Day Tripper

The last few days have been a Damascus-and-surroundings pictorial blur. Starting with the Umayyad Mosque and then spilling out into the tight streets of the old city wandering happily between a wash of colours and smells, Damascus is a city to get blissfully lost in.

Not to be outdone however, there are also wonderful day trips to be had. A short bus ride south took me to the city of Bosra where I recited the opening monologue of Romeo and Juliet from centre stage of a theatre built in the 2^nd century AD. The theatre was pristinely maintained (they even still do shows there) and can accommodate 9000 people. A short stone's throw from the theatre, you can stroll down the remains of an ancient Roman street right up to a mosque built in 636 AD.

Today I took a trip up to Mar Musa and the ancient Monastery of Mar Musa. Legend has it that the Monastery was founded in the 6^th century AD by Moses. The Monastery is literally in the middle of nowhere on a hillside facing out into the Syrian desert. You have to do a solid hike to get up to it but it has some lovely views and tranquil setting for a relaxed afternoon.

The only problem with the monastery is that as I mentioned it is in the middle of nowhere and it was a 20km hike back through the desert to get to the main highway. I managed to get a ride out to it but I had no idea how I was going to get back. Oddly enough however, upon my descent from the mountain I came across some other tourists who were wearing MEC gear. I quickly struck up a conversation with them as they were clearly Canadian. It turns out that they worked for the Canadian Embassy in Syria and very kindly asked me to join them for a picnic. I actually don’t know that calling this a picnic does it justice, there were lovely egg sandwiches, nuts, apricots, salad, and of course wine. It also turned out that they had a car and were heading back to Damascus via another convent a short distance away. So the five of us squished into the car and we chatted away the rest of the afternoon while getting an excellent tour of the surrounding area by air-conditioned car.

This is my last night in Damascus, and while I’m sorry to be leaving it will be nice to move on again. Tomorrow I am heading up to Palmyra to see more ancient ruins and then I continue my trek north as I slowly make my way back to Turkey.