Travelling to Syria isn’t just something that you do on a whim – it requires planning, preparation and honestly, a lot of thinking regarding the risks that come with travelling to a country that is still in the midst of ongoing conflict, even if it is dissipating.

Whenever I plan a trip to a destination that has the potential to be dangerous or hazardous, I spend a lot of time making very calculated risk assessments and honestly, if I believed that there was a high risk of something going wrong, I wouldn’t go.

When I travelled to the DRC I knew there was a risk of ebola and also of kidnapping – but after lots of research and discussions with the national park, I felt that the risk of these things actually affecting me was fairly low. When I travelled to Sudan there had been huge violent conflicts in Khartoum just months prior – I checked the news every day leading up to our trip and if there had been even a whisper of tension, I would have pulled the plug on that trip instantly. Of all the places I have ever travelled, to me, Syria was the highest risk. Despite the country technically being in a post war state, there are still ongoing ISIS activities in certain areas of the country, there are tensions between the people and the ruling regime and infrastructure has been damaged to a level that is unfathomable until you see it in real life. However, after much research and lots of discussions with other travellers who had visited Syria recently, I decided that this was the time for me to go.

Furthermore, I had to do a lot of research and thinking regarding whether travelling to Syria was even ethical – after this research and talking to lots of other travellers who had visited Syria, I came to the belief that travelling there could be done ethically – and this is something I will go into much deeper discussion about in my final post about Syria.

So, the planning begun.

In order to obtain a visa for Syria a tour guide is essential. You will not be able to obtain a visa without one, furthermore, even if you could, independent travel would be impossible. With so many military checkpoints, the many areas that require special permissions to be accessed and the numerous roads that aren’t safe to be travelled – independent travel is not only unadvisable, it just isn’t possible.

So, I got in contact with a tour company that came well recommended, decided on a trip length and tour route and the obtaining of visas and permissions was underway. It took a good few weeks for my visa to be granted, so when my dad asked at the last minute if he could join me on the trip, I was super keen for him to do so but unsure if we could get his visa organised in time. Luckily, our tour company pulled it off and we were all set to come and spend a week in Syria.

Our driver picked us up promptly from our hotel in Beirut and with very little fanfare we were on our way. The van had aircon that the driver seemed unwilling to switch on and I was nursing a mild hangover, so the first hour of the drive was uncomfortable to say the least.

Once we arrived at the border we were met with a true lesson in patience. It must’ve taken at least 90 minutes to get our passports stamped into Syria, and even longer to pay the required visa fee due. In a loud, cigarette smoke filled room it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences, but hey, I didn’t exactly expect a smooth border crossing experience.

We had been told that the best exchange rates were offered at the border (advice which turned out to be extremely correct) so we exchanged some cash and were then given absolute stacks of money. The Syrian Pound has been crazily devalued – each of these notes is only worth around 50c USD!

If you plan to visit Syria – make sure to bring all the money you will need for your entire trip in USD. Euros will also be accepted but at a worse rate. Your foreign cards won’t work in Syria and even if they did, most places only accept cash.

After we had actually been stamped into Syria, the drive into Damascus flew by incredibly quickly despite us passing at least 7 or 8 military checkpoints. We were dropped off at our amazing hotel in the city and met with the owners of the tour company to go over payments and final details.

Seriously – how gorgeous is this hotel?!

Beit al-Mamlouka is easily one of the best hotels in Damascus and I felt extremely lucky to be able to stay there – considering the budget we had for our trip I was kinda amazed that we were able to score a stay here.

After settling into our room our guide for the week came to meet us and take us on a walking tour of the city. Ghassan was our wonderful guide and I cannot speak highly enough of him. He was kind, knowledgeable and so enthusiastic.

