we made it through immigration and were let into syria yesterday! there was some concern with the recent amazing actions of our amazing government crossing the syrian border from iraq (even the us embassy is still closed here in damascus amid fears of mass riots, etc), but we smiled alot and were very polite as advised by our trip leader. we left madaba yesterday and stopped in jerash on our way to the border crossing. jerash is the roman gerasa, a formerly wealthy and important town between babylon (baghdad), jerusalem, istanbul, and the arabian peninsula. there was a hadrian's arch (this guy gets around- he has some stuff in turkey and of course his wall in northern england) as the entrance about 80 feet tall with triple arches. from the entrance we walked along a cobblestone columnaded street to a hippodrome where they raced chariots and had other events; they have started having chariot races there again, but we didnt have time to see one... there was also a temple for jupiter and diana (the greek artemis) both with several preserved columns with incredible leaf designs at the top (is that corinthian?). there was also an amphitheater with really good acoustics (if you stood in the middle and talked it sounded like you were in a tube, but everyone else in theater could hear you even if you were whispering). we were walking around a really cool square with 58 standing ionian columns when we heard some bagpipe music coming from the amphitheater. we walked up to check it out and it was one of the oddest things i have seen yet on this trip. it was four jordanians in bedouin dress playing three bagpipes and one highland drum in the center of a roman amphitheater. if that isnt a mix of cultures i dont know what is! apparently some of the jordanian military were trained in scotland... as we were leaving the ruins mon and i spotted a black speckled gecko looking lizard. their toes are so cool with the little sticky pads on the ends! i took a picture of course. after jerash, we headed towards the border.
the border was pretty easy, we waited for a bit to get our visas checked and such and then were on our way. from the border it took about an hour or so to get into damascus, the capital of syria. much to the contrary of our government's warnings we have seen no mass riots, flag burnings or terrorists yet in damascus. no one has tried to kidnap us yet either. we have seen lots of women without burka or even headscarves- damascus seems to be much less conservative than anywere in jordan or egypt. we have also been scammed 3 times, but i think that is because most people here don't speak english so there are lots of misunderstandings. none of them were too bad- overcharged for two meals and one turkish bath. today we headed to old town to check out the umayyad mosque (the 4th most important site to muslims after mecca, medina and jerusalem). the outside has two minerets with loud speakers for call to prayer (5:30am, noon, 2pm, 4:30 and 6). the early one woke us up all across egypt and jordan... it is an incredible thing to be woken up by. the interior of the mosque was huge with a large open-air central square 200 yards long with marble tiles and a fountain thing in the middle and some gazebos with incredible marble islamic designs or mosaics. the square is lined with marble arches and ornate lanterns hanging from the center of each. across the square is the central prayer area inside really ornate carved wooden doors. also in this area were the remains of john the baptist (if you touch his tomb you have magical powers but so far all i've had is a stomach ache). also there is hussein's tomb who was the grandson of mohammed. this one was insane, people shoved and trampled and then would chant and cry and fall down and shake when they touched the tomb. it is obviously a very spiritual place for them. after the umayyad mosque we went to what our trip leader calls "the disco mosque" (we never learned the real name). the interior is covered in mirror mosaics and has elaborate chandeliers hanging from the ceiling so it does look a bit like a disco. it was beautiful! you'll definitely have to see pictures to get a good idea of this one. we also wandered around old town quite a bit today. we found the spice market (it smelled so yummy and exotic and with really really cheap saffron). spices are heaped into little boxes with arabic labels and you buy them in bulk. in between some of the spice stalls there were candy shops with heaps of shiny sugared candies in all colors, shapes and textures. we tried a few different kinds with mostly negative experiences except for a sort of apricot turkish delight with pistachios and powdered suger- tasty. another must have in damascus is yogurty ice cream dipped in raw sliced pistachios. this is particularly delicious and about $1 us (50 syrian pounds)- you see alot of syrians walking around the markets eating this. once you get past the spice market, the alley ways narrow and the open space between the buildings is filled with a trellis of some sort of vine whose leaves are changing to fall colors. also balconies and rooms of the buildings along the alleyways hang out over the street reminding me so much of the markets and alleys in york, england. the four of us have been continually noting the similarities between old town damascus and old towns in many european cities. after wandering for a bit, we decided it was time for a hammam (turkish bath). the nearest one was open for women only at the time we went so marshall was exiled across old town to a men's only bath. the hammams are usually in old houses and consist of a very very very HOT steamroom (i could barely breathe or see anything), a good hard scrub and rinse and a massage. one of the female attendants scrubbed me down with an "abrasion" pad and she scrubbed so much dirt off me! it made it look like i hadnt showered in months. the massage was nice, but a bit to short for my liking. my shoulders and back are still all knotted :( altogether it was a fun experience chatting with the other ladies in our tour group (we independently showed up at the same bath at the same time!) and trying to communicate with the syrian locals there for a relaxing time away from men. it was incredibly relaxing and we're all nice and sparkling clean now. it is evening now so i think we'll find a street cart with bread or felafel for dinner and wander around a bit more. we are all really taken with this city. it is so much fun just wandering around and there are almost no tourists here so you don't get hassled by in-your-face venders as in egypt. tomorrow we are going to the national museum in the morning and then we head to palmyra to check out some ruins. here's something to think about- in palmyra we will be about 60 miles from iraq.
