Day 10 Jordan to Syria

Monday February 28th

We were up and off this morning early, in order to get to the Syrian border in the morning. We were picked up by three international taxis and driven to the border. It was about a two hour drive. I was anxious because this is the one visa I needed to get from home and couldn't because they only issue six month visas and I wouldn't arrive at the border until the seventh month.

When we arrived we checked out of Jordan no problem and then drove to the Syrian side. Jess had Kiran and I line up behind her because we didn't have visas. His was no problem, because Syria does not have a consulate in Ireland, so he was able to buy one here. When it was my turn the man was upset with me and told me I had to get it in Canada. Jess did most of the talking and at first the two men kept shaking their heads and saying I couldn't get one. But Jess kept after them and explained why I didn't get one in Canada and that I was part of this tour group. He couldn't seem to understand why I hadn't been home for seven months. At last he seemed to get it and he told me to go and sit down. So after waiting for another half hour, they sent me to the cashier to pay $56US for the visa and then come back to get the stamp. The irony is I paid less at the border than Krys did doing it the proper way in Canada, she paid $75 Canadian. Anyway, after an hour and a half, I was in. Thanks to Jess and the patience of my group.

So we got back in the taxis and they drove us the rest of the way to the outskirts of Damascus. There they parallel parked beside a row of local taxis and we had to get out in the street and switch to the local cabs. They drove us to the hotel in downtown Damascus, where we checked into our rooms and then met again in the lobby. Traffic in Damascus was really crazy. Much busier than in Jordan. We got stuck in a couple of jams.

Jess took us on an orientation walk. First she took us to Western Union where we could change our Jordanian money into Syrian. Then she took us to an ATM where we could withdraw some more. After that we went for a walk to the old city. This is the oldest continuously occupied city in the world. We walked through part of the souk area and arrived at the Umayyad Mosque. The women had to wear burqas and all of us had to remove our shoes and carry them. The mosque is huge and very beautiful. The marble floors were very cold on our feet. We spent an hour walking around and watching the people. Then we wandered around more parts of the old city and back through more of the souks. We stopped at one where Jess knew the owner. It was a candy shop and we were given samples of various things, including sugar coated almonds and bits of chocolate.

Next we went to a local coffee shop place where we sat and listened to a storyteller telling a story and acting it out in Arabic. He is apparently quite famous. There were lots of people smoking the shisha there and everyone was smoking cigarettes. It was interesting, but would have been better if we could understand him. There were also three canaries in three cages that seemed to enjoy singing along with him and trying to drown him out! Cemil, Kiran, Jackie and Connor got tired of that and headed back to the hotel.

The rest of us went to another restaurant that Jess knows. The place was beautiful and used to be a family mansion. We sat in the courtyard briefly until our table was ready and then we were ushered in. The food was terrific and the atmosphere was great. Lovely place with great service. After we ate they brought us free deserts, which were a large bowl of apples, bananas and oranges and a plate of baklava. Good time.

When we got back to the hotel, Jess took us to the local bottle shop where we bought a few beer and then took them to the hotel to drink in the lounge. That lasted about an hour and then everyone headed off to bed.