Damascus Cityguide

The city lies pressed up against the hillside, and in high summer it can get very, very hot. Night-time temperatures can be as high as 38 degree. It is a dry heat, however, the air is not humid, and this makes it bearable. This city is a veritable oasis, and its height above se level (almost 700 metres) guarantees that its climate is always bearable, even to those whose skins are used to more temperate climes.

The name Damascus - or As-Sham, as it is called in colloquial Arabic - means "northern", or rather, signifies that is lies to the north of the Land of the Prophet, Arabia proper. Its distance from the centre of Islam has had an important influence on its history, which is reflected in the contemporary cityscape too. The old town occupies a tiny area of less than a square mile. The sight of the narrow, cramped streets might put the tourist off at first, but once inside the old walled town, the bazaar area or souk will soon relax any feeling of uncertainty. The main street of the bazaar quarter leads to the Omayad mosque, one of the pearls of the old city. It was built in around 705, and anyone who visit it today, approaching it through the noisy, spice perfumed streets of the souk, is sure to find it a moving sight. Damascus is one of the main Islamic capitals, you are standing on literally centuries of conquest and reconquest. Outside the mosque the crowds of the faithful perform their ritual ablutions, inside there is a true sense of awe and of the once-great power and influence of the Islamic empire.

Back in the souk, the visitor will probably feel as if he has just stepped onto the set of The Thief of Baghdad. With one or two minor incongruities - modern women's underwear and household goods - nothing seems to have changed here for centuries. In the golden souk there are literally tons of jewellery items waiting to find a buyer. It should be noted, too, that there is no chicanery allowed in the golden bazaar. The merchants ruthlessly exclude cheats and tricksters from their official body.

The souk is a must for the old-world atmosphere it evokes, but the neighbouring side-streets are full of atmosphere too: teeming with master craftsmen, piles of spices and children darting in all directions. The feel of the town derives from the fact that Damascus has always been an important harbour, a stopping-off place in the Arab east. Those who once occupied the city, beginning with the troops of Alexander the Great, and continuing with the Romans and the Persians, have all left palpable marks on the city. Only the Jews have left relatively little trace. The city's most recent foreign heritage has been left by the colonising French, and their influence is clearly felt both in the culture and in the architecture of the colonial-style houses. Though these houses may look European on the outside, however, as often as not they conceal a very Arab interior, filled with gilded furniture and with prints on the walls - which could be anything from Picassos to representations of the Victory of the Prophet.

Another unique characteristic of Damascus is its sunset. The bare rock which stands to the west, one of the landmarks of the city, is covered by a purple and pink must as the sun drops. To the European unused to such an orgy of colour, witnessing the event can seem almost other-worldly.

In early spring the city is buffeted by the khamsin, the fifty-day wind. This bowls and blusters non-stop and unstoppable, and its relentlessness can be the cause of severe depression. The desert dust that it carries with it is so fine that once it enters your clothes, it is almost impossible to wash it out.

With the arrival of Ramadan, Damascus is at its most appealing. Ramadan always falls at a different time, because it is calculated according to the phases of the moon. By day, lean and hungry people go about their business, but as soon as the guns go off, the lights are lit, and whole families congregate at the back of their shops and begin feasting by candlelight. In the evening all the restaurant along the nearby Barada River open up, and people sit out and eat under the string of fairy lights. (During Ramadan the faithful Muslim refrains from eating from sunrise to sunset, does not smoke, and remains celibate. He even spits out his own saliva.) After sundown, however, the music strikes up and the belly-dancing begins. There is nothing "exotic" about this: it is an erotic folk dance, no more no less.

Those who are interested in food, and want to sample the cuisine of the Near East, will find no place better than Damascus for offering an introduction to the region's gastronomy. One of the best ways to sample what there is to ask for a large or small mezze, a collection of hors d'hoeuvres (consisting of 24 or 48 separate dishes): a rich mixture of meat, vegetables, oils and spices. And those who have still got room for dessert should remember that sweet means sweet in this part of the world - not to mention highly calorific.

But one of the best things about Damascus is its location. It is an excellent jumping-off point of a number of other palaces in the region. Anyone wanting to travel in the Near East will find it difficult not to go via Damascus - and once there, it is easy to travel onwards to Jordan and Petra, to the Dead Sea and to the Holy Land. Nowadays there is a motorway connecting Damascus with Beirut, and Baghdad is a mere 700 kilometres away. Damascus is the ideal first stop in a fascinating journey.

Fodor György