Everyone who has been to Syria talks about how nice and warm the people were. As a foreigner, the words you hear the most are “you are welcome in Syria”. It's not that no one ever takes advantage of tourists, but what you get in return for a smile was fascinating. For so many times, I wasn’t even the person who smiled first. I have travelled to a few places by now and I cannot think of another country, and most certainly not another big city where locals had shown as much warmth and friendliness towards people who came to visit their country and city.
Syria asks you to unlearn immediately saying no or to be over-suspicious of others’ motives when someone offers you something. It asks you to remove certain layers of that protective shield you put on as a tourist, to trust that shop-owners don't get aggressive if you don’t buy anything in the end, to believe that when people invite you to sit down for tea they don’t expect much more than a pleasant conversation, and the tea is not poisoned (well unless you consider large amounts of sugar to be poisonous of course). It also happened more than once that in a restaurant, the diners from the table next to ours caught us looking at what they ordered with curiosity, and immediately offered and insisted that we join them and try their food.
In all fairness though, of all the incredibly friendly people we encountered during the trip, not only were there Syrians, there were also Iranians, Jordanians, Palestinians and Lebanese, but Syrians definitely lived up to their reputation.
As for Damascus, the pictures speak for themselves. Things which could not be captured on lens, like the ambience of the many restaurants set in the beautiful courtyards inside old houses, the streets and alleys in the old town, the parallel walks in the mosque, or the lively outdoor cafes where people gather for shisha are for you to experience when you go there one day.
