First days in Syria !
Aleppo was a cultural shock , leaving Turkey for Syria was`nt like changing country in Europe....the differences was actually noticeable here. .
In the beginning I had to put on a iron mask of unapproacheness , as sooo many people were approaching me in every direction. I bet I looked like a big target walking around the "centre" with my enormously oversized bright red norwegian mountain-travellers backpack... (as I said previously I never planned to travel more then a few days to Hungary). wherever I was walking there was sure to be at least 3 taxis trailing my track whilst shouting " taxi ,taxi , taxi please I help you " . the other group of people were trying to offer me hotels, which was something I really needed, because I had no clue of where to stay.
But after half an hour of looking for a place I ended up following a guy back to his hostel in any case....he said there were other backpackers there...and that turned out to be a good idea , as it was a pretty cool place (except for the noisy cockroaches in my room) .
I met a very sweet french girl , and a british guy ,and we went for an amazing syrian meal in the evening. The resturant was just like one would imagine a syrian resturant to be ! very scenic, comfortable pillow/carpet to sit on and arabic music in the background , and super-friendly staff. We ordered our meals and in a short time there were something like 20 plates on the table , with all sorts of exotic goodies ! It was soo good , and such a good way to serve food , instead of one boring plate with a potato and a little piece of chicken breast which is the standard in Europe.
The following days I spent exploring the city of Aleppo ! the citadel was quite cool. You have to walk over a large bridge over a big moat to enter it. It was buildt in the 12th century , but most the buildings inside are in ruins due to earhquakes and wars over the years. The best thing up there in the citadel is really the view of the city ,as it is located on the highest point overlooking all of Aleppo.
In the old city around the citadel it is quite amusing to walk around the souq (although I should warn you that you`ll probably end up buing some junk you don`t need ,as the sellers are extremely intense). I ended up buying a few of these silk gounds that the arabics like to wear (no wonder...its quite hot there , and nice with a thin garment with nothing underneath..). But I was a bit too embarassed to wear it as I felt a bit stupid. I did wear it a short while on my hostels` rooftop chill-out zone (wonderful thing to have!).
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