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Monday, February 14, 2005 

coffee and cigarettes

Ah the sweet smell of Damascene ahwee (coffee) and I know I'm home. Welcome to Saroujah.



But why 'Saroujah'? Well, it's the place I used to call home. Souq Saroujah was the first part of the city to be built outside the city walls, way back in the 13th century.

sasa, love the picture, post some more up please!

By email from Edouard in France

Salut,

I used to live in the house from where the picture illustrating your profile (on your blog) has been taken, and it reminded me the long hours of contemplation and meditation I spent on this terrace hanged over the city. How are the yasmin and bougainvillaea? It should be time now to prune the yasmin...

Well it's a small world Edouard!! I didn't know that any ajanib lived in this house!? When did you live there? I'm sure we've met - Saroujah is a small place! Ahlan beek ya Edouard!

It's a beautiful time of year. The first life comes into the plants and vines and it feels as if Saroujah can breathe again.

Tell me, where are you from, Paris?

By email from Edouard

Indeed, I was not talking of the house in Sarrouja, but of the house from which this picture (http://www.lio119.plus.com/damas.jpg) has been taken. But I loved also wandering in Sarrouja. By the way, there's a couple of foreigners, mainly French, living there since almost 3 years. People like the traditional architecture of so called "Arab Houses", when they are not too much in decay...

Ed.

Yes it is a shame that many of the houses have fallen into such a state of decay. Especially in Saroujah, where the Government threatened to destroy this historic area 20 years ago. None of the owners wanted to invest in their houses so they let them (literally) fall down, fearing that the government would buy them and destory them to make way for lucrative apartment blocks.

That's development! Thank god the Old City is a UN World Heritage Site.

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About me

  • Written by sasa
  • From Damascus, Syria
  • From Damascus to London via Beirut. Based in and out of the central Damascene hamlet of Saroujah. News and feelings from the streets every day. I'm talking rubbish? Leave a comment. Welcome to the information democracy. See below for info about this site.
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