Today it did something in Damascus that it has never done in the 40+ years of our guide Nidal’s lifetime—it rained In May. And not just a few drops—a gully-washer, for the better part of an hour. Fortunately, it had little effect on our activities, we were in the bus when the hard rain hit.
Our day began with a walk through the Souq market, the largest in Damascus; it was not very busy when we went through in the morning, but near chaos when we passed through later in the afternoon.
We went to the Umayyed Mosque, the largest mosque in Syria. It contains, among many other things the Jesus Minaret, a tower that is thought to be the place where Jesus will return for the final judgment, and the tomb of John the Baptist, or rather what is believed to be the burial place for his head. Muslims consider both Jesus and John the Baptist to be true prophets of God, as are the New Testament evangelists.
We also drove by St. Paul’s Church, which is thought, I believe, to contain a replica of the window through which Paul was lowered in a basket. We also visited the Ananias Church, the traditional site where the Apostle Paul experienced his conversion. It was a very small, literally underground chapel containing large stone block walls. It was originally constructed on ground level, but is now one level down from the street level.
No time to write any more, check out photos.
