Syria: Goodbye

For those of you watching CCN, not to worry, we are out of Syria. It has been a somewhat crazy day though. Got up this morning and headed for the Old City of Damascus. The first thing I noticed were many, many busses of men in Al-Merjeh (Martyr's Square). The Old City was eerily quite. Of course it is Friday, their holy day. It just seemed much busier two weeks ago when we were here on a Friday.

We didn't stay long and when we headed back to the hotel, I suggested we detour around the Mosque and avoid the Square. Jim said to just proceed with purpose and not make eye contact. As we got closer, I noticed many of the men were brandishing night sticks. Closer yet and I noticed many in full riot gear. When we got back to the hotel we just waited for our ride to the airport.

On the way to the airport our driver commented that it was a good thing we weren't going to Palmyra or Aleppo today as all the roads had been closed!

In the photo below, taken just outside our hotel, you can see the tower in the square in the left edge of the photo.

Always Good Advice