18. Damascus (2)

After the Great Umayyad Mosque and the souk, the highlights of Damscus and the sites we visited first, we also had some time for the rest of the Old City.  There is the Azem Palace, an 18^th C Ottoman house, which has now turned into a museum. The museum itself, of popular arts and tradition, is not particularly interesting, but it is the courtyard and the various rooms surrounding it, that make this a magical place. Tiled walls, mirrors, wooden ceilings, marble mosaic floors, and plenty of trees inside, to find some shade. And once again, whatever has been restored, has been done very tastefully.

We also pass by the National Museum. Like the one in Aleppo, this museum has an equally, if not richer collection of Syria’s antiquities, laid out attractively as a walk through time. Again no photos, of course, which is a pity, because I then could have demonstrated quite nicely what has been lost in Palmyra: one of the rich Roman tombs has been transplanted in its entirety to a room in the museum, showing how a tomb would have looked like before an ISIS intervention.  Outside, in the museum garden, are further pieces from Syria’s rich history – although from the description of my 2010 guidebook I do have the impression that by far not all the museum treasures are accessible now.

It is hot in Damascus in June, 40o C during most of the day, which means that our tour of the city doesn’t last the whole day. Great, because it thus allows us to wander around on our own, for a while. The old town is a labyrinth of small alleys, at once bending and turning, then again with sharp corners changing direction. Although many of the old Damascene houses have been, or are being restored – see our hotel -, there are lots of places that have not yet been refurbished. Some of the houses can be looked through, balconies are precariously hanging above the narrow streets, but this is from neglect rather than war damage. Some walls are even supported by metal poles against the opposite side of the street, to prevent the façade from collapsing. And yet, that is exactly the atmosphere I was looking for, and has so far eluded me. I can spend hours here, discovering each and every corner of this maze. Like the atelier of sculptor Mustafa Ali. And the good thing is, you never really get lost, because sooner or later you hit ‘straight street’ again, the Via Recta from Roman times, the street that cuts – almost – straight from west to east, linking the Muslim quarters in the west and the Christian and former Jewish quarters in the east. Very lively, during the day with shoppers and at night with cafes and terraces. If you wouldn’t know better, there has never been a crisis in this country.

next: looking back on the Syria trip.