Artisanship

Syria is completely devoid of American corporations and this has allowed the many family owned businesses here to continue thriving.  Given the tradition of a father passing his knowledge and business down to his son, some of these shops have been around for five generations.   Picking up from the cemetery last week, here is one of the men who chips away at those tombstones.   One of the items we decided to buy before leaving is an 'Ud.  We befriended this shop owner and asked him to custom make us one.  We could not pass up the chance to have a beautifully hand made instrument for only $50.   A big reason why there are so many expertly made handicrafts is that the locals still use them in everyday life.  Shops are not mass-producing these items solely for tourists.  This man is making the final changes to his pounded-brass teapots.  It seems every house in Damascus has a set of these.   Some of the most beautiful pieces have been the brass work.  Here is a shop owner's son adding silver inlay to a cabinet door.  When this piece is finished, it will also have accents of copper inlay.   Here is an artisans' table for etching brass plates, which is another item commonly found in people's homes.  I want to buy one of his hammers but Rasa will not let me.  She says we already have enough tchotchkes.   In Damascus, there is a whole district for buying gold.  You buy gold jewelry here by weight and do not pay for the workmanship.  We are having him custom make our wedding rings in a traditional oriental design.  This goldsmith's family came here after fleeing the 1914 Armenian massacre and have been in business ever since.   Not only handicrafts profit from this passing of knowledge, the food does also.  This baker and son are making little pizza-like breads.  Probably the most popular family owned restaurants though are the dessert shops.  You just have to taste it to know the recipe has been refined over a 100-year time span.   Next week I will show you some of their products and tell you how you can buy them if you are interested.

 

Robert J Kent Jr- robjkentjr@gmail.com
Development Project Coordinator
RobRasa.com/hisblog
Cell: +963 888-861-483
Voice Mail: +1 (631) 458-1119

Old Town Damascus

Having been in Syria for 4 months now, we have thoroughly explored Old Town Damascus.  Through us continually getting lost in the maze of back alleys, we have found some interesting sights.   This is the main market street of Souq al-Hamidyya.  The only day you can casually stroll is Friday, when everyone is at prayer.   This is the other end of Souq al-Hamidyya, which empties out into a courtyard surrounded by Roman Columns.  Just beyond the columns is the Umayyad Mosque   Getting all the goods to and from market is a hassle.  Here is Bab as-Saghir, one of 11 entry points into the walled portion of Old Town.  With all the traffic, it can sometimes be 40-minute walk from the center just to catch a cab outside the main gates.   This is typical of the wood and mud houses built in Old Town.  People just prop them up as they begin to crumble.   Here is another great example of the alleyways.  You can see the wooden beam and stone construction methods, which people still use today.  Some houses span the alleyway and connect to courtyards on the other side.   Everywhere you walk, there are also ancient wooden doors.  I always wonder what it would take to ship this home and use it as the front door for my house.   In the small courtyards around the mosques, you will usually see gravestones packed in.  This is an example of a rather large cemetery.  Just outside the wall, the tombstone artisans still chip these all away by hand.

Robert J Kent Jr- robjkentjr@gmail.com
Development Project Coordinator
RobRasa.com/hisblog
Cell: +963 888-861-483
Voice Mail: +1 (631) 458-1119

Aleppo, Syria

We spent this week in Aleppo (36°12'16.7"N, 37°9'8.9"E), the UNESCO site that originally made us want to see Syria.  Fabled for its souqs and grand houses, it did not disappoint.   The souqs here are mostly covered and enclosed compared to open alleys of Damascus.   This is just another cobblestone street.   Here are some locals passing the time.   This is just a wall at the Beit Wakil House.  This beautiful restaurant/hotel is why we first wanted to travel to Syria.  Even their bread bowls were impressive.   Here is one of the few shots I got of the citadel.  The earthen mound it sits upon is manmade.  Unfortunately, the silly people who work there decided to close it this week.   The doors to enter the prayer room at the Great Mosque (built in 1090).  This is the sister mosque to the Umayyad in Damascus.  Both were built in the Umayyad period of Islam.   We stumbled on this mosque by the bus station.  An impressive building and it is not even a landmark on the map.

