Vic's Pics

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Thank you gentlemen, it's been my pleasure to share. For the final holiday pictures we visit the Damascus market (Al-Hamidiyah Souq) and Umayyad Mosque.



Pic 1. A general view of the vast city of Damascus taken from the top of Kassioun Mountain. This mountain dominates the city forming a huge backdrop that overshadows the city.



Pic 2. The remains of the Jupiter temple which now forms the main gate to the Al-Hamidiyah Souq. This is a traditional Arabic market where one could buy almost anything, though I saw little evidence of model shops.




Pic 3 4. The main thoroughfare of the souq and one of it's side alleys.





Pic 5. A typical gold shop window display. Gold is traded like we trade stocks and shares and is bought or sold in weight at the market price of the day. They were evident in all the cities we visited in Syria, but I have to say were not a patch on the gold shops of Saudi Arabia.



Pic 6. A bit of a curiosity shop, maybe the local herbalist or something similar.



Pic 7 to 10. The inner main courtyard to the Umayyad Mosque and some of the Arabic Scroll art work.





 
And for the final run..............



Pic 11. This amazing structure in the courtyard is known as the Umayyad Mosque Treasury.



Pic 12. The main mosque prayer room.



Pic 13 to 15. A main mihrab in this huge prayer room (there were other less impressive further down the room) and a close-up of the roof and column architecture.







Pic 16. This is the shrine to John the Baptist and according to our guide, within the shrine is the head of John the Baptist but as yet though I've not found any reference that will confirm this. Before becoming a mosque, this building was a Christian church and much of the architecture within it is from the Christian era. The evidence of this is seen in this last picture which shows one of the column tops that is part of the original church.

 
Thanks' guys, I'll have to find somewhere else to go now....................don't worry were working on it, but have to save the readies first.
 
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