June 11, 2009 – Day 168 – Damascus, Syria

The day was slow, uneventful, and really really hot. We wandered lazily through the Grand Bazaar glancing into the doors and windows of the thousands of shops selling everything from duvets to cheap souvenirs to tea and fruit. A man with a mustache dressed in black gypsy pants, a brightly embroidered, ruffled shirt and a fuzzy black hat sold tea from a 3 foot tall samovar making clinking melodies with the tea cups on his fingers.

Syrian Tea Seller

As we were jettisoned out of the mouth of the bazaar back into the street and away from the endless conveyor-belt-like movement of the shoppers, we found a nice little city park. As with so many places in middle eastern cities, there are tons of locals sitting in the park at all hours of the day (there are essentially no tourists here it seems). We got the last bench because it was in the beating sun and had a view of the sprinkler system. With nothing better to do, we tried to enjoy being outdoors despite the heat and rolling sweat pouring from places I didn’t know could sweat.

The park

Damascus is a busy, constantly moving city. There is quite a bit to see; a couple of parks, some very splendid mosques, the bazaar, the citadel with a view of the city, and of course plenty of really small old streets that are a literal maze.

Random (unhappy) Camel Head