So as I think you all know, we decided to go to Syria, and more specifically Aleppo, because Calvin has a friend who would be there, so we scheduled out trip to coincide. Turns out that her plans changed (which were based on her father’s work plans which changed, so I’m not faulting her).
Our Amman – Aleppo flight was at night, only offered once a day, and it ran a little late, so we got into out hotel in Aleppo after midnight on the day that we climbed up to the End of the World (and back – that was the really tough part). Despite some minor trepidation, everything was perfectly smooth and fine regarding tickets, passports, hotel reservations, etc. It was incredibly crowded throughout the downtown, and apparently there was a great sidewalk sale at the corner of our block, so we saw a big crowd of people (presumably women) in black head to toe abayas and burkas scrambling for the best deals. Ramadan is a time to shower children with toys, buy new clothes and shoes for everyone, new tableclothes and linens, and lots of special foods for each evening after sunset, so the streeets and souks are very crowded with peddlers and shoppers – its really a madhouse of activity at midnight!
Needless to say, we were tired. We slept in, had breakfast late, afterwards I walked around by myself and found the tourist office and some interesting sights and neighborhoods while Calvin slept some more (he is a better sleeper than I am, its definitely not one of my strengths). I found a fresh fruit smoothy place on my way back and brought two large ones back for Calvin and I to share. We walked around in the afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner and got to bed early.
Our hotel, the Mandaloun, has amazing character- its very old, build in an Arab style with rooms directly up a few stairs off a central open courtyard. There are couches and chairs and a fountain in the courtyard, extremely charming, and they have added a white fabric space frame roof (almost but not quite closed up) to keep it cooler, along with air conditioning, thankfully. The upstairs floors have a walkway overlooking the courtyard, and there is this totally magical looking elevator. Our room almost looks like something out of the middle ages – the walls are two foot thick stone, set like bricks, with wood ceiling and windows to the courtyard, decorative tile floor, and chandalier. There is also a pretty ordinary bathroom (but its fine), most likely added on semi-recently, and we can plug in computers and there is internet access. The room is incredibly dark at night- its a little cave like, totally isolated from the hubub outside, a nice relief.
We selected the hotel partially because its in the Christian quarter and we thought that might be easier for us, and by that I mean most of all me, for while I’m fine with accomodating local sensitivities up to a point, I don’t want to cover up entirely (for one thing, I’d die of heat exhaustion). I’m a little surprised that even in this neighborhood by far most women are heavily covered, some even with veils covering their eyes and gloves, although there are a noticable few dressed in conservative European clothes (and a very very few in shorts or tank tops). While I have gotten used to colorful head coverings as a kind of alternative to scarves, the total black covering of everything including the eyes still alarms me at some deep level.
Maybe Ramadan has a silver lining as a tourist, although not much. Given that chilling in the afternoon is essential at those temperatures, having things be lively after dark …. way after dark when it is cooler has a small plus side. Of course, that means lots of hotel rooms would be noisy all night long too, and the tourist stuff isn’t open or visible, and the inconvenience of drinking (and drinking and drinking) during the day is severe.
9/11 comes quickly. Have you heard about this total snit over burning Korans in Florida for 9/11? One of the reasons given: ” It’s full of lies.”. Is he going to burn novels next?
Clothes: are the men in long-sleeves?
Happy Eid-al-Fitr! Are you going to buy your child new clothes? Wikipedia lists various customs for various countries, but not for Jordan. New clothes and sweets seem to figure heavily.
Thank you, and a happy Eid-al-Fitr to you as well! We are in Syria for it, specifically Danascus. People have been buying lots of clothes, shoes and toys. The Old City was totally overwhelmingly crowded with people, finally getting to eat treats and wear their new clothes – more bright fancy colorful outfits on the women and girls, men in pure white robes, kids dressed up in party clothes, and tons of boys running around, some with new toy guns =;^(