Sayola Zainab Shrine

Umamah bint Zainab was a daughter of Zainab and granddaughter of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. She is also numbered among the Sahaba of Muhammad.
After the death of her aunt Fatimah she married Muhammad's cousin [Ali ibn Abu Talib]They had a common son, Ali ibn Hilal. She died in 66 AH (circa 685 CE).

She is supposedly buried here in this Mosque.

The inside was beautiful, but all glass and mirrors. Pictures were not allowed.

Azem Palace

Downtown old Damascus there are narrow streets with lots of old homes. The Al'Azem palace was made into a museum.









Al-Azem palace, located south of the Umayyad mosque near Suq al-Buzuriyya, was built in 1750 by the Ottoman governor of Damascus As'ad Pasha al-Azem. The architecture of the palace embodies the culmination of Damascene domestic typology at its most extravagant state.
The palace has two main wings: the haramlik and the salamlik. The family wing, or haramlik, is a private space that is connected to the kitchen and servant quarters. It includes the baths, which are a replica of the public baths in the city but on a smaller scale. The public area reserved for the outside guests, called the salamlik, contains the formal halls, reception areas and exclusive courtyards for entertainment.
Simultaneously decadent and serene, this duality is achieved through the juxtaposition of the elaborate and opulent interior decoration and the starkly minimalist exterior facades of the wings articulated in traditional Damascene ablaq designs of alternating stripes of black and white stone. Other building materials, for example marble mosaics, carved stone openings with muqarnas corners, elaborate wooden paneling on the walls and the bedroom's painted wooden panel ceilings that display natural scenes, accentuate the overall impression of sensuousness.
The central courtyards feature fountains and are lined with trees and overhanging vines. The structure of the interior courtyard facade is punctuated by iwans that face columned porticos. This creates textured, spatial walls that are in contrast to the flat exterior walls. This visual play between private and public space differentiation through the use of architectural elements is a direct comment on the balance between the private and public functions the palace serves.
Source:
Rihawi, Abdul-Qader. 1977. Damascus; Its History Development and Artistic Heritage, Damascus: Dar al-Bashar. 176-180.

Site Seeing

A little history.

Damascus is often referred to as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Damascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 8 feet below the modern level.

This picture to the right is old Roman ruins. The market built up around them.

The Citadel of Damascus is located in the northwest corner of the Old City. The street called straight (referred to in the conversion of St. Paul in Acts 9:11), also known as the Via Recta, was one of the main streets of Roman Damascus, and extended for over 1500 meters. Today, it consists of the street of Bab Sharqi and the Souk Medhat Pasha, a covered market.

To the right is a picture of the market, still used today.

The Bab Sharqi street is filled with small shops and leads to the old Christian quarter of Bab Touma (St. Thomas's Gate). Souq Medhat Pasha is also a main market in Damascus and was named after Medhat Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Damascus who renovated the Souq.

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is one of the largest mosques in the world, and one of the oldest sites of continuous prayer since the rise of Islam. A shrine in the mosque is said to contain the head of John the Baptist.

This is me in front of the Shrine that has John the Baptist's head.

Umayyad Masque

A few more pictures inside the Umayyad Masque.

I did not have my head covered so the Masque provided a gown that covered my head so that I could enter the Masque.

The Old City of Damascus

Damascus is the oldest continuous city in the world. It has been ruled by many different empires, Roman... and most recently the Ottoman empire.

During the Roman peroid a wall was built around the Old City of Damascus to protect the city. Here is a picture of the wall that was originally built as protection. The city has since moved outside the wall.








Here is one of 7 doors that were entrances into the old city of Damascus.

The Old City of Damascus is surrounded by ramparts on the northern and eastern sides and part of the southern side. There are seven extant city gates, the oldest of which dates back to the Roman period. This one is the Bab al-Faradis ("the gate of the orchards", or "of the paradise")

Lunch in Old Damascus

Lunch menu in Old Damascus was a lot of fun as you can see they tried to put the menu in both Arabic and English, yet something was missing in translation. I was particularly tickled by the "Piece of lump" "Chicken fumigated" and "Fish and sheps"

Here we are walking thru the streets of the Old City.

A day in the Country...

In Syria I was staying with friends and was immediately accepted as one of the family. Since it is so hot in Syria during the summer people are more nocturnal. They sleep in while it is hot and are up at night when it is cool outside. Even business are opened later due to the heat. It feels strange that everyone wakes up at noon and goes to bed at 2-3am.

The family I was staying with had a summer home on the mountain. It is cooler at higher elevations (which you already knew) and there is a much needed breeze. So we packed the van (mini-van) with 15 people and took the 1.5 hour trip to the country. We even drove pass Cane & Abel's burial site. Sorry I did not get a picture.

Above is me in a fig tree at the house.

We played an old Syrian board game, shown here, where shells were used instead of dice.

It's pronounced Barseese. ("Bar" and then "cease").
I think it's just an Arabizised way of saying Parcheesi. Or maybe Parcheesi is an anglizised way of saying Barseese.

So my first full day was great taking it easy learning the ways and customs of the people of Syria. Everyone I was staying with were Muslim, therefore they chose to cover their head and did not want me to cover my head (wear the Hijab) because it is not my custom. Between you and me they would not have either in the heat if they were not so tired to the religious beliefs behind it. Therefore I only wore the Hijab when asked to, (which you will see in later pictures) otherwise they asked me what I was doing if I tried to wear the hajib.

In the Begining...

The Adventure officially began on July 1st at 1pm.

Everything leading up to departure was busy, but I would not have it any other way. Many are still surprised that I am not in the States, over the last 3 weeks of June my job in LA ended and I decided to volunteer in Palestine followed by a short (3 mo) third breast surgery fellowship in France & Germany.

Before I left LA I needed to pack all I owned in LA and put it in storage. God provided a guardian angel with muscles & a truck to help. It was a good thing because I was working 3 jobs to make extra money before volunteering over seas for the next four months.

Visas were also an issue before leaving. I had not realized that in order to vacation in Syria you need a visa, which cost $131 and is only good for 15 days. So my trip began by visiting Syria with friends for vacation and then will proceed to Jordan to visit their Breast Cancer Center, followed by going to Palestine to work with the Palestine Children Relief Fund in a Mission Hospital on the West Bank.

I was most worried about missing my first flight from LAX to Chicago. I did everything I could to miss the flight but still some how made it. Thank God for Sakura, because she made sure I and my bags made the flight.

My flight left LAX at 1pm on Wednesday July 1st and arrived in Damascus, Syria at 11pm Thursday July 2nd. As you can see from the pictures it was a long flight. The first picture is when I left LA and second is when I arrived in Syria. Thankfully I slept the whole way, because I had not gotten much sleep the 3 days and 2 nights before due to moonlighting.

Syria is beautiful, as you can see...

Internet is limited in Syria due to the government, and I learned that facebook is not allowed.

More pictures to come...