Syrian reflexions

We left Syria and are again in Turkey. Syria of course left a lot of impressions and here are some:

The first town we visited was Latakia on the coast, and it was not at all what I expected. Another muslim country I thought, and a very nondemocratic one again, this will surely be very conservative. I was wrong. Latakia is a rich and rather Christian part of Syria and on what is called "the American Street" we found expensive cars, bars and cafés filled with rich young people showing off the latest -not at all muslim - fashion.

And then we came to Aleppo, again a surprise. Because here were all the conservative muslims. Here we saw the most women with covered faces. But Aleppo also had the friendliest people that we met in Syria, maybe because there are not as much tourists here as in Damscus? The bazaar is relaxed and the sellers don´t hunt you down or try to tripple the price because you are a tourist. Another sign of a majority of local customers is what they sell. Less waterpipes and scarves and more sheepsheads and some kind of white, transparent gel that I still don´t know what it is.

People were - like almost everywhere we whent - extremely helpful and welcoming. Almost to much actually, I´m getting tired of explaining where I´m from and hearing about someones uncle in Sweden and so on... The Syrians speak very good english, even the juice seller on the street, and they are very quiet about politics. Much more than in Iran people seemed scared to talk about the president. The only thing they mentioned to us as a problem was the refugee situation. Some claim that more than two millon Iraqis are living in Syria, I think many of them on the street.