Syria

Syria (الجمهوريّة العربيّة السّوريّة Al-Jumhuriya al-`Arabiya as-Suriya, the Syrian Arab Republic [1]) is one of the larger states of the Middle East and has its capital in Damascus. Syria is bordered to the north by Turkey, to the east by Iraq, by Jordan and Israel to the south, and by Lebanon to the south-west. In addition, the country has a short coastline on the east Mediterranean Sea.

Regions

Syria has 14 governorates (or muhafazat - singular: muhafazah): Aleppo, Al Hasakah, Ar Raqqah, As Suwayda, Dara, Damascus, Deir-az-Zur, Hama, Homs, Idlib, Latakia, Quneitra, Rif Dimashq, Tartous.

Golan Heights (occupied by Israel) is also claimed by Syria.

Cities

• Damascus - the capital of Syria

• Aleppo - a large souk and ancient citadel with great views
• Deir-az-Zur - a desert town on the Euphrates River bank
• Hama - waterwheels and a good base for exploring Krak des Chevaliers
• Homs - an ancient city on Orontes River
• Latakia - a major port city
• Tartous - an historical port city

Other destinations

• Crac des Chevaliers - the archetypal Crusader castle, magnificently preserved and not to be missed
• Palmyra - magnificent ruins of a Roman city, in the middle of the desert. It can be considered the main attraction in Syria
• Der Mar Musa - not a tourist site, but an active christian monastery activly promoting Islamic/Christian dialog. Welcomes Christians and followers of other religious traditions.

Culture and History

Syria has a population of 17.8 million people (UN, 2003), of which 6 million are concentrated in the capital Damascus. A moderately large country (185,180 sq km or 72,150 sq miles), Syria is situated centrally within the Middle East region and has land borders with Turkey in the north, with Israel and Lebanon in the south, and with Iraq and Jordan in the east and south-east respectively.

The population of Syria is predominately Arab (90%), with large minorities from other ethnic groups: Kurds, Armenians, Circassians and Turks. The official language is Arabic, but other tongues that are occasionally understood include Kurdish, Armenian, Turkish, French and English. The Syrian Republic is officially secular, but in nonetheless greatly influenced by the majority religion of Islam (90% of the population, split between 74% Sunni Muslim and 16% other Muslim). There is a large Christian minority that amounts to about 10% of the population.

The President of Syria is Bashar al-Assad, who replaced his father Hafez al-Assad soon after his death on 10 June 2000. Having studied to become an opthalmologist (eye doctor) in Damascus and London, Bashar was groomed for the presidency after the 1994 car accident of his elder brother Basil. As a consequence, he joined the army and became colonel in 1999. Bashar's modernising credentials were somewhat boosted by his role in a domestic anti-corruption drive. More recently, however, Bashar's style of leadership has more closely come to resemble that of his father as an non-democratically elected and autocratic ruler, after an initial period of increased openness. Bashar's position as dictator of Syria rests on his presidency of the Baath Party (the only legal political party) and his command-in-chief of the army. A "cult of personality" is widely promoted for Bashar Assad and his late father - their images are to be seen everywhere in the streets of Syria.

Assad's regime and the Baath Party own or control the vast majority of Syria's media. Criticism of the president and his family is not permitted and the press (both foreign and domestic) are heavily censored for material deemed threatening or embarrassing to the government. A brief period of relative press freedom arose after Bashar became president in 2000 and saw the licensing of the first private publications in almost 40 years. A later crackdown, however, imposed a range of restrictions regarding licensing and content. In a more relaxed manner (perhaps owing more to the fact that these matters are largely beyond possible government control), many Syrians have gained access to foreign television broadcasts (usually via satellite) as well as the three state-run networks. In 2002 the government set out conditions for licensing private, commercial FM radio stations, ruling at the same time, however, that radio stations could not broadcast news or political content.

Getting in

Entry will be refused to citizens of Israel or holders of passport that containing Israeli entry stamps.

Citizens of Arab countries do not require visa. Visas are needed for most individual travelers. A "letter of recommendation" stating that your consulate has "no objection" to your visit to Syria is required for many nationalities.

