Business contacts
Mobile phones Syria has two GSM providers, Space Tel and Syria Tel, both with reasonable tariffs. Sim cards cost £10. Top up cards can be bought from any of the brightly coloured ‘service centres’ or from many kiosks around Damascus. Most British mobiles with roaming service will now work in Syria. Syria’s card or coin fixed-line network works well and can be used for international calls.
Car hire Cars can be rented at the airport or from the Hertz desk at the Cham Palace, Maysaloun Street, Downtown (Tel: 223 2300, Email: HYPERLINK “mailto: hertz@mail.sy” hertz@mail.sy). Other possibilities are: Delta, Pakistan St, Mazraa (Tel: 445 0005); Hataht, Salehia, Shuhadaa (Tel: 446 0559); Samir, Mezze (Tel: 661 0110).
Office rental can be arranged through Nazem Bash (Muhajereen, Tel: 373 6947), Jessar Abbeeyad (Jessar Abbeeyad, Tel: 333 6267), and Anour Office (Mezze, Tel: 661 6974).
Translators can be hired via Amam Office (Martyr’s Square, Tel: 223 2112, Fax: 221 2331), Bishara Office (Martyr’s Square, Tel: 224 6093, Fax: 681 2848, email: HYPERLINK “mailto:bisharatrans@myway. com” bisharatrans@myway.com) and Shark al Awsat Office (Martyr’s Square, Tel: 223 0276).
Secretarial services can be enlisted at the business centre in most of the international hotels.
Local press
The Syria Times remains the only English-language daily in the country and its news coverage is limited and poorly written, though it does have cultural listings.
Syria Today is a new monthly magazine in English that has news, features and culture and is available from news stands. A new guide, What’s On, lists exhibitions and films. For the economically minded, The Syria Report (website: syria-report. com) keeps readers up to date with all the latest business and political news.
Internet
New internet cafés spring up across Damascus almost monthly. In the Old City the best is Rudi Net in Kaymareya Street (Tel: 223 1197) or Net to You in Bab Touma (Tel: 541 5506). Internet Station on Thawra Street, Sarouja, (Tel: 231 5439/3735) or Obeid Internet on Hamra Street (Tel: 231 3040) are among those that serve the new city.
Money
The currency is the Syrian Pound (SP). As we went to press £1 was worth about SP100. There are at least five ATM machines in Damascus accepting Visa and most other cards. Credit cards can be used at major hotels and some of the brand-name high-street retailers. Currency can be exchanged at the Commercial Bank of Syria on Yousef Azmeh Square between 8.30am and 8pm. Do not bring travellers cheques—US sanctions make them a great deal of hassle to change. Bargaining for artisan goods is expected, but not for food.
Tipping etiquette
In restaurants and hotels, tipping is expected, normally about 10% of the bill. Taxi fares are generally rounded up to the nearest SP10. Syrians will always offer you help to find your way, but will not expect a tip. Indeed, it may be taken as an offence!
Visa/vaccination
There are no required vaccinations to enter the country. Doctors recommend you are inoculated against diphtheria, tetanus, typhoid, hepatitis A and polio. Nationals of Arab countries can get their visa at the border. Most non-Arab countries require a visa, which can be obtained at the border if the visitor came through a tour operator. If not, the visa must be obtained before arrival. Evidence of a visit to Israel or the Palestinians territories will result in being denied entry. Westerners arriving from Lebanon are currently able to purchase a visa at the border crossing on the Beirut-Damascus highway.
Public holidays
It’s important to know the exact dates for Ramadan before you make your travel plans. During this Muslim fast you cannot eat, drink or smoke in public during daylight hours. Many restaurants in Damascus will continue serving food through the day, but in public Ramadan must be respected. Islamic holidays are based on sightings of the moon, so dates can vary:
1st January — Christian New Year’s Day
9th-12th January — Eid al Adha
30th January — Islamic New Year
8th March — Revolution Day
27th March — Easter
17th April — Independence Day
10th June — Milad al-Nabi (Prophet Mohammed’s birthday)
1st September — Lailat al Mi’raj (Ascension of the Prophet)
Mid-late September — Eid al-Fitr (end of Ramadan)
25th December — Christmas
Weather and climate
Damascus lies at an altitude of 2362 feet or 720 metres above sea level. It enjoys long, hot summers, with temperatures averaging about 35C, and sometimes extremely cold winters, when snow isn’t uncommon. Very hot days can quickly turn into very cold nights. The average annual temperature along the Syrian coast is 20C, and along the Aleppo-Homs-Damascus axis it is 17-18C. Annual rainfall on the coast averages 760mm, dropping to between 215mm and 500mm in the steppe.
Suggested reading
Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East by Patrick Seale. Seale had unprecedented access to former Syrian President Hafez Assad during the ’70s and ’80s when Syria was at war with Israel and locked into cat-and-mouse negotiations with Henry Kissinger. Scholarly but compelling reading.
The Gates of Damascus by Lieve Joris. Through her friendship with a local woman and her family, Belgian author Joris paints an intimate portrait of Syria in the wake of the first Gulf War. Grim and claustrophobic and infected with some of the subtle paranoia that defines Syria.
Inheriting Syria: Bashar’s Trial by Fire by Flynt Leverett. New on the shelves this year, Leverett’s book examines the political situation that Syrian President Bashar Assad inherited from his father.
On Entering the Sea, the Erotic and Other poetry of Nizar Qabbani (translated by Lena Jayyusi, Sharif Elmusa, et al. Picking up a tradition of Arabic love poetry 16 centuries old, Qabbani, probably Syria’s most famous contemporary poet, enriched it with the experience of a modern man aware of the changing status of women in contemporary times.