Unfinished SYRIA AND PRACTICAL JORDAN (continued, Part 6) Wednesday during our travels through the cities and rural areas, I was struck by the number of bankrupt businesses. We saw a large number of cafes, restaurants, shopping courtyards and shops with goods for the garden, garages and so on, which were built by entrepreneurs hoping to profit, but now all these objects of small businesses are abandoned and in ruins, victims of an extremely weak economy. A sad spectacle. And everywhere an unfinished house. All of this was similar to what seemed the entire country - is one big construction site, and all the builders have left for other places, perhaps in another country. And these homes if needed painting. The castle Krak des Chevaliers Krak des Chevaliers, or Castle of the Knights is probably the most famous of all the crusader castle. He is very well preserved and is a shining example of the ability to create complex crusader fortifications. Thomas Edward Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, said that this castle - the best lock in the world. For the construction of Krak des Chevaliers of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller chose a place where, until this has been the ancient fortifications. (Knights Hospitaller of the Order, they are also Knights of Malta, or loannites, military-religious organization whose job is to protect the gains of the crusaders in the Holy Land, ca. Perevi.) Members of this order were the masters of Krak des Chevaliers from 1144 to 1271 years. Hospitallers, along with the Templars were very rich in military order. They created this castle is so unassailable, that he Salah ad-Din in 1188 raised the siege, after only a day after it began, and went to attack softer targets, including the Castle of Salah ad-Din, which we have already visited. In 1271, the castle has fallen, but this does not happen in a fair fight, and as a result of betrayal. Walking a little bit of the castle, you begin to understand why it was so difficult to capture. Log blocked not only a powerful door and down the lattice, as shown in Hollywood movies. If the attacker managed to break through and take the first door, on they had to go through with the battle over the long sloping corridor to the next door. After the doors had to take attacker further strengthen the internal lock. This is a real masterpiece of design the locks! Stables, kitchens, dining rooms are made in splendid style, characterized by its numerous features of Gothic architecture, which can be seen only in Europe. The castle can live two thousand men, but when he fell, there were only a few hundred defenders. After the Mamelukes seized the castle, they built a mosque in the old church. It was there that we were able to hear one of the most amazing version of Islamic prayer, which is performed by a young man. His beautiful singing created a certain atmosphere, and he no doubt earned some great tips. Medieval luxury castle Krak des Chevaliers in Syria, homosexuality is not officially allowed, and the Quran does not favor it, so I was very surprised when we were served "the best gay restaurant owner, of all that I've seen lately. He was very successful in their work and quite well known in Syria, so it people come to learn from him how to make a thriving restaurant. We recommend to order a chicken that was supposed to be the best in Syria, and we were not disappointed that followed this advice. Owner of an institution - a brave man, and let his success and openness for a long time do not leave it. On the way to our next destination, I was amazed, and not in the best sense of the word, the number of gray, "nalogosberegayuschih", unfinished houses. I even count them. Surprisingly, 90% of homes on the main street were unfinished. Syrians clearly need something to do with their tax laws, but if they had something done to him, the unfinished streets would clear out the crowd unhappy. Earthquakes at these sites something common, and someone from our group asked how we know when it will begin the tremors! Now you can guess why Syria is best taken care of masts for mobile communications (although this rule can apply to any country in the world). Singer in Krak des Chevaliers Another amazing fact, which surfaced as we drove through the valley, was the fact that 99% of Christians in this region and only 1% of people are Muslim. We quickly visited the monastery of St. George, some parts of which were built in the year 500 BC Most of the Christians are followers of the Greek Orthodox Church, so poorly lit churches, many icons that all look pretty monotonous, and of course gold is everywhere. When you travel, is faced with a very unusual things. For example, when we were leaving the monastery, they saw two shepherds who were tending sheep in the central lane highway. Apparently, the grass is much appreciated. We drove some more, and our eyes were brought caves, which are on the hillsides. In these caves, people still lived 50,000 years ago. Sometimes history in this country is simply amazing! Jesus spoke a dialect of Aramaic, spoken in only three villages, one of which we visited to look at the old church of the VI century. These old churches are not impressive in appearance, but create the atmosphere. In this church a local girl sang the prayer "Our Father" in the language of Jesus, but even if she sang in some other language, we still would not understand. But we all smiled and nodded their heads. In this church has preserved its unique font that was created before the First Council of Nicaea (The First Ecumenical Council, which had identified the key tenets of Christianity, approx. Perevi.) In the year 325, when it was adopted a common standard font. The store at the church could be free to try the wine. It was an interesting, albeit slightly strange taste. Wine we bought. Sometimes it was hard to believe that we are in a Muslim country, the Syrian Arab Republic. Start material: Read more:
No comments:
Post a Comment