In our days, the city is the capital of Syria, about 6 million people live in the city. A Muslim majority and Christian minority live in peace and harmony, a heaven of political stability in a region torn by political conflicts.

The city has much to offer, a mixture of the past and the present. Damascus is the people who lives in it… A strange mixture of communities, different in traditions, believes and political views, yet in a magical way united under the summer sky of Damascus.

In July and August it gets very hot but the humidity is low, what makes it a good place for heat lovers, or for swimming pools fans. However summer nights are just great. It rains often in October and November, sometimes it snows in January and February, and early spring in February then in March it gets cold again, The wind blows in April and brings Spring along with it, and the smell of Jasmine fools men into falling in love.

Damascus is a city of love and magic, at least through my eyes, behind every door and every smile a hidden love story. The smells, the colors of Orange and Red, makes it exotic in one sin, and warm in another. Nothing can be compared with a walk in the old city at 3am, and a taboo Frensh-kiss with your loved one.

There’s an ambitious French menu dotted with elegant starters, and main courses of fish, poultry, and hefty steaks (the steaks tend to get cooked more well done than many customers request). The food is good, but not more exceptional than at other top-class kosher restaurants elsewhere in the city that are less pricey. There’s an impression of ambience and dignity in the 19th-century Jerusalem stone dining rooms, which is an important component of a special dinner, but on closer look, many elements of the decor are rather tacky and faux elegant. The wine list, too, is good, but overpriced.

A journey along this historic street leads past many interesting sites of Damascus’ past. The Roman gate of Jupiter once stood at the start of the western section of the street, which now houses the Arab Gate of the Water Trough, Bab al-Jabiye. Further on is the Mosque of Hisham, built in the 15th century, with fine stalactite designs.

Walking further along into the covered section of the street there are two Khans, a Marmeluke structure and a caravanserai, also from the 15th century. It is thought that the theatre built by Herod the Great in the first century BC also once stood in this area. On the Eastern side, workmen uncovered a huge Roman arch that is thought to have been part of a 3rd-century Tetrapylon at the intersection of Via Recta. To the north of this arch is the Greek Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary, which stands on land that has been the site of a church since the Byzantine age.

Further on, St Paul’s chapel is where the saint fled by being dropped in a basket through a window in the wall. At the end of Straight Street is the Roman gate of the Sun, Bab Sharki.