From Syria to Turkey…
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Hello friends!
Sorry it’s taken so long to get another update on the blog, but there are some pretty serious internet censorship issues in Syria that made it impossible to put anything online.
Since our last post we have been to Aleppo in Syria where we stayed in a fantastic old riad in the middle of the souks in the old walled city – it was a fantastic place hung with beautiful brass lamps, antique carpets and grape vines. We visited the old city, and the very impressive Citadel – an incredible fort that we could not help but compare to Crac de Chevaliers in Syria. Crac was an imposing Crusader fortress built on top of a mountain, overlooking vallies in all directions. It had a double moat, and facilities to house 4000 horses and knights and all their food, equipment and supplies for 45 days in times of siege. Best of all, it had a real round table for the knights on the uppermost floor of the inner fortification (Kelly – you would have loved it.) The Citadel in Aleppo actually housed a town population, had a massive dry moat, a king, a church and a mosque, and had all of the city gates brilliantly situated around corners to disallow the use of battering rams to break dowm the doors in times of siege. The views of old Aleppo from the top of the Citadel were stunning – it was looking out over an old Biblical town (which is ironic, as it was a Roman town reknowned for its partying and debauchery).
We goofed around in the old covered souks of Aleppo for a while, where we found out that not much has changed in the attitudes of the people since ancient times – George could easily have picked up a gay lover and arranged a wife swap in the course of an afternoon – it was pretty funny. You had to be there (George would like to state his opinion that it was really creepy – which just makes it even more funny…)
I went to a hamman in Aleppo for the afternoon – a traditional Turkish bath – where I had my own hillarious experience of being scrubbed stupid by an enormous Syrian woman wearing nothing but her own underwear while sitting on the marble floor of a big steam room. She used a brillo pad to tear the skin off my back, arms and legs, and scrubbed ny head with olive oil soap several times before chucking the bar of soap at me, and indicating on no uncertain terms that I was not to leave without thoroughly scrubbing my own crotch. These orders came complete with visual aids and demonstrations. It was pretty funny – definitely 10 Syrians pounds worth of cultural experience.
Now we’re in Turkey, and we’ve had a great time admiring the landscape of the Cappadoccia region. The “fairy chinmeys” created by water and wind erosion have created a fantastic Dr. Seusse version of the Flintstone’s town out of the soft rocks here. Early Christians carved entire underground cities out of the rocks here to help them hide from Roman persecutors, and it was amazing to get to wander through the labyrinth of tunnels that are left. We are loving our time in Goreme – a village in the middle of the Cappadocia region (Dave – you were right – it’s a great place to kick bcak and relax). We have spent a foolish amount of money on carpets and camel bags for our new home, and we’re pretty pleased with our choices. Now we have to reign in our spending for the rest of the summer – oh well – it’s an investment in works of art that we love.
We’re off to have supper with friends – we hope everyone is having a great summer. We think of our friends, families and doggies all the time…
Noel & George
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