Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Gravestone of Jane Digby El Mezrab
One thing that Peter had mentioned was his desire to find the graveyard of Jane Digby,
a romantic and legendary Victorian adventuress, whose loves and adventures had caused
scandal across Europe and who had finally settled down with a Bedouin Shaikh, twenty
years her junior, in Damascus. Directions to the graveyard were not very clear in any of the
guidebooks we had access to. This was not a common tourist destination, but would have
been if people were more aware of the amazing story.
It was situated in an old Christian area, which was undergoing serious reconstruction. In
addition, the area where the Christian cemeteries lay was not very central and we had to
follow rough tracks around building sites to get near. Upon asking for directions, we had
been given several false leads and surprisingly few people seemed to be aware of the loc-
ation. I was beginning to feel as if the people we asked were not from old Damascus at
all, but that they were recent immigrants from the countryside, and that may have been the
case. Peter was all for calling off the search, but it had become a point of honour and it
