Ancient City of Damascus, Syria
Posted by: 
Torgut
N 33° 30.688 E 036° 18.338
37S E 249729 N 3711241
A lively capital, Damascus is specially intense at its center: the ancient city.
Waymark Code: WMDBC1
Location: Syria
Date Posted: 12/19/2011
Views: 11
I visited Damascus in difficult times, when just a few foreigners dare to be in Syria. I could feel the tension in the air, but it doesn't mean there was danger. Even so I was advised to avoid move around with my camera, so I couldn't take as many pictures as I would like.
The following text was taken from wikipedia. A visit to the link is advised as there is further information there. (
visit link)
Damascus, is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo. Both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).
Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.
First settled in the 2nd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule, the city decayed completely while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. Damascus was chosen as the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture"