{"id":879,"date":"2020-09-19T19:59:38","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T18:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?p=879"},"modified":"2021-03-18T11:41:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T11:41:47","slug":"once-upon-a-time-in-syria-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/once-upon-a-time-in-syria-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Once upon a time in Syria: part one"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I went to Syria in 1996, when it was a very different country. Today I can\u2019t help wondering about the fate of the people I met there. Everywhere we went we found locals happy to be photographed and to share some time with us. A man in a Damascus mosque stopped to chat about his time living in Liverpool. A Bedouin woman sold us bread by the side of the road. Young children in a village dragged me off to meet their mother.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Men
Chris with our new friend at the mosque in Damascus, 1996<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having recently unearthed and scanned the old slides from that half-forgotten trip, the memories came flooding back and I felt the need to capture them before they fly away again. In addition, I thought these old images and an account of our visit would be of interest. Syria is in the news these days for all the wrong reasons; here is the old Syria that I experienced \u2013 warm, friendly and with a fascinating history, full of wonderful sights and captivating desert landscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes about the photography in this post:<\/strong> our slide scanner is not<\/strong> one of the best, which combined with some deterioration in the original colours etc. means that the images aren\u2019t of the standard I would normally consider sharing, but I hope the interest level overrides any quality concerns. I have tried to identify the locations correctly but will almost certainly have got some wrong – please contact me<\/a> if you spot any errors. In addition, some photos were taken by my husband Chris, and are shared with his permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damascus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We started our holiday in the capital, where we walked the \u2018street that was straight\u2019, visited the Omayyad Mosque and enjoyed our first taste of the delicious cuisine. Its streets were lively, its people friendly and the city was easy to love.<\/p>\n\n\n