I should also mention now that Ghassan was reasonably vocal about his support of the Assad regime – I have a very differing opinion on the regime but I kept that to myself during this week. It

Ghassan and Dad having a yarn

It was so lovely to get a feel for the city and I must admit, going on this walk really helped ease any lasting reservations I had about the trip. I was struck by how incredibly normal life appeared to be in the central part of Damascus. We saw wedding processions, we saw university students eating falafel and kids playing in the street.

This was certainly a far cry from the Syria that I had spent years seeing in the news.

Don’t get me wrong, evidence of the years of war was everywhere we looked, but the underlying sense of normality that persisted despite this was not at all what I’d expected.

I really loved the architecture, the colours and even the street art (another thing I did not expect to see in Syria). I also selfishly loved how welcomed I felt. Everywhere we walked we were met with curious glances but they never felt hostile or skeptical – people would smile, say hello and even want to come up and talk to us. I hadn’t felt so welcomed by people in a country since I backpacked Iran in 2017.

We ended up meeting Ghassan’s previous guest who was set to depart Syria the next day and of course, he was also Australian. If there’s one universal travel truth, it’s that us Aussies are truly inescapable. We ended up heading to a rooftop restaurant for dinner and beers before hitting the hay after what had been a big and wonderful day.

The next morning we arose and headed to the small restaurant in our hotel for our free breakfast and can I just say, it was incredible, although we had to beg them to stop bringing us food because there was just so much!

*Drools*

The resident hotel tortoises, I have only ever seen such hotel tortoises in Iran before this!

After breakfast we were off with Ghassan to go exploring more of Damascus on foot. We started by following the daily procession of Shia muslims to their local mosque.

We ended up getting to the mosque before the main crowd (as apparently it is customary for them to stop for tea) which gave us the opportunity to take some photographs of the mosques interiors.

Upon entrance to the mosque I was required to don an abaya and the sweet ladies who were checking bags etc upon entrance seemed very curious about my visit!

Ghassan had brought us to this mosque specifically because of the unique practice that we would be able to observe here. We tucked ourselves into the corner of the courtyard below and watched as people began to flow in. A man then loudly began speaking as women listened, cried and even beat their chests – Ghassan told us that he was telling the story of Fatima, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad, who according to the man telling this story, cried herself to death after the death of her father.

I do think Ghassan may have been giving us the cliffs notes version of the story but the prayer was fascinating and deeply moving to witness. We of course did not take any pictures or videos during this prayer as this would have been wholly innappropriate.

After a little while we left the mosque and went for a walk through the nearby souk. It was amazing. The spices in this next photograph tasted out of this world and had me cursing Australia’s strict customs rules – if I could have brought some home with me I definitely would have.

We also found this incredible section of the souk that I really wish I could remember the name of – how insane is this architecture!?

*Drools*

We then cooled down with a juice at nearby Azm Palace, which appeared to be a favourite spot for locals to hang out and meet up at.

Our next stop was the one I had been most excited for. Umayyad Mosque is considered one of the holiest mosques in all of Islam, not to mention that it is exceptionally beautiful.

This history of Umayyad Mosque is a long and incredibly vibrant one. It is thought that the first structure built on this site dates back around 3000 years – literally back to the Iron Age! This initial structure was built as a temple of worship dedicated to Hadad, the Aramean god of rain.

When the Romans took over (classic Roman empire thangs) it was converted to a temple dedicated to Jupiter – the Roman god of rain – in 64 CE, which is a whopping 2086 years ago!

When the Syrian empire transitioned to Christian Byzantine rule it was converted to a cathedral until the Muslim conquest of Damascus in 634 (some 1380ish years ago) saw the site mostly demolished and a grand mosque erected in its place (around 1307 years ago).

The surviving mosque has undergone numerous alterations over the years due to fires, war and general damage but it has retained the same style and design of the original 8th century structure.

One feature of this mosque that I loved were the tiled mosaics – because of how unbelievably old these mosaics are, they no longer even really look like tiles, they look much more like a fabric.

This fabric-esque effect is uber obvious in this next photograph.

