Damascus

My time in Damascus was bookended by Easters. I arrived on Western Easter and left on Eastern Easter, the second of which pair is far more entertaining to say. Since my hostel was in the Christian quarter, this meant that I was treated to streets full of nicely dressed families, festive fauna, and even a parade. The proprietors of my hostel had adopted a cuddly bunny for the holiday, and we had squeaky chicks for a while as well . . . until they all went back to that giant chocolate egg in the sky.

Easter chicks were on sale in the streets, displayed here on what are most likely the pediments of ancient columns. They are soft and quite entertaining to pet, but don't seem to have very long lives. This is certainly due in no small part to poor treatment - I watched a woman purchase two chicks which were handed to her in a plastic bag, perhaps not the best way to transport living creatures (except, of course, goldfish).



I walked all over the old city, losing and then finding myself among the alleys as I tried to avoid crowds and find tourist sites. I managed to find the Umayyid Mosque eventually, and its mosiacs lived up to their fame. Although I am not sure that I agree with the blurb on the ticket which claimed that this is the world's "most famous" mosque, it is lovely.



My professor of Islamic architecture lectured endlessly about these mosiacs, which show houses of all different styles stacked atop each other. The difference in their designs has caused people to interpret them as symbolic of the vast empire that the Arabs centered in Damascus and Jerusalem, but there has been no satisfactory explanation for the strange perspecitve. Regardless, the effect is impressive, especially when the gold tiles catch the sunlight.



I did my best to surepticiously photograph my fellow mosque visitors, and for the most part the either didn't notice or didn't care. I had no such concerns when I finally found the Science and Medical Museum, housed in the Maristan of Nureddin. It was completely abandoned.

Medieval medical cures are demonstrated by mannequins whose faces don't exactly scream comfort, nor did the antique medical items - the caption below some suspiciously nut cracker-looking objects identified them as tools of circumcision.


The museum also features a rather peculiar collection of taxidermied animals. No explanation is given for their presence, or their outfits.



Some of the most fascinating parts of the city are off of the tourist routes. I found the river after wandering lost through various back alleys for quite some time, and I liked this square with its fountain so well that I sat there for nearly an hour, watching my fellow urbanites eat lunch.



The enthralling thing about Damascus, and really about all of Syria, is the mish-mash of eras, of religions, of people, piled on top of, next to and underneath each other like a multi-level puzzle. A block or so from the entrance to the souq there is a Roman arch, for instance, which the children treat like a jungle gym. And even as the call to prayer goes out across the city, policemen were clearing the street for an Easter parade.



Eastern Easter was celebrated with a marching band and festively-colored accessories as these teens and children marched down one of the old city's main streets to the sound, you might say, of their own drums.