From what we’ve seen, Aleppo is lively, especially bustling after dark – most likely amplified by Ramadan. Lots of people (mostly covered in black gowns, i.e., women) are buying lots of clothes from sidewalk vendors, so that at times the sidewalks are almost impassable. The cars dominate the streets, so its a matter of pushing through the sidewalk scene on occasion. We wandered around the Christian quarter, which is known for its high stone walls, arches and narrowing meandering paths. On our first foray Calvin and I experienced both not necessarily feeling entirely safe when headed down a path with no one around, and then feeling a little uncomfortable encountering a large numbers of men in long robes yelling (chanting?) about something. They were probably telling the world that god is great, but we really can’t tell if there are anti-American sentiments, so we choose to go another way. That’s about the only time I’ve felt some trepidation, and it was probably entirely unfounded – we’ll never know, but decided caution was not a bad idea.
We went back into the Christian qurter (Al-Jdeida) for a wonderful meal in one of the mansions that has been converted into a hotel and restaurant – this is a very popular trend right now, and creates a really lovely space for dining. The walls and floors were ornate, the large central courtyard was covered with a fabric ceiling/roof, with a central fountain, giving it a beautiful indoor/outdoor look. The food was Syrian/French, and Calvin loved the veal with mushroom sauce. We also had a good rocket salad, tasty and tender shish kabob, and we shared a delicious chocolate fondant and excellent vanilla ice cream. The French influence on the food is a definite plus for us.
We wandered the huge souq next to the mosque, and its very interesting, set in block after block of connected stone buildings with built-in stalls, pointed arch ceiling/roofs, with passages going numerous directions. Again, these were very crowded when we were there. The wares included everything from clothes and shoes, tablecloths and linens, jewelry, soaps, nuts, spices, cheeses, to animal parts from the carcasses hanging on the walls, and much more. Its hard for me to shop, though, because if I so much as look at something the vendor is all over us to come in and the sales pitches are relentless. I did buy some Aleppo olive oil soap (I’ve noticed that my skin is less dry since I’ve been using it in the hotel). I would have liked to buy some jewelry, and saw some interesting pieces, but I tend to turn away at the intense sale pitches. Its also really tough when nothing is labeled with a price, its hard to assess the quality instantly, and I have no idea what things “ought” to cost. One necklace that I looked at the vendor asked for $75, when I said no and walked away he followed and kept lowering the price until he offered it for $10 – by then I was annoyed by how much he had been trying to get and so I didn’t want it, although that was probably a good price.
We visited the Great Mosque, requiring that I cover up almost completely (no covering of my face), thankfully in a light fabric. Calvin was way too amused that I had to wear this ridiculous outfit and he could saunter in wearing his clothes (long pants though). The minaret is ancient, architecture was nice, with a big open tiled courtyard area with mostly men lounging and sometimes praying. Men were washing in the fountain, I believe their hands, feet and heads, on their way to pray. Most of the men in the Mosque were wearing robes, mostly gray. I want into the women’s side and saw women lounging on the pillows on the rugs on the floor, and praying, in a large open room with gold Arabic script (presumably Qaranic verses) on velvet wall hangings. It wasn’t clear where we could go and we really did not want to offend, especially during Ramadan, so we may have missed some areas.
The Citadel, which is an amazing ancient castle on top of a huge human made hill, dominates the cityscape. When we went there it was almost deserted, we aren’t sure why (Ramadan?), but nice for us. (While I don’t think there are religious rules against tourist type activities during Ramadan, people tend to chill or sleep during the day if they can, and avoid recreational activitie climbing around in the sun, given the high heat and the restrictions against drinking or eating during light hours.) We spent half a day wandering around; lots of massive stone rooms, old water works, bath houses, mosques; the throne room is particularly impressive with incredibly ornate carved and painted ceilings and walls, tile floors, chandaliers and stained glass windows.
We learned our way around our little corner of Aleppo, which turned out to be a good thing. (Although it took us a couple tries to find the ATM – a small machine on a wall – no built monuments to capatalism here, they build their big glorius buildings as mosques and not banks!) When we checked out of the hotel the staff came out to get us a cab to the train station. It was around 3:30 pm. We waited awhile – traffic was very busy, almost all of the cabs were full, and the few that weren’t waved no (maybe on break, we don’t know). Eventually we decided to walk, it was about 15 minutes with our rolly luggage, not too bad.
Aleppo transportation system relies largely on buses (hard to guage actual carrying use, but we saw a couple different looking buses, with some extremely full and others just full), cars and cabs. People do walk, and its better than Amman for walking across the streets, but still few lights or crosswalks, and no bicycle amenities. We saw more sidewalk cafes and pedestrian streets, overall somewhat better conditions for walking and fewer traffic jams for cars, it appeared. We also walked around a nice, clearly French influenced park, with walkways, benches, fountains and cafes.
Our Aleppo to Damascus train left on-time to the minute! The seats were comfortable and reclinable (with double arm rests) and the air conditioning worked well (in first class – my reading indicates that air conditioning is the principal difference between first and second class). There were a number of families seated close to us so I got to watch some very cute kids playing. Both the moms and dads talked and played with the kids. These were clearly well off familes, the women with nice (mostly western) clothes with head scarves they took off , the men in slightly formal western clothes, and kids very clean and neat. The parents consciously kept the kids in line for the most part, though I don’t understand why none of these parents provided books, puzzles, games, etc for the kids, who clearly got bored at times on the 5 hour train ride. I asked one of the mom’s if I could take a picture of her adorable child, and of course that is the way to a mom’s heart. We talked a little; we ran out of language before long, but it was a very positive experience for me. People mostly can tell we are Americans, and many have said very positive things to us about Americans. We are clearly an interesting oddity, people call out “Hello” and “Good Morning” (even at night). I feel compelled, though I don’t really mind, to try to put a positive image out there of Americans since they are observing us. We’ve certainly found the Syrians we’ve met to be very warm nice people. The only exception is the extent of heavy selling, that is understandable and forgivable given the relative incomes. Overall we have received a much warmer reception than I had expected, very nice.