Robert J Kent Jr- robjkentjr@gmail.com
Development Project Coordinator
RobRasa.com/hisblog
Cell: +963 888-861-483
Voice Mail: +1 (631) 458-1119

Mosques

Mosques in the Middle East are kind of like gas stations in the States, there is one on every corner.  Just walking around photographing them, I have come across some beautiful scenes.   This is another shot of the Umayyad Mosque.  Notice the columns here; they are the same style as columns from the Palmyra ruins.  We have never seen a structure with Roman columns that is still in use today.  It was a treat to see how an ancient Roman building might have looked.   The Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque is decorated in the typical Persian style.  This is a great example why we love ceramics from the Middle East.  Actually, most of the best artwork we have seen is from Iran.  I can only imagine what our house would look like if we had a shopping spree there.   This is the Abdullah Ibn Rawaha Mosque, which is right in front of our house.  Every morning at about 4:30 am, we hear the prayers from the four mosques within ear shout of our room.  It is actually relaxing to hear the call to prayer as we drift back to sleep.   Green was adopted as the color of Islam during the Crusades and today, you still see it everywhere.  Just take a look at Libya's flag; solid green.   This is the Al Sinaniyeh Mosque in Old Damascus.  Its inner courtyard is like a magic garden sanctuary from the maze of souqs outside.  The tiles on this minaret are unique to the area.   Rasa and I call this the Star Wars Mosque.  It is typical of the modern style you see around the city.   This is a minaret from the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.  Again, the details are what make this building standout.

Robert J Kent Jr- robjkentjr@gmail.com
Development Project Coordinator
RobRasa.com/hisblog
Cell: +963 888-861-483
Voice Mail: +1 (631) 458-1119

Palmyra Ruins

We just got back from Palmyra, which had a lot of interesting ruins and bored locals.  Supposedly the best site in Syria, this trip overall was a let down for us because of the people in the city.   On the second day, we awoke at 5:30 am to the sandstorm in the left picture.  I took both shots from our balcony, but the right one is of the gloomy weather before the storm.   Even though the ruins are worth the visit, we reluctantly decided to spend another night in Palmyra because if we left, we would not return for my sunrise pictures.  Compared to the rest of Syria where the locals have treated us like guests, here we were nothing more than tourists to them.  Like every other tourism dependent economy in the world, Palmyra has kids begging for money, relentless hotel touts, restaurants charging double for bad food, deceitful taxi drivers, and shopkeepers that chase you down the street (beware of the date man on the corner).   Amazingly, about 30 minutes before sunset, the storm broke and the skies cleared.  I made Rasa run to the ruins for pictures before the lighting changed.  It made for a spectacular sunset because of all the dust still in the air.  This picture is for Pat, thanks for motivating Rasa to use her camera.   This is the completely restored amphitheater.  The inside is well worth paying the $1.50 admission to see.   Since the sandstorm kept us cooped up in our room all day (watching BBC!), we decided to explore the ruins by moonlight.  The floodlights helped a bit also.  This is the Monumental Arch, designed to hide a 30° turn in the colonnade.   The next morning, I finally got my sunrise pictures.  This is the Funerary Temple at the opposite end of the colonnade.   This is the entrance to Valley of the Tombs and in the distance you can see the Qala'at ibn Maan Citadel.  The Towers of Yemliko in the foreground are burial chambers stacked with coffins.  Of course, to see any of the actual artifacts from these tombs you need to visit the museum in Damascus.   This oasis once supported the ancient city.  Near the mountain base, a hot spring runs down the hillside in a channel irrigating all the date palms, olives, pomegranates, apricots and nut trees.  Walking through this labyrinth of paths it is easy to imagine how it looked in 200 AD.  I do not think anyone has rebuilt these mud brick walls for hundreds of years.

Robert J Kent Jr- robjkentjr@gmail.com
Development Project Coordinator
RobRasa.com/hisblog
Cell: +963 888-861-483
Voice Mail: +1 (631) 458-1119