Jdeydeh Christian Quarter – Aleppo, Syria

As I have stated before Aleppo, Syria is probably our favorite place in the world. This ancient city is home to incredible history, beautiful architecture and amazingly hospitable people. Lindsay and I instantly feel in love with the city the minute we arrived. There are numerous notable areas of the city but we spent most of our time in the “Ancient City” which is broken up by two distinct areas known as “Old City” and “Jdeydeh Christian Quarter.” The later is probably our favorite neighborhood of any city in the world. This very old part of the city is made up of narrow stone alleyways that wind their way through covered archways, beautiful old buildings, markets, churches, etc, etc. The buildings are mostly made of stone but many have wooden windows and rooms. As you wonder through the alleyways you will see these old wooden rooms and windows built right into the side of the amazing stone structures. Lindsay and I stayed in this part of the city and one of our favorite things to do was to simply wander and get lost. Both day and night we would wander through the alleyways enjoying every moment of our exploration. I remember one night in particular we were wondering through a light up alleyway right behind two Muslim women that had black burkas that covered them from head to toe. It was such a culture shock to see these women in their religious clothing as we wandered through an ancient Middle Eastern city. One night during our wondering we came up to a beautiful old church/square in the heart of the Christian Quarter called Saint Elias Cathedral. This amazing church was built in the the 1800’s and is surrounded by the old alleyways of the Christian Quarter but has a beautiful little square right in front of it. Lindsay and I sat on the steps of this church for hours just admiring the scene around us. There were little kids playing, shop owners welcoming customers, locals strolling, etc, etc. It was a beautiful Syrian night and the lights of the church and the surrounding scene truly gave us a travel high. As we walked around this church I took an amazing picture of Lindsay. She is walking through one of the many alleyways in the Christan Quarter with her head covered (out of respect for Muslims) and in the picture you can see two young boys coming by on bikes and the lights of Saint Elias Cathedral in the background. This picture sums up well the truly magical experience that it was to wander through the Christian Quarter of Aleppo. During our many explorations in this part of the city we also got to experience the wonderful hospitality of the local people. On one occasion we passed a local man carrying a basket of bread. He stopped us just as we were passing by and gave us some bread with a big smile. It was his way of saying “welcome to Syria.” On another occasion we were sitting on a stone ledge at the intersection of a beautiful old alleyway that had vines growing overhead. A local store owner saw us sitting there and brought out to chairs for us to sit on and gave us a big smile. We couldn’t believe his hospitality and thanked him over and over. There were numerous other random acts of kindness that we experiences while exploring Jdeydeh (Christan Quarter) and other areas of Aleppo. The Jdeydeh Christian Quarter of Aleppo is truly one of the most special places on earth. We both hope that we are fortunate enough to visit again some day.