Deir Mar Mussa, gate to the desert

The monastery of Deir Mar Mussa is located 50 miles away from Damascus, a third of the road is through the desert. I can tell you the landscape is stunning, because the desert never ever disappoints you. If there is one awesome thing about it, it’s that it is in constant change, it is always different from the previous day and from the following one. You will never find the same scenery twice in the desert.

As you approach the valley where the monastery hides you can’t really see much, other than an orange mountain. Once you go around it, on the other side of it, you suddenly discover two tiny buildings on top of the mountain. These are the monastery and the chapel.

But to reach them you need to climb 344 steps literally carved in the mountain itself. In a hot day such as when I visited it (around 120F) the ascension is tough, but my motivational technique was to assume that it would be much harsher to do it in the winter with snow on the steps.

The whole valley and surrounding areas have been inhabited since prehistory by hunters and shepherds. Christian hermits have used the neighboring caves for meditation for centuries, and this is actually how the first monastic center was created.

Actually, legend has it that the founder of this place was actually Saint Moses, son of an Ethiopian king. Saint Moses wasn’t interested in inheriting his father’s crown or the honors that came with it, and decided to give himself to God. He emigrated to Egypt, then to Holy Land, and he ended up in Syria as a hermit in the valley of what is today the monastery.

In 1058 the tiny church (30ft x 30ft) was built. Today we can still admire gorgeous frescoes dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. Later on the monastery was built.

Sadly the place was abandoned in the 19th century, but in the 20th it was decided to both renovate it, and to start using the complex again. The monastery is today inhabited by monks and thus cannot be visited; however the church is open for several daily masses. Nevertheless it admits non-Christian visitors as the centre strongly promotes and encourages Islamic-Christian dialogue.

Getting to the top of the mountain is definitely difficult and it requires a big effort, but the views from the balcony next to the small chapel, as well as the frescoes in it, are worth the effort of climbing every single step.



 

* All pictures by laelfa
 

Taksim, Istanbul

Taksim, Istanbul - Turkey

By pure coincidence Bob Dylan signs to Mr. Jones in my iPod. right now.

Millions of memories suddenly bombard me.

• The steep streets that even the most daring drivers would avoid in the neighborhood where Mr A used to live. 
• The restaurant where we ate the worse fajitas ever, and the stalls where we've eaten shawarmas a million times.
• The pharmacy where for some unknown reason they thought I needed condoms when I was actually looking for Tylenol. 
• The pedestrian street where I enjoy sitting up in the second floor of a cafe, near the window, and look at people. 
• Mi favorite pizza margarita, with a cold beer.
• That bar we went to with Leigh Anne, that will always remind me of Malasana in Madrid
• One of the best breakfasts of my life, in that incredibly cosy cafe. 
• The tram.

Taksim is all of that, and much more. Especially with Mr. Jones on the background. 

 

Magnificent Krak des Chevaliers

Last weekend I had a chance to do a couple day-long trips not too far fway from Damascus with another Spanish girl who was brave enough to drive on the Syrian highways. I have now myself driven here and I realize it is not nearly as scary as I expected at first, but still the traffic of downtown Damascus in peak time freaks me out.

Anyways, going back to my weekend, I visited a magnificent castle (actually it is a fortress), and this is coming from a Spaniard that has visited many castles in Spain, France, and many other countries.

The Krak des Chevaliers (Fortress of the Knights) is a Crusader fortress located in a key spot: on top of a high hill, very close to the Mediterranean, near the border of Lebanon. From up here the crusaders could keep an eye on the road of the Mediterranean, on the lake Homs, as well as on their rivals the Muslim armies.

It was built a long time ago, in 1031, and still today it remains pretty much intact. The first crusaders arrived to it at the end of the 11th century during the First Crusade, but they soon abandoned it to continue their way towards Jerusalem. Then came the Hospitaller Knights, who rebuilt much of it and even expanded it. It is believed that up to 2,000 men lived here at some point, where they could host about 1,000 horses. Storage facilities were so big that it is said they could have withstood a siege for five years!

Today the Krak des Chevaliers is considered a model of perfection of medieval fortification and the greatest fortress in the world. It was actually never conquered and it took one smart man to be able to kick the crusaders out. His name was Baibars and after trying to conquer the place unsuccessfully, like many others before, he decided to trick the inhabitants of the Krak. He forged a letter from the crusader commander, asking the defenders to surrender. They knights were so naive that they actually gave in, and this was the only way the castle ever fell. 

But in fact what I wanted to share with you is how beautiful and magnificent this place is. To me it represents what we all dreamt of as kids, especially boys when they dream of being knights, girls dreaming they are princesses. 

Even TE Lawrence of Arabia described it as “perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world”.

 

* All pictures by la elfa except the 1st one