3th June 2008

While I was cycling to enter Damascus city I’ve seen a big board on the right side of the road it was written IRAN KHODRO it is the main and oldest car manufacturer in Iran.
I went there and introduced myself and stayed for about 30 mints for visiting all cars that they assembled there, the staffs were very friendly, they showed me around and offered me a cup of coffee, then I left there to visit my friend in Damascus.

I met my friend after 2 days staying in Damascus, he was too much busy at work as he is teaching Arabic to none Arab speakers, I was staying with 2 students from America and England, they were studying Arabic in my friend’s (Ghazwan) Arabic language Institute, totally I stayed there for about 8 days but not all in this city I left my luggage’s in the room and I had some short trips around Damascus, I visited some holy places for Muslims, it’s the most interesting places for Iranian visitors in Syria, I spent a few days there and I met many Iranian from different cities in Iran, one day I’ve invited for lunch and dinner from one of Iranian group from my city shiraz, I was really happy to meet people from my town after about 3 months, anyway.

I went to Bosra city to visit a nice Roman theater and some ruins around the town, Bosra city (also called Bozrah or Bostra; Arabic: Busra ash-Sham) is an ancient city 67 miles (108 km) south of Damascus. Once the capital of the Roman province of Arabia, Bosra was an important stopover on the ancient caravan route to.
Bosra roman theater is one of the most beautiful monuments in Syria which is still stable to use as an old theater I think it was a one day trip and I got some friend there as usual, but this time they were tourists from Swiss and Taiwan, anyway.

In Damascus, I visited the main hamidiyeh bazaar. The length is about 600 miters but at the end you will find 2 more branches which are 2 big old style bazaar and you can find everything there. At the end of the bazaar there is a big and old mosque. The Grand Mosque of Damascus, known more commonly as the Umayyad Mosque, is one of the largest, oldest and holiest mosques in the world. All shies and sonnies are going to this mosque for praying. The atmosphere in the mosque is great in the evening and early in the morning I hope one day you guys could go there to visit and enjoy your time, in fact it’s a good place to rest after shopping for all Muslims at praying time, .
2 days after visiting the city and Bosra I went to Palmyra city. There is a huge Ruins which needs whole a day or 2 days to visit if you are very detail about ruins, Palmyra has a lot to say, but I would prefer to add a link to give more information in detail about this city in the middle of Syria.

I stayed there for over a night, then I could take some photos in both sunset and sunrise, the day after I went to visit a city called Dair-e- zur it was on the side of Al Furat stream, the weather was horrible when I arrived there, completely stormy, in fact this city is located in the mid of desert and every 2 days they have a sand storm form the desert, I walked in the city for about 2 hours to see how it is, it was too dirty and people didn’t take care about it and very easygoing people are living there.

It was difficult to see 50 meters further where ever I visited. After that I went directly to the bus station to get a ticket back to Damascus, I needed to take a shower because of the storm, I arrived around 10:30 pm in the same day. I got a bad experience from that journey, anyway.

Oh I forget to tell about my visa to Jordan and Saudi Arabia; I tried both but they said it’s impossible for Iranian to get the visa on the border, then I tried to apply from the Embassy’s of those country in Syria, but it didn’t work out, they’ve just saying you can’t get the visa, that was really shame I tried to explain that I’m a cyclist and my message is toward peace for all Muslim countries on my way.
But they even didn’t listen to me, especially in Jordan Embassy, it has no such good staffs. After that I decided to go to Lebanon and visit this small country for a week, this country has no any Embassy in Syria as they have some political problems between, so everybody told me it’s easy for you as a cyclist to get the visa on the border, then I left Damascus one day early in the morning heading to Lebanon border it was about 50 kms and all the road was uphill, I got puncher for 2 times on this hard way.

I went to the check point to show my passport and get the visa but they also didn’t give me the visa and they said you had to get it in your own country before, I tired a lot but it didn’t work out, I’ve seen some European had got the visa on the border to visit this country at the same time, and it made me so sad. After 2 hours staying there to find a way, but there was no way and I was really disappointed about it, I backed again to Damascus because the road is just heading to Damascus, otherwise I would prefer to visit other city in Syria on my way back.
I found a local road which directed me to Damascus via other entrance to this city, on the way I’ve seen many garden with the nice view, I enjoyed this road.

I stayed in Damascus for 2 days more, and I spend time with my friends and sightseeing in the old town with Justin,
On 11th of may I got a bus ticket to go to Tartus and start cycling on the coast to Latakya city on the north west part of Syria, actually I didn’t want to cycle from Damascus up to the north because the road is about 50 kms was uphill and too much busy road,