The New Syria Aviary

The aviary I have ouside which i keep birds in has been named after my Syria itself! I have named each spot of bird settlements and landforms which fit nicely with my chosen site in Syria:) Here are the pictures to show it:

Aleppo Citadel (main citadel with a courtyard - birdbox represents Aleppo Citadel and open birdbox underneath represents courtyard):








Aleppo (largest bird settlement - also Syria's largest city):








Lattakia (edge of aviary - Lattakia is located at the edge of Syria right at the Mediterranean coastline):








Anti-Lebanon Mountains (largest mountain like belt in aviary - largest mountain belt in Syria):








The Anti-Lebanon mountains also run into Lebanon and thus giving it its name as it seperates the two countries.

Damascus - دمشق

I have been to Damascus a few times but I did not see much of it. When the plane lands in Damascus I see it from overhead as better looking than Aleppo and what I found noticeable was the many villas. Aleppo has more multi-flat buildings as Aleppo is more overcrowded. Damascus however is very beautiful and it has more of a modern appearance and it is not a surprise as most capital cities would be better.

Damascus skyline at night:

Damascus, the capital of Syria, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It has occupied a position of importance in the fields of science, culture, politics, art commerce, and industry from the earliest times. It has been called Al-Fayha'a (the fragrant city), Al-Sham, Jollaq, and Pearl of Orient as Emperor Julian named it. It was mentioned in the Holy Qur'an as the many-columns city of Aram, "whose like has never been built in the land".

Early references to Damascus such as those in Ebla tablets, confirm that it was as a city of immense economic influence during 3rd millennium BC.

Ancient Pharaonic scripts refers to it as Dameska. It enjoyed great prominence during 2nd millennium BC as center of an Aramaic kingdom under the name of Dar-Misiq (the irrigated house). The Aramites were the original inhabitants of Damascus, and their language was Syriac. Many villages around Damascus are still known by their Aramaic names.

Damascus fell under the domination of Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. They all left their mark on Damascus as visitors can still readily observe today. In the Roman era, Damascus was first among ten most prominent cities. It received many privileges, especially during the reign of Syrian dynasty of Roman emperors. It was from Damascus that most talented architect of Roman Empire came. This was Apolodor the Damascene, who designed the celebrated Trajan Column in Rome, and the great bridge on the River Danube. Part of heritage of this era is the remains of the city-plan which Apolodor designed in oblong shape according with Roman architectural style. There is also part of the Roman temple of Jupiter, which was erected on the site of an older Aramaic temple (Hadad) where the Omayyad Mosque stands today; a part distinguished by its huge Corinthian columns with its richly decorated capitals.

In Byzantine era, a great number of churches and monasteries were built, and most of them have survived to present.

Damascus became capital of the first Arab state at time of the Omayyads in 661 AD. This marked the beginning of its golden epoch, and for a whole century it was the center of the youthful Islamic Empire. This reached its peak of expansion during this period, and came to stretch from shores of Atlantic and Pyrennese in west, to river Indus and China in east. Omayyads took a genuine interest in building up Damascus, organizing its souks (bazaars) and districts, improving its water supply, erecting palaces, and hospitals.

Nowadays, Damascus is a living museum spanning thousands of years. A city measuring time not by hours, days, months, and years but by empires it has seen rise and crumble to ruin.

Of the most important landmarks at Damascus are: Omayyad Mosque, Azem Palace, Damascus Citadel, Old Souks like Al-Hamidieyeh and Midhat Pasha, Bimarstan Al-Nory, Saladdin's Tomb, and Al-Tekiyeh Al-Sulaymaniyeh.

City Centre (The Central Bank of Syria is visible at the end of the road):

One of the more modern areas that had been developed in Damascus:

In this picture Mount Qassioun is visible in the background:

Mercedes .v. BMW

What do you think? Would you prefer a Mercedes or a BMW? Well BMW has higher sales and profit overall. If you look at individual countries they all tell a different story. In the Western nations, particularly Western Europe, BMW is definately in the lead currently but only just recently. Mercedes had always been the winner until now where BMW has successfully taken over for the first time. Although I am strictly with Mercedes I can only congratulate BMW for its current lead and I must say BMW had trid very hard to achieve this. It had done whatever it could, from design to buying other car manufacturers that were for sale due to their low success giving BMW their secrets behind their cars. The best example was BMW buying Land Rover for their 4*4 secrets.Me being from Syria it perfectly explains why I prefer only Mecedes as all Eastern countries prefer Mercedes.Mercedes does remain at top but I believe it should also win in sales and profit.Send in your comments and tell me what you think.

Aleppo - حلب

When I first visited Aleppo, my hometown, My first thoughts were that it has a lot of contrasts. This mainly applies between the old city centre and the new surrounding city expansion. You will find that the old main city is very crowded and the housing is very old although it is here where you find the best shopping centres and tourists but the tourist area is strikingly beautiful. The housing is generally small due to the high population but large housing is well fitted in. The surrounding expansion is a picture perfect area that has some housing waiting for new owners which is why it is still rather sparsely populated. Personally I enjoyed seeing the new city as it had really nice large buildings and well layed out. Here are some pictures of famous Aleppo buildings.

The Aleppo Citadel: The most famous historical site in Aleppo. The Prophet Abraham went up on the hill it is built on which is the highest point in Aleppo and he milked his cow here also which had given the name to the city which is officially Halab in Arabic and milk in Arabic is Halib.

Picture of the Aleppo Citadel taken by me at night:

Aleppo Citadel at night:

Bab Al Faraj. Criminals used to be hung on the metal bars of this clock tower located in the centre of Aleppo:

A very beautiful city with many surprises. It is Syria's second largest city and also the most overcrowded yet it is still expanding with its rapid population growth drawing it closer into being a mega city.

Aleppo as a city continues to expand:

Drivers in Aleppo

Aleppian drivers are the most dangerous in Syria. There is so much congestion in the main city and there is literally only a few inches of space between all the cars due to so much overcrowding. Another problem here is that the cars also move at high speeds and sometimes cars overtake eachother and move in and out of spaces found swiftly and this leaves a very good chance of an accident. The only positive thing about this is that Aleppian drivers have therefore become very skillful! There are also many cases of cars scraping past eachother due to the tiny spaces between the cars as stated above and the drivers' arrogance.There are also quite a few accidents obviously and they lead to many drivers getting out of their cars and fighting when there is no police around the incident to deal with it.

The drivers themselves absolutely hate this car driving culture and they always complain although most of them all do it!

I call on the all the Aleppian drivers and the government to sort this out by installing and maintaining a road system and more importantly have monitoring equipment like cameras on traffic lights that captures the number plate of any car that runs past a red light and the flourishing speed cameras to sort out the mess of Aleppian drivers speeding which is common and seen by all cars on empty roads. And what the drivers only slow down before a speed camera? Well now that is sorted out with the Average speed cameras that track down the varied speed of cars along the whole road!

Aleppo is a beautiful city spoiled by only ONE thing which is its roads and the Syrians must sort this out as soon as possible. You do see these problems in the large Syrian cities and even in highly developed countries with tough driving laws but obviously it would be rarer and thus you can see the great benefits of these tough laws in countries like the UK which has an awesome driving system.

Like all the larger cities in Syria, Aleppo is famous for the many tooting taxis of the inner city: