Autonomy

Hello,

Thinking of a short trip to Damascus soon - anyone got any recommendations on must see places, general tips, hotels etc?

Thanks!

Auto

jvr20

walk through the old town (walled city) which houses the Christian quarter... the Ummayad mosque, which was initially a roman temple, then Jewish, then a church (the old Roman entrance to the city is just outside it) - the other side of the Roman gate is the main souq (I forget the name). The metal covering is still ridden with bullet holes from an old Israeli attack, and the souq sellers actually sell useful stuff (you see families shopping for socks, tea cups etc, not just tourist tat). the other end of the market is 'Straight Street' aka 'the Street called Straight'... the Romans called it Via Recta, and it's apparently the only sarcastic verse in the Bible (as in it's not really straight).

In the new town you have identikit international hotel chains, you might be able to find a home stay or something in the old town depending on whether you like international luxury you get anywhere, or somethign more 'local'.

In the old town market (I wish i could remember the name... it'll come back to me, might be Hamidiyyah, might not, sorry!) there's an extremely famous ice cream shop, whose name I also forget!

I'm sure it'll all be up on wikitravel.com anyway.

Inselaffen

stayed in the Four Seasons. quite nice and cetrally located. Bit pricey.

i was in a bit of a huff abt being sent there by my company so I didnt enjoy it one second. Especially as if my return flight had been cancelled for any reason I would have missed my flight to Sri Lanka to get married.

didnt even enjoy being taken to some very large dodgy night club on the outskirts of town that was full of East European "Escorts".

look out for the complexes guarded by Palestinian Terrorists carrying AK47. they are dotted around the city. Nice!!