Update: 20.10.2005
Place: Aleppo
Day: 5
Distance travelled: 1,244km


Entering Syria

Yes! At the end of the road, snaking up the rocky hill, I was expecting to see run down structures, given that the Turkish side was rather neglected. But it turned out to be totally different. A massive duty-free in very good shape, as well as solid customs and police buildings… As I approached the customs area, a rather polite customs officer pointed me in the direction of the disinfection pool. I found out later that this practice began after the current bird flu outbreak. I drove through the pool where they use high pressure water to disinfect the bottom half of the car and parked in front of the customs building. Here the "friendly brokers" also step in although maybe not as much as in Turkey. They are the people who can help you go through the red-tape in shorter time, of course in return for a small fee… I rejected politely. Surprise, it worked! After the passport, I had to go get the triptyque done so I started to walk that way when a Tourist Information officer asked me if I needed help, speaking relatively good English. I tried the line: "I think I can handle it myself. This way I can also learn more about what needs to be done." Well this time it didn't work; he told me that it was getting late and that if I wasn't done before "iftar" it could become inconvenient for me. I know, these were just innocent lies to change my mind but I decided to go along with it this time. At least I was going to save myself a lot of hassles in return for a few bucks. Anyways, everything was done in about 15 minutes costing me only USD285.00 for the customs procedures plus the "tip", which was the change from the USD300.00 I handed in. But thanks to that "tip" they didn't even look inside the car. And they even corrected the wrong license place number that was written in my passport on the stamp earlier. I personally think that the service I received in return for a 15 dollar tip was pretty impressive.

If you are entering Syria with a diesel vehicle you need to pay a USD100.00 tax for every week you stay in the country, a tax applied by the government to share the subsidy on diesel fuel with the foreigners who would buy it in the country. This tax is not applied to vehicles that run on petrol. So, the cost of 2 week Syria trip along with the third party indemnity insurance and other fees adds up to USD285.00.
We were done by 17:00 Turkish and 16:00 Syrian time. The tourist information officer was going home in Aleppo for "iftar", so I picked him up and we chatted all the way to the city. He said that he has seen many people who went through the border to travel across Africa, but all of them were European with majority from England and I was the first Turkish person that he met doing it. I couldn't decide whether to be proud or slightly worried.

On the way I listened to his love story; how he fell in love with a Turkish girl (Turkish mom, Syrian dad) who was living in Aleppo; how they courted for 9 months and how the marriage plans were ruined because the girl's father wouldn't approve. Despite the fact that he is currently married with 3 children (oldest one 19 years of age), by his own admission, he has never forgotten the Turkish girl, Meral, his first love. He came with me all the way to Hotel Baron, where I was going to stay and even helped me find a place to park my car, and then we parted ways. This little trip was so enjoyable I didn't even mind the secret traffic rules and crazy drivers of Syria. I have to mention that it is 55 km between the border and Aleppo, and it takes about 45 minutes to drive that distance in normal traffic conditions. We arrived in Aleppo long before iftar.


Aleppo

Aleppo is the second largest city in Syria with a population of about 4 million people. The city is relatively flat and consists of two parts: Old and New Aleppo. It is said to be the oldest "continuously populated" city. It has been inhabited for about 8 thousand years. Similar to 3 devastating earthquakes during the 10th century, a severe earthquake in 1822 ripped the city apart, destroying many structures including the castle and killed nearly 60% of the population at the time. Aleppo has sat on the crossroads of important trade routes for long years, allowing it to be a very colorful and active city. Due to its rich and versatile history it has become a major tourist attraction, something that is quite rare for Middle Eastern cities. Old and New Aleppo are divided by a wall which is destroyed at places or lost among the buildings. There are eight gates along this wall, all of which were used to enter Old Aleppo at the time. Most of the gates have collapsed, and the ones that are still standing are hard to locate.
My first night in Aleppo began with a dinner in a traditional city restaurant that I was talking about, after settling in my room in Hotel Baron. Although I arrived at the restaurant long after iftar time they were still serving food and I ordered myself a modest sized but delicious dinner. To my surprise, they served liquors, too. The cost of this dinner in Restaurant Al-Andalip was a mere SP250 (Syrian Pounds); that is less than 5 dollars.


Hotel Baron

I have planned to stay at Hotel Baron but despite the words of caution in the books I didn't feel the need to make reservation. I thought if there was no vacancy I would just go somewhere else. Luckily, I booked the last available room. And just the way I wanted it, a room facing the back (to get a room facing a main street of Syria, you have to be either insomniac or narcoleptic.)


Hotel Baron
Check out the thermometer on the wall!

