On Thé Longest Route virtual journey (which as a reminder looks like this!
I have made it through Jordan and into Syria. To Damascus, to be exact.
I know Damascus from the Bible. I think of it as the place Saul was headed when he encountered Jesus, was converted and became the apostle Paul.
Damascus is also – apparently, things one learns by Googling – the home of Umayyad Mosque, which houses the domed mausoleum of John the Baptist, according to Arab America.
While a zoom in on Damascus proper shows (not surprisingly) any number of mosques, just north of the city in Sednaya, these live in relative peace (at least up to today – and may it stay so) alongside Christian churches, monasteries and convents. Many quite ancient, and quite beautiful.
Anyway, that’s my progress in this particular trek. Damascus is in the south of Syria and I’ll be virtually moving north toward Turkey (Turkiye) for the weeks to come.
aka gringita 