In Amman and Istanbul, Syrian visas are issued within one day. The cost is 45 Euros as of 11 September 2006. For American citizens, the Syrian government has tightened restrictions and is requiring visas issued from the embassy in DC even if you are applying in the country you have residence in. It is vitally important that there is no evidence of a visit to Israel (called "Occupied Palestine" by Syria) in your passport, i.e. a stamp or visa from Israel, or Jordanian or Egyptian border crossings with Israel. Likewise you shouldn't say that you have or will travel to Israel to officials in the embassy or at the border. It is rumored this restriction is very strict - if you have a brand new passport or a period in the Middle East with gaps between the exit and entry stamps, a visit to Israel might be suspected and your visa will be denied, or your entry will be denied even with visa.

One way to circumvent this if you have already been to Israel is to ask the officials in Israel to NOT stamp your passport when you arrive and again when you depart that state. When you arrive in Israel they will give you a little card and they stamp the card, not your passport. Thus, your passport shows no evidence of having been in Israel. (However, if you place the card inside your passport, make sure the ink can't bleed onto the pages.) As of March, 2007, this strategy was effective.

Visas are available at the Lebanese and Jordanian borders, but this requires waiting up to 11 hours while the request is faxed to Damascus, processed, and faxed back. Whether you can get in or not can be very capricious. It is possible for Americans to get in this way, but other nationalities are more likely to get in, especially if they do not have a Syrian consulate in their home country (e.g., New Zealand).

If going by land, and you are planning to get a visa on the border, bring US Dollars or Syrian Pounds. Foreign currency will not get a good exchange rate and at most crossing there are no facilities for credit/debit cards. Travelers checks are also not accepted.

Flights to Syria, airtickets

Syria has two international airports: Damascus International Airport, 35km (22miles) SE of the capital, and another just northeast of Aleppo in the north of the country. Both airports have regular direct flights served by Syrian Arab Airlines to Europe, the Middle East, North Africa. Those flights compete with other international carriers serving the same destinations. Syria levies an airport departure tax of 200 Syrian Pounds. Damascus international airport is served by many of the larger European carriers to the Middle East including Lufthansa, British Airways and Aeroflot. Low-price tickets from Europe can sometimes be found, but until the recent war in Lebanon, cheaper fairs could sometimes be obtained through Czeck Air or Malev Air through Beirut. Currently these carriers use Damascus as a hub for Beirut although this might change rapidly.

Upon arrival, a free entry visa can be delivered to almost all travelers if they are being received by local Travel Agency. Call the Syrian Embassy in your home country for more information

By train

International Railway Improvements Syrian Railways are currently considering improving the international railway services in order to create daily Istanbul-Damascus services. It is expected that trains will become more frequent with the planned delivery of ex-British freight locomotives and modern, out of service passenger coaches in October 2007

There are two international train connections to Syria: Tehran - Aleppo - Damascus and Istanbul - Aleppo - Damascus

• CFS (Chemins de fer Syriens) - Site of the Syrian train operator - for train schedule, select "trips".

A cheaper alternative is to fly to Turkey then get a train/coach down to Damascus.(£100 return flights from the UK) it takes about 3 days max, if you have an overnight stop in Aleppo. check train times first, as there is only 1 a week. (leaves on Thursday morning)

CFS Services from Istanbul are by far the cheapest way into Syria from Europe, flying to Istanbul and continuing by rail can cost €200 - €300 less than a flight to Damascus.

Buses to Syria

Buses run from Turkey, Jordan & Lebanon.

By car

When traveling from Lebanon, service taxis (taxis that follow a fixed route only, usually from near one bus station to another) are a convenient way to reach Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Aleppo or other Syrian towns. A shared service taxi from Beirut to Damascus will cost about $10 per person ($20 to Aleppo) and $75 for a private taxi. In most cases it is necessary to buy a Syrian visa before leaving home, often costing about $100 or less, depending of the country of residency. It's possible, to obtain free entry visa for tourists if being received by a local Travel Agency. It is also possible to arrive by car from Turkey. A private taxi from Gaziantep Airport (Turkey) will cost about $60.

By boat

• The nearest car ferry port is Bodrum in Turkey.
• Latakia and Tartous serve as ports of call for a number of Mediterranean cruise lines.

