Ruins of Bosra
Bosra is an ancient city south of Damascus, and a former capital of the Roman province of Arabia. History here is layered thicker than a tiramisu, with ruins also from the Byzantine empire and ancient Islamic expansion. The town proved to be a picturesque palate cleanser after the modern day horror show that was the Sednaya prison. It was also a reminder of two things: how much of a gem modern day Syria had once been on the tourism circuit, and no matter how far you travel or how remote you think your destination is, there’s always someone who has been there/done that.
Pulling up the site of the ancient Roman amphitheater parking lot checked both of those boxes. The lot was sprawling, and while not in the best of shape, it was obvious it had once been packed with tour buses and crowds from all over the world. What felt like an adventurous destination for us had not to long ago been a routine stop. Walking through one of the best preserved Roman theaters in existence makes it easy to understand why this had been such a popular stop. The amphitheater is in remarkably great condition, with it and the surrounding town built mostly from sturdy black basalt rock. It gives the area a slightly scorched feel, which the recent internecine fighting in the area only contributed to.
Mike was allowed to fly his drone from the top of the amphitheater for some aerial footage, then we explored the surrounding ruins, some of which were riddled with bullet and shrapnel damage. We had a few minutes in almost total solitude to appreciate not just the ancient ruins, but also the modern graffiti decorating the site. Skull and crossbones decorated the ancient walls at a few intersections warning of former sniper locations and a grim reminder that even these historical sites were touched by the war.
“Danger of Death - Sniper”
Bosra saw its fair share of fighting during the war and changed positions back and forth between the rebels and government forces several times before reaching controversial peace deal where the city and surrounding area were given semi autonomy in exchange for not actively fighting the central government. We had lunch at the sites only … I want to say restaurant but that would be a stretch, so I’ll say food vender, and there was a group of surly looking military types were also having lunch nearby. Later we read that officials from the newly formed Syrian government had been meeting with the local militia that ran Bosra and that the meeting had been “tense”. Good thing we kept to ourselves!
The was our last full day in Syria before loaded up and take the pass back up to Lebanon where we have a few more days to see a few sites there before we fly back home. We had dinner at the hotel, ordered Doordash-style by the hotel concierge on a homegrown local app called Bee Order. It took a while, but it arrived hot and tasty and we ate in hotel courtyard and had tea with Hussein, who was working his way through an Italian Duolingo lesson. He mentioned if he made three mistakes he would get shut out for 24 hours. As someone who has been doing Duolingo Spanish lessons for a while (y logrando aprender muy poco) and frequently made way more than three mistakes but never shut out, this didn’t make any sense. It turns out he was on the free version which had a lot of restrictions, and couldn't access the paid version because of international sanctions still in place. I messaged my partner who pays for a family Duolingo plan, and we freed up a space for Hussein by bumping her nephew off (sorry, Sullivan, but you hadn’t done a lesson in forever anyway). Now we get occasional updates from Duo that Hassan is crushing it, which is pretty fun. Did this mean we violated international sanctions? No sé, but we leave for Lebanon tomorrow, another country intimately familiar with civil war and regional conflicts.
Who’s there?
The Roman era structure had been covered with rubble and the entry way disguised by locals who had moved in to the small space
Sprawling ruins surround the amphitheater
Lunch time
