Travels in Syria

I know I have posted about Syria already but it is a heady experience- so many things to take in , so much to enjoy. So I just thought I would share a few of my favourite things. ( I will post about the buildings again in the future). The boy above is vending green almonds- they are kept moist during the day by ladling water over them, and then they are sold in a small bag with salt and you snack on them like you would any other nuts- They are considered a delicacy and the tatse is quite almondy milky salty ( sorry about the description...).

This absolutely gorgeous mirror was int he Iwan at the Azzam Palace- the iwan was used as a sort of outdoor sitting room in th ehot weather and is lined with couches and faces onto a fountain ( which was empty) and some lush citurs trees- the tinkling of the water form the fountain was supposed to instill coolness as well as the shade from the citrus trees. The trees were all in blossom when we were there and the smell was exquisite.And I didn't quite manage to squeeze myself out of the photo. I think I could stitch quite some travellers' blankets in such a spot!

Food is very good in Syria with lots of dips like hommus and mahamara and baba ganouj, and as it was spring lots of fresh young greens dressed with olive oil and lemon- and of course always a salad- you cut your own tomato and cucumber and nibble on a chilli!

Lanterns- these lanterns were in an antique store int eh souq in Aleppo- i just love all these lights- but getting them home to Australia would be quite a problem.

This man was making tradional filled bread in the souq in Aleppo. The dough is rolled ount and place on the dome shaped griddle- as it starts to cook he placed crumbled cheese and fresh herbs onto the bread before folding it in half and cooking it a little longer to melt the cheese.

Oh and the piece de resistance- a water jug with basin for washing- this nearly came home with me- the shape beautiful- it stood out in a junk/antique shop to beat all others. Just suitcases are not designed to carry such finery- but it would give me oh so many memoriesI can only hope that by next year this time of the year things have calmed down and Syrian people can get on with their lives again and we can visit again- we are definitely planning another trip.