Placing my hand on the stoned walls and feeling the heat with the smell of summer. Cars honking. Syrian spirit. Middle eastern probably. I hate silent streets, I probably got that from life there. It's always flaming with people and nothing is more joyful. The harshest days of war seems to be fading away very slowly and life is still very hard but the beauty is progressively coming back.
But you can take a tour through it all. One of the biggest citadels in the world and an immense pride for the people of Halab. It is magnificent β visit for breakfast and then explore inside. You could do this your entire lifetime and still make new discoveries as you run up the stairs to observe the entire city from up high. If you needed to boost your energy, the square in front of the citadel offered a vast array of coffee shops and restaurant.
Before the war, it was the place to be. The entire square was destroyed and has been rebuilt since, trying to give back to Aleppo, its old atmosphere. The Souks. Perhaps what makes the souk so terrific β and after the war, so tragic β is that it holds a deep meaning for every Aleppian, the mother getting her spices, the grandmother bringing treats home from the sweet shops behind the Great Mosque of Aleppo, or the aunt buying fabric and always trying to get the best prices.
Go to souk al-Mdineh in Aleppo, with my mother and aunts. They would get their spices and I fancied the Syrian silver jewelry and the scarves, I still wear them everyday. Then when we got a little older, we would go with my friends and try imitating our parents into getting a lower price.
We had all the technics, I still smile thinking about it. Souk al-Mdineh is huge, it has so many alleys and so many parts yet I still have most of them in mind.
