So I’ve been here for a couple of days. Overall I can’t say that there is anything in particular that is special about Damascus, but I’m totally in love with it. I don’t know why. In a lot of ways it has nothing particularly special but in so many ways it has evoked this feeling of being exotic and old and historic. Over all the people here have been very very welcoming and warm. Everyday I am met by what looks like disapproving frowns from women in hijab, but when I smile back I receive a warm welcoming smile as well. Not just a nodding acknowledgment but a real smile.

I have come to find that if I linger anywhere long enough I am offered free food! I stopped in an alley way [Old Damascus is filled with lots of little alleys) a man looking out from a window got my attention and then threw some candy at me! In a couple of smaller mosques the watchman have offered me candy. I love watching people make food, so a few times now while standing in front of food stands watching them prepare food for customers they would offer me a sample (this is not usual for locals, that’s clear!). Other times when i want to just buy a small whatever it is to try it, they won’t let me pay for it! Crazy, but lovely too.

There seems to be a lot to see but I have found very little to shoot. I’ll be heading back to the big mosque again tomorrow to find a real image but I’m not sure that I will find anything. I did spend today out of the city in Bosra to visit more ancient Roman Ruins. It was pretty neat, but again a one trick pony.

Me at the Saida Zeinab Mosque

Here’s me at the Ummayid Mosque, I’m feeling a bit like a Jawa from Star Wars.