Walking through Historic Aleppo

We arrive at one of the historic gates of Aleppo and walk through the souk (market) to our guest house in Bab Antakya.  The souk is one of the largest we have ever seen and stretches for 1.5km.  It appears to be a bit of a maze to me as we lug our gear through the winding alleyways.

 

It is easy to get lost in here and it is just what we did during our time in Aleppo.  I’ve read that Aleppo was inhabited continuously for over 8,000 years and in the souks life seems to go on, much as it must have done thousands of years ago.  It has been subject to much upheaval, both from natural disasters such as earthquakes to raids from the Mongols and Crusaders.  In the early 1800 it suffered one of its worse disasters, when the earthquake killed over 60% of its inhabitants and destroyed many buildings.

We wake up early the next morning for a guided walk and a quirky local tour, with Ahmed, a man who knows and loves his city.  With a background in agriculture and meteorology, he has travelled the world while working in his profession but now spends his time, sharing his knowledge of Aleppo with travellers. 

We start our tour through the old souk and stop to watch a vendor make shllap.  It is a starchy mix of hot milk, sugar and crushed pistachio nuts, the perfect drink for a winter’s day and a local favourite in this part of the world.  It tastes a lot better than it looks :).

I love the old world charm of the alleyways we wander through.  Men still ride donkeys with their wares and share this space with the fashionably dressed men and women of today.    The souk seems to house everything, from gold jewellery & wedding outfits to your meat, nuts and local produce.  There are large tubs of Vaseline and really old soap, which they claim is over eight years old!  The older your soap, the longer it will last and the more expensive to buy.  Soap making has an ancient history here and is still produced in the traditional way with olive & laurel oil.  It looks quite rough and doesn’t smell like anything you would buy at Body Shop but it is reputed to have amazing qualities.  Yvonne and I reflect that the smell reminds us of the bar soap once used back in our birth countries for washing and we can’t quite bring ourselves to purchase any.  Ahmed takes us for a tour of the soap factory and demonstrates how it’s made. 

Our next stop is the 14th century building that was converted from a house to an insane asylum.  It is an amazing building with areas for water, music and light therapy for its mentally disturbed residents.  No electric shock therapy here, Ahmed explains!  What a beautiful place it must have been to reside in, despite your predicament! 

If you have a sweet tooth, the Middle East is a must on your travel destinations.  The varieties of baklava blow us away, as do the lollies and  chocolates on offer.  We wonder how people here avoid diabetes and bad teeth when faced with such temptation everyday!  If you have never heard of baklava, it is a pastry that is drenched in honey and combined with nuts such as pistachios.  Yummy..go out and get some :)

We stop for a break on a cobbled street to pour over a map, as Ahmed explains more history and we realise that the River Euphrates winds itself through this region.  I still remember my history lesson from decades ago and being enthralled by the fact civilisation started on the banks of ancient rivers such as the Euphrates and Tigris.  Never did I dream as a school girl back in the seventies, that I would have the privilege to travel to these historic places one day.  But here I am.  History comes alive as I stand in a place, inhabited for thousands of years with still so many traces of what life must have been like in the days when camel trains plied the silk road with goods for trade.  It is what I love about cities such as Aleppo.  Modernisation has happened without losing a sense of that historic past. 

We stop to admire more historic remnants of this ancient civilisation.  Aleppo was served by a complex canalisation system and the outlets that helped regulate the water flow and dispense water to the neighbourhood can still be seen on the walls of the souk.

One of the interesting aspects of housing in the Middle East is that it always appears to be unfinished.  The landscape is very grey and brown and devoid of colour.  When I first arrived in Cairo, I looked around and wondered why all of the apartment blocks looked as if they were part of a work in progress.  I have since learnt that Council rates here are determined on how complete the outside of your house looks.  You pay much lower rates, if your house is in a state of disrepair on the outside, hence the lack of any visual appeal!  Ha! Try pulling that one in OZ!  We also notice the little windows that project out from the buildings.  Ahmed explains they are ‘jealousy boxes’!  Women can look out and not be seen, and men can be secure in the knowledge, no other man is admiring his wife! 

The other interesting feature of these residences is the proud display on the exterior of the symbol informing the world someone inside has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

We escape the bustling souk, for a rest and a chat in one of the local hamams.  As I’ve mentioned before, getting a scrub and a massage in a public bath house is a big part of the culture here and a hot favourite with weary travellers.  The one we visit is ornate and beautiful and has obviously been operational for a very long time.  If only these walls could talk…  We finish our tour opposite the citadel.  It is closed on Tuesdays but we will have time to explore it tomorrow, before we leave town for Turkey.  

The citadel served as the power base for the Muslims during the time of the Crusades.  Built on the top  of a hill, surrounded by a dry moat with a fortified gate and twisting entrances it would have stood its ground well against invaders.  The 360 view from the walls is quite spectacular but much of the inside is in ruins.

After the tour, we get lost in the souk, explore the many stalls and chat to the locals selling their wares.  I am presented with a few more marriage proposals.  One from an old man who stops me to enquire if I’d be his fourth wife in exchange for 20 camels!  Ah…that must be my going price..because no one has made a better offer yet :).  That is till we meet a Syrian Australian who lives in Lakemba and is spending a bit of time in his dad’s scarf shop.  He promises to wake me up everyday with a cappuccino in one hand and flowers in the other.  His brother who is gay has taken a fancy to one of the guys in our group.  They have us in fits of laughter and we stay for awhile to chat and drink the tea they offer us, before walking away.  Where do these Syrian men get their pick up lines from anyway??

We end a great day in Aleppo with an Italian dinner in the Christian quarter.  A beautiful labyrinth of limestone walls and cobblestone paving, it is another wonderful part of town to explore.  We pass up going local tonight in exchange for Italian!  Occasionally, when one has been on the road for awhile, a western fix is just what you need! 

The next morning, we browse the citadel and board a public bus for the border and a new country.  Turkey…here we come!

 “Some of the best travel experiences cost nothing” Lonely Planet