I have been fortunate to visit a lot of beautiful religious monuments in my life. I am an atheist but never cease to find such structures moving and awe-inspiring. I find that this is especially true of mosques – I have seen some that are so outrageously glorious that they blow your mind, and I must say, Umayyad mosque is easily one of the most beautiful mosques I have ever seen.

The interiors of Umayyad mosque are also exceptionally beautiful. I was also surprised to see women and men worshipping openly alongside each other. There was a dedicated women’s section of this mosque, but I was allowed to walk through the mens area (which is often not allowed) and there were no curtains or walls separating female and male worshippers, something that I have seldom seen while travelling through the Middle East.

Once we had left the mosque Ghassan had to run to a passport appointment, so he left us in the hands of one of the company’s trainee guides. She led us into the souk next to Umayyad with one goal – for us to try traditional Syrian pistachio ice cream.

Now, we had definitely not been blending in whilst in Syria but as we found seats in this exceptionally crowded and very local shop, the smiles, stares and hello had never been more abundant. It was wonderful to join in on what was clearly a bit of a local tradition in Damascus.

Now, this pistachio ice cream was completely unlike any western ice cream, gelato or iced confection that I’d ever had. The best way I can describe it is that it is almost chewy in texture and with a stickier consistency. It was freaking delish.

After this we went on a mission to get a Syrian sim card before heading back to our hotel to nap through the hottest part of the day – we had plans to meet up with Ghassan for dinner that evening – however, this is where things went awry. As Dad napped away I was struck by a feeling of being incredibly cold despite being tucked in under a thick wool blanket. I assumed that the aircon was running on overdrive but when I got up to turn it off I found that it already was off – not a great sign.

The healthcare worker in me immediately identified that these chills were an episode of febrile rigors and I rapidly realised that I was getting sick. I shivered away under numerous woolen blankets until Dad woke up and I told him that I thought I might have covid – something which at the time I had yet to experience.

Dad set me up with some fruit juices, water and paracetamol before heading out to meet Ghassan – we were both hopeful that I just had some 24 hour virus.

By the time Dad returned I was feeling significantly worse and my covid suspicions were long gone, I could tell this was something different. My muscles and joints ached in a way that was beyond anything I had ever experienced and the sheer level of physical fatigue that I was experiencing was insane. When I had to go to the toilet, the 10 steps between my bed and the bathroom had to be done in multiple steps that were broken up with me resting on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor for prolonged periods of time.

Then the vomiting and diarrhoea started and I began to suspect that I had ingested some bad food or that I had been exposed to some sort of water borne illness.

Spoiler alert – I had actually contracted Giardia. I am still not exactly sure how I was exposed but I do have some suspicions. Giardia can be spread through water and contaminated food, but as I was the only person who got sick, I am placing some bets that it was a water related exposure. Giardia can be a self limiting mild parasitic illness but it can also be more severe – mine took two courses of antibiotics and well over a month to clear up so my illness was definitely the latter.

Being sick definitely complicated the remainder of our time in an already complex country to travel, stay tuned for part two of the Syria blogs to see how it all panned out!

THE LOWDOWN

Beit al-Mamlouka Hotel: This amazing hotel has just 8 rooms and is stunningly beautiful – make sure to request a stay here when you book with your tour company
Golden Target Tours: This tour company came highly recommended and I can keep those high recommendations coming. Don’t let the lack of a website fool you, the owner Khaldoun is a real pro and responds to any enquiries very quickly and consistently – contact him through whatsapp on +963 944 372 700 to discuss planning a trip through Syria
Umayyad Mosque: Entry to this mosque is free and absolutely worth a visit, make sure that you don’t miss it!
Remember: Bring USD, drink bottled water only and keep your toothbrush away from any potential splashes

At the time this post goes live Ella and I will be self driving through winter in Iceland (wish us luck, lol) so make sure to follow along on instagram (@adventurouselle) and/or tiktok (@adventurous_elle) to keep up to date with our adventures!