SYRIA
SIRIJA
The first time I visited Syria, was in 1974, on the way back from India. That visit was not planned. Simply, the train from Mosul (Iraq) to Turkey, was passing through the Northern part of Syria.
The second time was 1980. Three weeks since the beginning of the war with Iran, I left Iraq by car. I went first to Jordan and then, I spent 3 weeks travelling through Jordan, Syria, Greece (which I reached by boat from Tartus, Syria) on the way to Belgrade (Serbia).
Later, when I came back to Iraq, I used to visit Damascus by car frequently. The road Baghdad – Damascus is approx. 1,000 km long, not so good quality, goes mostly through a desert. The speed was unlimited.
It was 1986 when I was in Syria for the last time. I travelled with a friend of mine (from the Yugoslav Embassy) and his wife. We travelled using his car. The diplomatic license plate and his diplomatic passport helped us a lot when passing through the borders; instead of waiting 4-5 hours, we passed the borders without waiting at all.
At that time, we visited Lebanon too. The country was still in civil war with involvement from Syria and Israel. It was pretty chaotic. When entering Lebanon, we didn’t notice either Syrian or Lebanese check point. We had a problem on the way back. The soldiers at the border check point, were confused by the fact that we were there without any proof of entering the country. Especially, the problem was that a diplomat was involved. How did it happen? Finally, they decided to let us go without stamping our passports. Officially, according to them, we were not in Lebanon.
Syria, as well as Jordan and the other countries in the Middle East are full of history and very interesting for tourists. We managed to visit almost all of Syria.
Most photos shown in the slide show are taken at the time of the last visit.
Prvi put kada sam se 1974 dao student vracao iz Indije. To je bila slucajna I neplanirana poseta. Jednostavno, voz, koji je iz Iraka izao za Tursku prolazio je kroz deo Sirije,
Drugi put je to bilo 1980. Tri nedelje po pocetka rata izmedju Iraka I Irana, ja sam napustio Irak kolima I usao u Jordan. Na putu za Beograd, proveo sam 2 nedelje putujuci kroz Jordan, Siriju, I Grcku (gde sam stigao brodom iz Sirije; mislim da je to bila linija Tartus - Solun).
Kasnije, po povratku u Irak, odlazio sam u vise navrata u Damask (appox 1.000km Bagdad-Damsk. Put, asfaltiran ali neodrzavan, uglavnom vodi kroz pustinju). Brzina voznje je bila neogranicena.
Poslednji put, bio sam 1986 u vreme dok sam radio u Jordanu. Na put sam isao sa prijateljem Zoranom I njegovom suprugom Ljiljom. Isli smo njegovim kolima. Obzirom da je on bio sluzbenik nase ambasade u Jordanu, njegov diplomatski pasos I diplomatske tablice su mnogo pomogle na granicama. Umesto uobicajenog cekanja od 4-5 sati, mi smo prolazili malte ne bez cekanja.
Na tom putu obisli smo I Liban koji je u to vreme bio jos bio u ratu (gradjanski rat a bile su umesani I Sirija I Izrael). Stanje je bilo prilicno haoticno Prilikom ulaska u Liban, nismo videli ni Sirijsku a ni Libansku pogranicnu postaju. Problemi su nastali kada smo se vracali iz Libana. Granicari su bili iznenadjeni da nas vide u Libanu a bez podatka da smo usli u zemlju. Problem je bio sto je umesan sluzbenik ambasade druge zemlje. Isto tako, tu je I vozilo sa diplomatskim tablicama.
Posle dugog vecanja medju granicarima, odlucili su da je najjednostavnije resenje da nas puste nazad u Siriju bez stavljanja pecata u pasose; prakticno, za njih tamo nismo ni bili.
Sirija je kao I Jordan I ostale zemlje na Bliskom Istoku, zemlja sa bogatom istorijom I vrlo interesantna za turiste. Obisli smo je “uzduz I popreko”.
Damascus
- Damascus – Capital of Syria
- ancient city established before recorded history
- an urban centre existed in the 4th millennium BCE
- the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world
- With Alexander the Great’s conquest in 333 BCE, Damascus became part of the Hellenistic world for almost a thousand years.
Damask
- Damask je glavni grad Sirije
- Vazio je za glavni kulturni centar Levanta I Arapskog sveta
- Nezna se tacno od kada je nastanjen ali su iskopavanja pokazala da je kao urbani centar postojao jos 4.000 god pre nove ere
- Smatra se da je najstariji grad na svetu koji je naseljen u kontinuitetu
- Kada ga je Aleksandar Makedonski osvojio 333. god pre nove ere postaje deo Helenistickog sveta I to je trajalo skoro 1.000 godina,
Saidnaya
- Located 27 km north of Damascus
- Greek Orthodox monastery founded by Byzantine emperor Justinian I
- Aramaic language ancient, Biblical language that Jesus Christ spoke is spoken here.
Saidnaja
- 27km severno od Damaska
- Nalazi se manastir Grcke Pravoslavne crkve onsovan od strane Vizantijskog imperatora Justinijana I
- Stanovnici se I dalje sluze Aramik jezikom, Biblijski jezik kojim se sluzio I Isus Hrist
Maaloula
- Located 56 km to the northeast of Damascus
- Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken
- convent of Saint Thecla (wife of St Paul)
Maloula
- 56km severoistocno od Damaska
- Govore Aramaik jezikom
- Nalazi se konvikt Svete Tekle (zena Svetog Pavla)
Palmyra
- Palmyra is an ancient Semitic city
- dates back to the Neolithic period, early second millennium BC
- subject of the Roman Empire in the first century AD
- architecture combines elements of Greek, Roman, Aramean and Arab styles
Palmira
Za mene, najiteresantnije mesto u Siriji. Nazalost, cuo sam da je dosta toga unisteno u vreme dok je ISIS gospodario tim delom Sirije. Nemam zelju ni da vidim fotografije posle tog novog unistenja.
- Palmira je praistorijski Semitik grad
- Datira jos iz Neolitskog perioda, oko 2.000 god pre nove ere
- Deo je rimskog carstva u 1. Veku nove ere
- Arhitektura je kombinacija Grckog, Rimskog I Arapskog stila
Krak des Chevaliers
- originally built for the Emir of Aleppo in 1031 AD
- rebuilt by the Knights Hospitaller in 1144 AD
- Krak des Chevaliers housed a garrison of around 2,000
Krak des Chevaliers (Zamak Vitezova)
- Originalno izgradjen za Emira od Alepa, 1031. God nove ere.
- Renoviran za Vitezove Hospitalier 1144. God nove ere
- Mogao je da smesti oko 2.000 vitezova.