Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The subject of penalties had previously been raised with Mohammed. Apparently they
have the death penalty, which is by hanging with the hanging held in public. He said the
death penalty went through a cycle of public hanging and then moved to private hanging.
However, the crime rate jumped and they decided to return to the public hanging option. He
claimed that the crime rate has declined as a consequence. Maybe the travel agents could
organise tickets to the next hanging.
One of the banes of the inner city area was broken pavements. If somebody needed to dig
up the pavement, for whatever reason, the subsequent repair of the pavement seems to be
the last thing on their mind. The practice seemed to be that once the work was completed,
any loose materials was simply pushed back into the hole and that's how it was left. The
same applied to obstructions such as pipes sticking out of the pavement. These had been
cut off to the ground, but leaving an inch or so sticking out. It was as if nobody was re-
sponsible for making things right. It also meant that you needed to be alert to the prospect
of being tripped or being decapitated by some protrusion.
Moving through the congestion we headed for the Al Azem Palace embedded in the Souq.
Built in the mid 18 th century for the Governor of Damascus, it had several quiet airy court-
yards and seating areas with fountains playing away merrily. There were also a number of
historic displays in the various antechambers.
Then it was to a peaceful square where you could sit in the shade and watch people going
about their business; and, their business was the textile business. There were a number of
textile places thereabouts and you could see various workers criss-crossing the square with
loads of textile products.
The walk continued down Straight Street, through the Roman Arch and turned into the so-
called Jewish Quarter to have a drink in a small café, but it smelt heavily of cigarette smoke
and we moved one.
Straight Street is actually mentioned in the Bible (Acts 9: 10-19). It runs from east to west
and is about 1500 metres long. Some of the original Roman Columns can still be seen.
Further down there were several Orthodox churches with their unique three-dimensional
crosses. At one, the attendant let us into the forecourt but unfortunately we couldn't get into
the church unless we came back some hours later at the time of the service. As we were
leaving the church clock struck the hour and, after the hours were tolled, the bells began to
play the song 'Ave Maria'.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search