Get around

By taxi

The taxis (usually yellow, and always clearly marked) are an easy way to get around Damascus, Aleppo and other cities. Arabic would be helpful: most taxi drivers do not speak English. All licensed taxis carry meters, and it is best to insist that the driver puts the meter on, and watch that it stays on. Most drivers expect to haggle prices with foreign travellers rather than use the meter. A taxi ride across Damascus might come to £S30. Taxis from the airport can be booked in advance, either by phone, or on line through the respected Syrian agency "taxitel"

The flat price to and from Damascus airport to the city centre seems to be S£500-600 (for foreigners). It always better to ask how much you want to charge from this point to the other point you are going to. However, there is also a bus from Baramkeh station to the airport for 10S£.

By microbus

The microbuses (locally called servees, or meecro) are little white vans that carry ten, or so, passengers around cities on set routes for about £S5. The destinations are written on the front of microbus in Arabic. Usually, the passenger sitting behind the driver deals with the money. You can ask the driver to stop anywhere along his route.

Often, microbuses will do longer routes, for example, to surrounding villages around Damascus and Aleppo, or from Homs to Tadmor or Krak des Chevaliers. They are often more uncomfortable and crowded than the larger buses, but cheaper. Especially for shorter distances they have usually more frequent departures than buses.

By bus or coach

Air-conditioned coaches are one of the easy ways to make longer hauls around Syria, for example, the trip from Damascus to Palmyra. Coaches are cheap, fast and reliable way to get around the country, however the schedules, when they exist, are not to be trusted. For the busy routes it's best to simply go to the coach station when you want to leave and catch the next coach, you'll have to wait a bit, but most of the time it's less of a chore than finding out when the best coach will be leaving, and then often finding it's late.

By train

The Syrian railways are reasonably modern and are based on Russian rolling stock. Rail travel is inexpensive and generally punctual, although railway stations are often a reasonable distance out of town centres. The main line connects Damascus, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zur, Hassake and Qamishle. A secondary line serves stations along the Mediterranean coast.

In the summer, on Fridays, a little steam train leaves from the Hejaz Railway Station in Damascus (which has a good restaurant) and climbs into the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Many locals enjoy the ride to picnic in the cooler mountains.

By Bicycle

While traveling by bicycle may not be for everyone, and Syria is by no means a cycle tourist's paradise, there are definite advantages. Syria is a good size for cycling, accommodation is frequent enough that one can get away with "credit card" touring (though in the case of Syria, it might be better to refer to it as fat-wad-of-cash touring) there are sites that one can not get to with public transportation, and the people are incredibly friendly often inviting a tired cyclist for a break, cup of tea, meal, night's accommodation, whatever.

Unfortunately, the standard of driving skills in Syria is extremely low, and other road users tend to be drive very aggressively. Finding good maps tends to be another problem, without which it's hard to avoid riding on the main highway, which while safe enough (a good wide shoulder exists on almost all the highways) is not very pleasant due to the smokey trucks and uninteresting scenery.

Shopping, Syria souvenirs

The unit of currency in Syria is the Syrian pound or 'lira' (£S). All prices are now in even numbers of pounds, so the subdivision 'piastre' is obsolete.

Exchange rates (current in May 2007):

• 1 UK£ = £S 104
• 1 USD$ = £S 52
• 1 Euro = £S 70
• 1 AUD$ = £S 43
• 100 JAP Yen = 43.37

In recent years, a number of ATMs have become available in most major cities: banks, main squares, and 5 star hotels. However, it should be noted that not all ATMs access the international networks. The Real Estate bank has the widest network that will accept foreign cards. The more common Commercial Bank of Syria machines are not connected.

One thing to keep in mind is that exchange rates using the ATM system are lower than the official rate which is still lower than street rate. Many private money changing offices exist, but will change cash only. The Commercial Bank of Syria should be able to change traveller's cheques if needed. The bank is not open on Friday, so be sure to either have cash to change, or to look after you financial needs during the work week.

Credit cards are becoming more widely accepted, and are even accepted at many smaller shops and budget hotels. Don't count on acceptance, though, as it is far from universal. It is also virtually impossible to get an advance on your credit card in Syria if you are out of Damascus and Aleppo.

An international student card reduces the entry fees to many tourist sites to 10% of the normal price, if you are younger than 35 years. Depending on who is checking your card it is even possible to get the reduction when you are older than 35 or have only an expired card. It is possible to buy an international student card in Syria (around U$ 15). Ask around discretely.

Good restaurants and cheap meals

You can find the famous falafel for 10 to 25 Syrian Pound.

Shwarma costs 25 to 50 Syrian Pound. Fair restaurant, lunch or dinner costs 300 Syrian Pound. Expensive restaurant, lunch or dinner costs 500 Syrian Pound.

