Aleppo, Syria

First of all, we would just like to say thank you for all the little comments we get on the blog and in emails. We really love reading them. Its great to know that people at home are reading and enjoying the blog!

What a Madhouse! We arrived in Allepo during Eid, a Muslim holiday which marks the beginning of the Huj (the name for making the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca). In honour of the festivities and to give Turkish Muslims access to important Muslim sights, the borders between Syria and Turkey are made free to cross for all Turks and Syrians. As a result, the souq’s of Allepo are flooded with Turkish tourists and pilgrims, all stockpiling up on tea, sugar, fabrics, soaps and other goods that are much cheaper in Syria than in Turkey. Our first day in the Souq’s was an eye opener. We had been in Souq’s before but not quite like this. Far larger than the Damascus souq’s, the covered streets and shops were like a giant labyrinth full of thousands of sights and smells. One of the worst smell being dozens of lambs being slaughtered and skinned right there in the marketplace for the feasts during Eid. The smell was appalling and blood ran down the gutters. Literally. We were walking along in the souq and noticed the water in the gutters becoming red tinged. Suddenly the water got a lot thicker and a lot redder. Pretty soon we were covering our faces and charging our way past countless butcher shops, gutting sheep and letting their entrails fall into the streets. The cobblestones were slick with blood, bile and other fluids that come out of sheep when their hung and gutted. Gag! We did our best in the souq’s to become good barterers, haggling and comparing costs from shop to shop. We still think we could robbed on the few items we bought so I guess we still need some practice. On day two we made a tour out to Qala'at Samaan.

Qala'at Samaan was first a great church, the Basilica of St. Simeon, and was made famous by St. Simeon himself who sought piousness above all else. He was the son of a shepherd who, after finding life in a monastery not to his liking, retreated up into the hills to live in a cave under a regimen of self-imposed severity. Word spread of this pious man and people soon began seeking him out to receive his blessing. Annoyed by the invasion of his solitude, St. Simeon constructed a 3 m high pillar so people could not touch him. As more and more people came, St. Simeon built higher and higher pillars, the last being 18m tall. The pillar had a railing on top and St.Simeon would chain himself to a rock so he wold not roll off in his sleep. From his perch St.Simeon would yell down answers to pilgrims questions, but only if they were male. He refused to speak to women and even his own mother could not talk to him. He spent 40 years on his pillars and after his death in 459 AD a huge church was erected surrounding the most famous of his pillars. Once completed, the church was the biggest church in all the world at that time! Christians are crazy! Later on, the Basilica was forced to build walls and defenses with the arrival of Islam and the wars of the Crusades. Thus the Basilica earned its name Qala'at (meaning castle) Samaan. Although not much is left of the original pillar of St. Simeon (just a rock seen in the photo, look carefully) the ruins are a fantastic and mystic place. There was an incredible sense of peace and tranquility amoungst the decorated arches and Byzantine columns.

The Syrian people were very friendly (even if many were trying to sell you something). On our last night in Aleppo and Syria for that matter, a group of 5 youth ages 20 to 27 befriended us and took us around the old town visiting their friends and family. We stopped for tea and were offered heaping plates of fruit at each stop. We guess that its a custom to serve guests a plate of fresh fruit during Eid. Everywhere we went, a fresh plate of fruit would appear the minute we sat down. It was a great way to cap off our time in Syria. The next morning we caught an overnight bus back to Amman, Jordan to try and cross the border into Israel.


Pictures
1- Jeff with blood running in the streets
2- Busy souq
3- Lambs in souq waiting for their turn
4- Anelia in souq shop
5- Loom at work in souq shop
6- Aleppo's citadel
7- Anelia in grandparent's house. Just one stop of the many.
8- Rock of Simeon in centre
9- St. Simeon