I want to tell you a little about Hotel Baron. Hotel Baron is one of the oldest - maybe THE oldest- hotels of the Middle East. Established in 1911 and never been renovated since, except for some of the furniture and bathrooms. The founder of the hotel was Krikor Baron Mazloumian, an Armenian from Arapgir who left Anatolia at the end of 19th century when an Ottoman Pasha advised him to do so. First he went to Beirut, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, then he moved to Jerusalem. At the end he decided to settle in Aleppo and opened Hotel Ararat, mainly to serve European tourists. Later, his sons opened a hotel and dedicated it to their father, naming it Hotel Baron. Baron's Hotel quickly became very popular among the westerners, especially when Berlin-Baghdad railroad was built and Orient Express started to run. At the time it was in the suburbs of Aleppo and the customers were advised against leaving the hotel at night. Thomas Edward Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia), Agatha Christie, Mr and Mrs Roosevelt, David Rockefeller, King Faisal I of Iraq, Charles Lindberg, Baron Max Von Oppenheimer, General Liman Von Sanders are just few of the celebrities who stayed at Baron. The "guest book" which has the scribbles of all these guests is said to be missing for a while now. They say Agatha Christie completed the first part of her famous novel "Murder on the Orient Express" here. One of the most important guests of the hotel is Mustafa Kemal. Though it is not known when and for how long he stayed, Madame Lucin, the current female manager of the hotel says that he stayed in Room No. 201. Madam Lucine is the daughter of an Armenian family that had to leave Anatolia following the 1915 Armenian emigration. We had a few rather pleasant chats with her.


Tamu, the bartender of Hotel Baron
Canadian Dry and White Horse posters on the wall are at least 45 years old.

In my first morning in Aleppo, after breakfast I was set on a mission to find my old friend Ahmed Hamdi, so I asked the reception to put me through him. They told me that the 6 digit number I have, must have either been replaced by a 7 digit one, or an entirely new number. Some six years ago the 6 digit phone numbers became 7 digits. (How many years have I had Ahmed Hamdi's card, I wonder.) Some numbers now have an extra digit in the front while others in the middle. Why would they add a number in the middle? So if you don't know the new number, and you can't figure it out by trial and error, you are totally out of luck. What about the "telephone directory"? Well no luck there either, apparently since Ahmed Hamdi is a very common name in Syria. They said maybe if I have his address… On the card I only have a PO Box address which wouldn't help getting the address due to privacy reasons. I tried the Tourist Information Bureau and still no luck. Bizarre, right?.

I went for a walk in the city then through the famous covered city market called "souk" and the narrow streets of Old Aleppo, to my mistake without the ear plugs. I have always said that the cultural level of a society is inversely proportional to the level of horn usage in the streets. In Turkey, too, as you go to the east the sound of horns increases. Here there isn't a moment of quiet. Everybody honks their horn at all times; I guess that's a rule. Not sure why. You see a totally empty road with a single car driving along, and he still beeps a few times. In short, you go back to your hotel in the afternoon dazed by the noise.
Something that escaped my attention in my last trip to Syria, but this time I was surprised to realize that following the death of Hafez el-Assad and with his son Basher taking over, the expression of "living with fear", quite noticeable in the past, has been erased from people's faces. You can also see this change from the empty spots on the walls where pictures of Hafez el-Assad were before, some replaced by Basher's. In the past, wherever you went you would see at least a couple of el-Assad posters. On the streets giant banners and boards with his face on them… Turn your head in any direction and you would see one. Now most of them are gone. To those who don't know how it was before, maybe it sounds like I am exaggerating but for those who have been here before it is truly an amazing change. I guess it is an indication of a softer administration...


Souk (Covered Market)

Aleppo's covered market might not be as big as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul but its far more crowded then Mahmutpasa. The reason is that it is a market place that appeals to the locals; they can find what they need here as opposed to the Grand Bazaar which is more geared towards the tourists. It is set up on many streets that are parallel to and cross each other (all of which are souks with different names - Souk at-Tarboush, Souk al-Attarine, Souk as-Saboun, Souk al-Farain). Even though this bazaar appears to be like Istanbul's Grand Bazaar for the tourists, it is more like a Mahmutpasa or Misir bazaar, a Beyoglu or Sirkeci to the locals of Aleppo. You can find it all here, butchers, bridal wear shops, jewelers, draperies, carpet shops, toy shops, from hardware to offal shops, shoeshine parlors and leather works. They are all concentrated in certain parts of the bazaar based according to their type of business. For instance, to the south of Souk al-Attarine you will find more fabric, shoe and clothing shops, whereas south of Souk at-Tarboush is home to draperies.


Aleppo bazaar (Souk) is busy everyday except for Friday.

Though the history of the Bazaar dates all the way back to 13th century, it has expanded to its current size during the Ottoman period, mostly between 16th and 19th centuries. It is a little difficult -and imo even unnecessary- to see the entire bazaar. Seeing a few of the main streets gives you a good idea about the bazaar anyway. But this alone would take half a day easily. And then there are side streets (it is hard to call them streets), definitely not for the claustrophobic.


"Silk merchants" is a place that tickles your fancy.


