Traveling around the Middle East: Syria | Aleppo does not believe in tears

In 1986, the Ancient City of Aleppo, the oldest human settlement, was selected as a World Cultural Heritage Site for its extremely strong historical and cultural heritage. For a time, the people in the city were excited and told each other about the news. But who could have imagined that just 25 years later, four forces from the east, south, west and north would "join forces" here, and a four-year war involving millions of refugees swept across the sky, smashing the thousand-year-old city to pieces, and also smashing all the peace-loving souls in the city... It takes two hours to get from the old city of Hama to the southern bus station in Aleppo, and the fare is only 6 yuan. After getting off the bus, hop on the bus to the city center. Along the way, you can directly feel the shock of the post-war wasteland city [Figure 2, remember, it must be a large bus, you won’t see small vans]. The old city of Aleppo can be roughly divided into two areas: north and south: ① In the northern area, there are many ancient churches of various denominations. Most of the buildings have colonial style and are relatively well preserved and restored (Figure 3). The church usually opens at around 16:00 every afternoon for evening prayers. If you go too early, it may not be open. The churches include but are not limited to: Forty Martyrs Cathedral (Figure 4-5, Armenian Apostolic Church) Maronite Church (Figure 6, Maronite Catholic Church) Latin Cathedral (Figure 7, Latin Catholic Cathedral) Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption (Figure 8, Syriac Catholic Church) Church of Holy Cross (Armenian Catholic) St Georges Church (Figure 9, Greek Catholic Church, the underground church is decorated with silver pieces dedicated to St. George) National Presbyterian Church Al-Bishara Monastery (Greek Orthodox Church) ② The southern area, which is mainly composed of castles and ancient mosques, has been severely damaged. The castle towers have collapsed (Figure 10), and the Great Mosque of Aleppo has been directly blown into rubble. The entire area is still under slow repair. [Pictures 11-12, friends who want to see the wasteland style should go to the South District and try to go deep into the community. The fewer people there are, the more realistic it is]. Existing ancient mosques are often open only at six fixed prayer times, especially on Fridays when many people go early (Figures 13-14). After the first evening prayer, dusk gradually fell in Aleppo. The coldness and silence of Ramadan made people feel lost in their thoughts, as if they were in a dream... Water from the waterfall flows upstream Dandelion seeds float back from afar The sun rises in the west and sets in the east The bullets returned to the gun chamber, and the broken bricks flew back to the roof. Students return to the classroom, forgetting their ten years of study The aroma of food wafts from the kitchen The children no longer play naughty Mom stopped scolding me, and Dad put down his ruler They have never been apart