Damascus – the Brazilian
connection…
We take a 3 hour (big and nice)
bus to Damascus, get here by lunchtime and check into an awful pretentious
little shitty get-me-outta-here backpackers hostel. They charge for the use of the internet and
for the second “Nescafe” you have for breakfast. The room is nasty (bed and shower/toilet only)
and yet, the backpackers walk around as if they are God’s gift to tourism,
what’s wrong with this people? So, first
thing we go out to look for another hotel for tomorrow.
We found a really nice hotel (cheaper
and much nicer, free internet, satellite TV, air-con, mini-bar, pretty sure
they won’t charge me for a second serve of coffee at breakfast, and the staff
actually smile), it’s time to see Damascus. We go to the Bazaar, not as good as Aleppo, a
lot of “made in China” stuff, but still ok. We see the big Mosque, very beautiful and
imposing, and they give me a funny monk-like robe to wear, not as flattering as
the one in Aleppo though. Then we walk
around the amazing old city of Damascus. History is everywhere, you can just walk
around for days, soaking up the atmosphere, and we do just that. So, we walk around for like, 7 hours, seeing
everything, sniffing around like hound dogs into every little hole and talking
to the very nice and very funny Syrian people.
So, after walking around for
hours and hours, we go back to our “eternal quest for a cold beer”. Ok, we understand its Ramadan, but we were
told we could get a beer in the (you guessed it) Christian Quarter. So, we
keep going around the old city, asking everybody where it is, almost getting
there, then we meet Mr Mauricio. Mr Mauricio
is an older gentlemen who’s been to Brazil twice, has family in Brazil and
loves the place. He speaks English and French fluently and takes us to a
restaurant/bar where we ACTUALLY have a cold beer (or six). We want to buy him a drink, but it’s no,
thank you, and Mr Mauricio gives us caramels before he leaves. Such a nice man, feel like getting to know him
better, I’m sure he’s got lots of nice stories to tell.
Talking about “nice man”, after
talking to the waiter, we meet Andre a Syrian guy who lived in Brazil for 5
years and loves the place, speaks fluent Portuguese and happens to be the owner
of the restaurant where we are having a beer (or six). He is a civil engineer and is finishing his
MBA. We invited him to join us and have
a great long chat, he buys us a couple of beers and we talk about Brazil,
Syria, restaurants and business visas, trips and meat cuts, a really great
evening. He gave us his card and
numbers and said if we need anything while we’re in Damascus, to call him. Andre
rocks! Anyway, taxi back to bad hotel, the
driver is a cute old bloke who offers us cigarettes and Halls. Change hotels in the morning. Ah, so much
nicer and cheaper!
And walk around we do in old
Damascus, what a great feeling, what a great place. Today we found the Bismaritan
Al Nouri Hospital, now a museum of medicine and science, but originally the
first teaching hospital in the world (the same one as in the book - The
Physician, by Noah Gordon). We are very
excited to find it, only to find out it’s closed for the Eid holiday (end of
Ramadan), and so is the museum. Now on to Ananias Chapel. Story from Bible goes like this - Saul (later St Paul) was sent to bring back Christians to Israel for persecution but on the way he was blinded by God (had scales on his eyes). St Ananias was visited by God and told to visit Saul in Damascus and he converted him. Paul then went on to become a Saint etc.
Ok, after lots of wondering around old Damascus, and falafel sanwdiches we leave Syria for Lebanon.