Sharia Bab Qinnasrin (Bab Qinnasrin Street)

Sharia Bab Qiinnasrin starts from the Bab al-Qinnasrin (Qinnasrin Gate) on the southern wing of the wall that surrounds the old city and goes all the way to Souk an-Nahaseen. It is a street currently renovated but its authentic features are maintained, as part of a rehabilitation project funded by Germany. Bab al-Qinnasrin is one of the few gates which is still standing and -in my opinion- the most impressive. Despite being in the south side, since its facing the west, it allowed the old city to breathe in the clean air coming from the Mediterranean. You walk on stone ground, through a labyrinth of high walls of stone structures. I came across interesting soap factories but they were closed because it is not the right season. Soap factories begin production following the olive harvest once olive oil is produced. Soap is made of pure olive oil and it contains no additives in order to dry faster. It takes an entire summer for the soap to dry. Since the producers of today don't have that kind of patience, the number of soap factories declined dramatically. Right now there are only 7 factories which claim they make soap out of pure olive oil, but its said that only 2 are genuine.


Bimaristan Argun is a peaceful place.
The patients in the last stage of their therapy are looked after here.

Another interesting place on the Bab Qinnasrin Street is Bimaristan Argun. Bimaristan is a mental hospital built in 1354 by the Mamelukes. The hospital is named after the person who built it, Argun. Bimaristan means "place of health" in Persian language. They implement a 4-stage therapy to cure the mental patients. During the first stage, the patients are treated in little cells surrounding a courtyard with a fountain in a little blue pool in the middle and above it a round opening to let the sun in. Highly aggressive patients would receive a treatment that lasted 6-7 months in their cells, looking at the "color blue", listening to the "sound of water" and seeing "the sunlight" through the iron bars on their cell windows, all accompanied by the "music" played by a group of musicians sitting by the pool. By the end of this first stage, they would join the next group up. As they go up to the next group, the cells, the courtyard and the pool would get a little bigger. During the last stage of therapy, patients are allowed to step out to the courtyard and even given kitchen or cleaning duties to help them adapt to the real life. My guide here was Murhaf, a student doing his master's degree in archeology.

Al-Jideyda

Ancient ruins, mosques, churches, museums etc., has never appealed to me in my travels unless recommended as a "must-see". Instead, I have always been attracted to places where life continues as it was from the beginning, unspoiled and authentic. Al-Jdeidah is such a place. Even if not as big as Old Aleppo, it is located just outside it. It is a little neighborhood which prospered mainly during the Ottoman period. In time it became a place where mostly Armenian people settled and now it is a trade center for the Armenian businessmen. It is full of streets and buildings that have not changed or lost its authenticity from when they were first built. Narrow streets lined with buildings without windows on the street side -just like in all old Middle Eastern (and Turkish South Eastern) cities… The entrance to all of these buildings is through a door that opens to a garden with a fountain in the middle or a covered courtyard. Life pours into these gardens or courtyards from the balconies that surround them.

Some Syrian entrepreneurs have restored old buildings and converted them to boutique hotels and expensive restaurants. Most popular ones can be found along the Sissi Street.



Al-Jdeidah, Sissi Street. A very concerned vendor.;
A moment ago he was chased by the market police.
Sometimes Sissi Street is a safe haven for them.

The Castle of Aleppo

The castle of Aleppo is a citadel on a hill in the middle of Aleppo. Because of its shape the hill looks artificial but it was a natural formation. The citadel was built in the 3rd century BC on top of a temple from 10th century BC. It was a stronghold that protected the Muslims from the Crusaders and during that time (12th century AD) it was reinforced with a 20 meter deep and 30 meter wide moat with steep sides surrounding the citadel. During the reign of Mamelukes between 13th and 16th Centuries AD, more reconstruction and reinforcement work took place. The entrance to the citadel is on the south wing, through a gate connected to a bridge standing on eight columns over the moat. The National Museum, a bath from the Mamlukes period, and the Ayyubid Palace can be places of interest in the citadel. The renovated Throne Room with wooden fixtures in the Ayyubid Palace is a beauty not to be missed.

Ayyubid Palace - Throne Room

Yes I said the mosques do not interest me, but I was actually curious about the Khosrawiya Mosque in Aleppo, one of the early mosques by the renowned court architect Sinan. When I went to visit the mosque it was pouring down and I was told that the mosque will be open for visit in two hours. I waited for a while in one of the nearby cafés. But the rain was getting worse and I thought if I waited any longer my camera and I were going to be soaked, so I semi-walked semi-ran back to the hotel when the rain eased a little in between. Still, I got drenched.

I have decided that I have spent enough time in Aleppo. On October 20th at 12:00 I will leave for Lattakia via Edlib Road, and on the way, stop at the St. Simeon Monastery. I don't think spending such a long time in one city and writing so much about it will happen again. It was mainly because of my affinity with
Aleppo and the need to stay somewhere to rest up to recover from the trip preparations. From this point you will see me move faster and write less.



Entrance to the Castle of Aleppo
It is pouring outside and there is a "river" running from the castle out.

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