Day 38 Along the Coast

SYNOPSIS: After a full day of travel yesterday visiting multiple sites, it was time to slow down a bit:  For today, I targeted Amrit, a Phoenician site only 8 km South.  I visited the local museum in Tartus and got to know the newer part of town a bit.  I am also contemplating a lot of differences I have encountered lately.DIFFERENCES HERE AND THERE, BIG AND SMALL, PUBLIC AND PRIVATEThe birds were chirping in front of my bedroom window this morning and woke me up at 7:30 AM.  What happened to the muezzin at 4:15 AM?!   Was it possible that I did not hear him even though I had not plugged up my ears?  Yes – the two nearest mosques are far enough.  I can sleep in here!  In Aleppo, I realize, I had been in earshot of at least 10 mosques.  I recorded the call to prayer from my rooftop terrace once. It was a concert of overlapping voices near and far.   What a difference.I am not used to anyone taking care of things for me in general, but certainly on this trip nobody has worried about what I am doing and how and when; not Setareh in Beirut, not Olaf in Aleppo, certainly none of the hotel people anywhere else.  Hassan, my very nice and caring host in Tartus, however, is making sure that all is fine and well with me.  That will take some adjusting on my part…Hassan insisted on pre-booking the overland bus for me for my trip tomorrow to Hama.  I have never pre-booked.  What if I change my mind?  But OK.  I am booked now and most likely, I will go as planned.  Within hours of arrival, he had organized a local phone for me.   He could not fathom the idea that I had been traveling without a local phone for over a month.  Perhaps you remember that I went through all the fingerprinting and hoopla-hoes it takes to get a SIM card here – now I have the phone to go with it.  By the way, it also is a Motorolla, which the phone guy in Deir Ez Zoor insisted was not working because it was made in Israel.  Well, this one works just fine.When I was strolling around Amrit, I heard a faint sound – somewhere in the distance, I thought.  But it would not stop.  It finally occurred to me that it was my phone!  Hassan was calling to make sure I got to Amrit alright and that all was well!  But of course I got there and all is well.  This felt very, very odd – not even in America do I turn on my cell phone – it bugs me to think that the cell phone comes with the expectation that one is reachable just about 24/7.  I only use my cell phone when I need and want it.  But I guess that I will have to get used to this for the next few days.  I am very grateful that I do have a home and a caring host.  I don’t want to disappoint, trouble, or worry him.I guess it is much more common here to stay in constant touch when you are family or friends. When “George” had attached himself to me in Aleppo, he told me that his wife never goes shopping without her mother in order to get her opinion and approval on purchases big and small.  She also will see her mother at least every other day.  I think Hassan visits his sister just about every, but certainly every few days.  The most striking example along those lines was a conversation I had with the taxi driver Ali.  We talked about cars.  Since he was so concerned at all times that his car was clean, I told him that I had a Mitsubishi.  Since we live on an unpaved road, it gets dirty just about every day.  Does your son clean your car every day, he asked?  I had to double-check if I heard right:  My son cleaning my car?  And he really meant every day?  I told Ali that my son does not live with us and that often I don’t hear from him for several weeks.  No offense, Martin, but I also told Ali that even if you would live with us or nearby, it would not occur to you to wash my car nor would I expect it.  He was shocked; deeply shocked!  You could see the disbelieve in his face – not only does he and will he live with his mother until he gets married, he did clean his father’s car daily when his father was still alive.  His mother has no car.  When he lived in Lebanon for a year, he called his mother every other day and his mother cried on the phone just about every time because he was not home.  He thought that was perfectly normal and it was one reason why he stopped working in Lebanon and returned home to Aleppo.  Different worlds!But not only is our Western world different from this Middle Eastern world.  Within Syria, there are significant differences.  I already mentioned the change in climate.  Also, the transition from the harsh desert to the lush coastal plains is a dramatic one.  So is the shift from the flat Orontes Valley to the snow-capped mountains of the Antilebanon.  The difference between rural and urban is a significant one as well.  But urban and urban are not the same either:  In Aleppo on the roof top restaurant I had noticed that the town at night was unexpectedly dark.  Not like Chicago or New York, or any other larger town that turns into an ocean of lights every night.  Aleppo had its Citadel brightly lit and several larger avenues were visible.  But people close their shutters and live in courtyard homes where life is turned inwards.  Homes, even hotels, often look unoccupied because double layers of curtains are drawn.  Along the coast however, there are high rises that could be almost anywhere in the world.  The town is younger and more modern than Aleppo and at night it lights up like any metropolis in the world.I took the microbus to Amrit, a famous Phoenician site.  I expected nothing much, something similar to Ugarit; a lot of stones, knee high.  To my surprise, Amrit has two significant sites.  One, a temple dedicated to a goddess of water which has a remarkable tower preserved in the middle of what used to be the water tank of the temple.  And a necropolis with tower tombs of which two are fabulously intact.  It was a surprise to see that when I hiked to a third tower, a bit in the distance, that I found myself within about 50 meters of a huge military camp, canon shafts practically pointing at me and soldiers yelling…  I kept my camera down and headed back to the main archaeological site fast.In the afternoon I strolled around town.  Tartus is definitely a more “generic” town than Aleppo or Damascus.  It lacks the historic fabric and the Oriental flair.  One could easily move it to just about any other place in the world.  With its corniche – the beach promenade, as I mentioned yesterday, it reminds me most of all of Beirut but also of vacation spots along the Baltic.   The local museum was worth a look.  It is located in a beautifully restored, Crusader church.  Among the objects – all from excavations around here – there were coffins found at the Amrit necropolis.  I have never seen such a mix of styles.  The coffins were decorated with the head of the deceased.  One looked like an Egyptian pharaoh, the other like a Roman matron, and the third like a Greek maiden.  The Phoenicians obviously were in contact with the wider world and fully absorbed influences from around.  In many ways that is still true for the Tartus of today.When I came home, dinner was ready.  Wow, I have not had that in a while.   Thanks, Hasssan!Good night.