Syria nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.

Generally you can drink water from the tap, it is extremely safe, but if you're unsure ask the locals first. This water is of course for free compared to bottled water, which comes at 25 Syrian Pound for 1.5 litres.

Beer is cheap, costing from 35 SP in a shop and anywhere from 50 to 100 SP in most budget accommodation and local bars for a half litre bottle or can.

Hotels, youth hostels, lodging

A budget traveler spends about 100 to 150 Syrian Pound a night for a rooftop.

A double room you can find for around 500 Syrian Pound. A double room in a three stars hotel costs about $ USD 30, $ USD 50 for four stars, and can reach $ USD 160 in a five star hotel.

in January, 2006, dormitory in Damascus you can find for around 250 Syrian Pound. But in other town(i.e. Allepo, Hama, Palmyra) you spend about 125 to 175 Syrian Pound a night for a dormitory room.

Learn

• Arabic can be studied at several institutions in Damascus.

Work

If you entered the country on a tourist visa, don't try to work and earn money. Foreign workers should always get official approval to work.

Stay Safe

Syria is generally safe for travelers, partly because crime is considered shameful and is heavily punished. However, the renewed conflict between Israel and Lebanon in 2006 prompted large demonstrations throughout the Middle East. Travelers are advised to avoid all large gatherings as they may turn violent. Late in 2006 gunmen attacked the US Embassy in Damascus. Occasionally foreign travelers have been targeted by political groups, especially in the south of the country.

Women traveling alone may find that they draw a little too much attention from Syrian men. However, this is generally limited to stares or feeble attempts at making conversation. If it goes beyond that the best approach is to remain polite but be clear that approaches are unwelcome.It is common that Syrian men grip the ass of women walking alone in the streets. Be loud and involve bystanders as they will often be very chivalrous and helpful.

Slightly inconvenient for some is the attention of children begging for money, pens, or snacks around some tourist sites (usually those outside of Damascus).

Since beggary is common in some parts of Syria, particularly outside of tourist attractions, mosques, and churches, it has been known that beggars occasionally demand that people give you money and may follow you around until you do. Some have even been known to "attack" some tourists just for money and food. It is advised to wear appropriate Arab clothing and try to blend yourself in. It also better to keep your money in your front pockets and safe with you. Many scams by beggars have also led many foreign tourists to lose quite a bit of money; be aware of these scams.

Stay Healthy

Respect

Male and female visitors should wear modest/conservative clothing. It is best to wear loose-fitting clothes and not to reveal too much skin. For women, long-sleeved (or at least bracelet-length) T-shirts and skirts or pants coming to below the knee are fine. Men should wear long trousers, but (unlike women) can wear short sleeves in hot weather. A headscarf is generally not necessary other than when visiting mosques. Current youthful styles in the West ARE worn in Syria (in the bigger cities), but the girls wear an undergarment with crotch snaps. The jeans are skin-tight and low-slung; the tops are high-cropped, but no midrif is revealed.

Contact

Tourist Information Offices; Damascus: 2323953, Damascus Int'l Airport: 2248473, Aleppo: 2121228, Daraa (Jordanian-Syrian border gate): 239023, Lattakia: 216924, Palmyra (Tadmur): 910636, Deir-az-Zur: 358990

Phone

The international calling code for Syria is +963.

Internet

Syrians were only allowed access to the Internet after 2000 when the new President relaxed most (if not all) restrictions to its use. The advent of the Internet has created a mini-boom with most cities and towns having at least tens of internet cafés. The connection speed may vary according to the connection type; dial-up, ISDN, DSN, Satellite connections are available around the country. The authorities have blocked direct access to most pornography and all Israeli sites.

Newspapers

• Syria News, [2] Syria News Powered by Syriahit is Syrian website directory daily Syrian news from all over the world, weather forecast and download center
• Syria Times, [3] The English-language version of the Syrian daily national newspaper Tishreen (very much follows the government line...)

• The Syria Report, [4] English-language business newsletter on Syria

Read

Robert Tewdwr Moss, Cleopatra's Wedding Present: Travels Through Syria, Duckworth, 1997. ISBN 0715630997 (reprinted University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 0299192903) - an excellent and evocative travelogue from a gay author as he journeyed through Syria, sadly murdered in London the day after he completed this book. A must-read...

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