We were in Aleppo a while ago...

We never posted our pictures from Aleppo. I don't think we will ever succeed in convincing friends back home how great a tourist destination Syria is - inexpensive, nice people (okay bad government), tremendous amounts of history, and tasty food (yay French colonizers). We spent a long weekend in Aleppo recently and while no one should spend a week there - here are some highlights:

• Wandering around the citadel which has views over the entire city
• A souq where Aleppans really shop (the souq in Damascas and especially the one in Cairo are mostly for tourists today)
• Eating kebabs featuring local pistachios (the word for pistachio in Arabic is Aleppan peanuts) and cherry sauce
• Visiting beautiful Syrian-style homes with an inner courtyard and rooms built around it. Our small inn was in this format with a lovely courtyard and a nice restaurant but our room was a little too authentic with very plain furniture and only a window that opened into the courtyard.
• Hearing souq shopkeepers talk to us in French - who clearly are the only people who visit Syria. Shopkeepers would then run through a list of countries "are you Swiss? Swedish? German?" They never guess American. If you do decide to have a conversation with them and say that you are American - and especially if you speak to them in Arabic - they then say "you must work for the government."

Dan at the Citadel


Outside of the Citadel

Duffy inside a courtyard



Dan at the art museum