When In Aleppo...

I just got back from a three day vacation in Aleppo, Syria. Last time I’d been to Syria, was over 5 years ago, and last time I’d been to Aleppo, was over 20 years ago (aka I don’t even remember! :-P) So this trip (like most trips) I was looking forward to!

Day One (April 2nd): I got up bright and early, met with the group, and headed north for Aleppo. In Lebanon, I think the most north I’ve been is right here, Tripoli! So as we passed by other cities, or villages, like Minieh and Halba, I got a change of scenery. Lebanon is so beautiful up there, so green!

It took us around an hour to get to the borders, where I was told that it was divided by a “Grand River”, not so grand if you ask me. We spent about an hour waiting and making the transition from Lebanon to Syria, and I watched my cell phone signal switch from MTC to MTN to SyriaTel. I could only send and receive text messages, no phone calls. But I secretly liked the fact that I was going to be disconnected from the world for the next three days…

In Syria, about halfway there, we stopped for another half hour bathroom break and finally, by 3:00P.M. we arrived to the hotel. We checked in, dropped off our luggage, and took a taxi to the Citadel. Right after we had a scrumptious “Shater Hassan” chicken shawarma sandwich that is! I’m not sure if it was THAT scrumptious, but because I was starving to death, I’d have eaten anything. After devouring the sandwich, we went up to the citadel…

Day Two (April 3rd): Shop Till Your Drop! Seriously, I’ve never walked in my life as much as I did that second day. We went to one Mall in the outskirts of Aleppo where most of the designer labels they had we already have here in Lebanon, so we didn’t spend much time there. Instead, we decided to go to the old souks of Aleppo and that’s where the adventures began! I’m exhausted just remembering the nonstop walking we did from 10A.M. to 5P.M. with a mere one hour lunch break in between. Later that night, we went out for dinner in a place called Kan Zaman/La Caverna. It’s actually connected to the Citadel! It used to be the water house of the Citadel (known as The Hole) and we had to go underground to the dimly lit area, it brought back medieval time memories! All dinner and dance, fun!

Day Three (April 4th): I woke up at 8:30 A.M. Or actually, I was more like dragged out of bed at 8:30 A.M. “NOUR! GET UP GET UP GET UPPP!” So, I had no choice but to get up, get dressed, and sleepily make it down to breakfast. I decided to go big on the breakfast this time: labneh, cucumbers, pita bread, an omelet, rice and sausages, haha, orange juice, water, tea, fruit salad. Half an hour later, I couldn’t move! We went back up to the hotel to pack and wait in the lobby. All set, we took off to Homs, where we had lunch at a place called Julia Palace. I was more in it for the photography than for the food (both were good)…

A7la Dawa, Sham El Hawa (the best medicine is smelling the air :-)