We're starting off with some shorter trips to get our bearings a little and for little Beatrice to get used to the car, but plan to use our weekends to explore the area. So the first trip was only a 20 minute drive out of Damascus and since Friday mornings are very quiet on the roads I thought it was also a good opportunity for Flo to drive and get used to the roads.
As Flo alluded to in her previous post, sign posts on the roads here are not the best, so you have to really pay attention and not drive too fast otherwise you'll miss the small English text that's written on some of the signs. So, it took us a little longer to get to our destination than planned as we completely missed the turn off. But we go there in the end!
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We visited the Greek orthodox church's Abbey of St. Paul the messenger, reputedly built on the location that St. Paul (Saul) fell on the road to Damascus. So the location is very historic, although not the abbey itself which was built in 1965. Still, it serves to highlight the religious tolerance of Syria, where Muslims, Christians and Jews all peacefully cohabit.
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| Abbey of St. Paul the messenger |
It's nice to get out of Damascus and breath some fresh air and the natural scenery is quite dramatic looking, but unfortunately spoilt by the litter that is strewn everywhere; the abbey is a beautiful oasis in this respect. Take a look for yourself by clicking on the album above.
2 comments:
Glad you'r feeling ok again Jonny..! And the picts are beautiful! Thanks for sharing! Oh and about sharing... on google earth i met your neighbours... happy bunch of men!
check it yourself;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-94vM3N_ac
Glad you are settling in well. It's great knowing how it's going -an amazing adventure. Love to you all. Cate & George
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