up. We visited the old souks that seemed even more myriad-like than those in Aleppo and came across some marvellous stalls selling all sorts of Syrian sweet – we went to town in that ‘street’! Ate a marvellous meal of ‘faal’ which is a basic mix of whole chickpeas and fava beans with chopped parsley, chilli, olive oil, a bit of stock and some spices. So good!
We had an incredibly frustrating time trying to find a bus to Jordan. Well, it was finding the bus station really. We turned up to where it was two years ago and then got pointed in all directions by locals, had taxi drivers telling us it was 16km out of town, then 4km out of town and we were just going spare. Finally decided to take a taxi who then tried to charge us more than agreed and that was when I nearly lost it and refused to get out. I think Euan feels sorry for the taxi drivers who incur the quietly seething wrath but man, I just can’t stand being ripped off. Fair is fair. Ten deep breaths. We found our bus to Jordan but it did take a long long time.
Oh, if any of you are travelling into Syria, you can get a visa at the border. We spent a lot of money getting visas in London then the Japanese guy (plus others) just rocked up and bought theirs at the border for ½ of what we paid. We were a bit miffed but they were running a slight risk of being refused.
We didn’t see that much of Damascus this time as we’re heading on down to Jordan and will have to come back through on our way up. We visited the old souks that seemed even more myriad-like than those in Aleppo and came across some marvellous stalls selling all sorts of Syrian sweet – we went to town in that ‘street’! Ate a marvellous meal of ‘faal’ which is a basic mix of whole chickpeas and fava beans with chopped parsley, chilli, olive oil, a bit of stock and some spices. So good!
We had an incredibly frustrating time trying to find a bus to Jordan. Well, it was finding the bus station really. We turned up to where it was two years ago and then got pointed in all directions by locals, had taxi drivers telling us it was 16km out of town, then 4km out of town and we were just going spare. Finally decided to take a taxi who then tried to charge us more than agreed and that was when I nearly lost it and refused to get out. I think Euan feels sorry for the taxi drivers who incur the quietly seething wrath but man, I just can’t stand being ripped off. Fair is fair. Ten deep breaths. We found our bus to Jordan but it did take a long long time.
Oh, if any of you are travelling into Syria, you can get a visa at the border. We spent a lot of money getting visas in London then the Japanese guy (plus others) just rocked up and bought theirs at the border for ½ of what we paid. We were a bit miffed but they were running a slight risk of being refused.
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