Had a perfectly awful excursion to the lost city of Serjilla with the English couple and was exposed to the dynamics of Tom’s ferocity.

There was little I could do but bite my tongue and look wistfully out the window as Tom’s combination of poor communication skills, limitless suspicion and fearful anticipation led us on the inevitable chain of cheating and misunderstanding with almost all of the Syrians we encountered.

The force of his karma was so strong I was unable to steer us in any other direction than where willed his steely grip on the rudder of our day. Josephine unquestioningly supported him like someone brushing a highly bred racing horse.

In total, we traded 5.5 hours of badness for 1 hour at the site itself. Deep breath….. it’s behind me now.


So… here is the to do list for tomorrow:

1) Aleppo museum
2) Soap factory
3) Souks and cloth market search
4) Buy hommos and Baba Ganoush and end with dinner at hotel
5) Christian quarter or big hammam Yagloubha.


Note: I found the “Monuments of Syria” guidebook to be wonderful. Use it to see Souks (bazaars in old town) and Khans (ancient merchant hotel/cargo guarding buildings). Madrasa Faradis – South Quarter, Khan Gumruk & Khan Nahaseen.



Aleppo, November 24, 2001


Writing amidst a grey haze of nasty stove fuel smoke. After making this entry I will lock my room and go up to the dorm to sleep with my sleeping bag since I and the Canadian Beata are the only two guests now.

Woke late this morning, did yoga on the freezing floor, spent hours in the Archeological museum, searched all morning for Iznik tile patterns and found only ugly, kitchy cloth in the Souk.

Did come home laden with good Souk food however: tasty kibbeh circles (deep fried chick pea and lamb dumplings) at 4 cents each, big hommos at 50 cents, Kabab sandwich at 30 cents, ten pieces of bread for 40 cents.

Good Overview of Aleppo City & History Here