Day Twenty Four

Monday 11th October

Hugh, Amar, Rahmah, Patrick from New Zealand and i get up early at around 4.30 am to make our way down to Damascus for the day. The purpose is twofold. Firstly to try and source large flags for each of the 30 countries represented on the convoy. We aim to have these displayed all around the ship which we hope to board once we are given the go ahead by the Egyptian Pharoahs. Secondly we hope to see the wonderful and historical city and enjoy its sights and sounds. And smells.
We find a small flag retailer in the heart of the city and do a good deal to get the best price. The shpo keeper is very supportive of our convoy and we spend some time speaking with locals who are very interested in our mission. It seems that our reputation precedes us and many people are very aware of our convoy. We leave the shopkeeper to get together and package all the available flags. We manage to source over 150 flags in total. We will collect from him in the evening once we have seen the city.
Around mid day we go and visit the main mosque which was originally a Roman temple, but later conquered by muslims and built as a mosque.
We visit the shrines of Imams Hassan and Hussain who were beheaded.
We also visit the shrines of other members of their family who were brutally killed at around the same time.
Later we visit the tomb of the great muslim warrior Salahadin Al Ayubi who fought off King Richard 1st
( Richard the Lion heart) during the first crusades.
We visit the graves of Imam Bilal the first Imam of Islam.
And many others.
After a very good day we get back to the Flag retailer and pick up all the flags and we all go for a meal on top of the mountain known as Jabiley Kaisoon. It is a wonderful sight from the top we can see the whole city in all its glory.
At around 11 pm we get on the road back to Lattakia arriving back very late at around 4 am in the morning.