"A Sudani Halabi's page about Aleppo" a Aleppo Travel Page by maykal

In Sudan, some jokers have a nickname for me when they find out I can speak Arabic...they call me "Sudani Halabi"...literally "a Sudanese from Aleppo". I used to have fun sometimes, when people accuse me of being American or British, I could turn round and say "American? Me? No...I'm a Sudani Halabi!", which invariably got a chuckle or two. At first I thought it was a compliment about my Arabic, but now I have found out it is a bit of a derogatory term, meaning something like gipsy, vagrant or tramp...fairly accurate then!

Anyway, I'm getting off the point...this page is not going to be about Sudanese nicknames for tramps...it is about Syria's second city, Halab or Aleppo. Now I have to confess to not actually liking Aleppo very much. Being British, of course I must be obsessed with the weather, and it is the weather that really put me off Aleppo. A shame, but walking round in pouring rain under the greyest skies does not really do any city a favour. It wasn't just once...I passed through Aleppo on many occasions, and it always seemed to be kidda...always dull skies, cold, rainy...then I'd move to my next destination, and the sun would come out immediately. I also used to get hopelessly lost every time I came, not in the nice areas, but out in the suburbs. Undoubtedly, Aleppo has some very fine buildings, notably the citadel, the Umayyad Mosque (under renovation in 2000...places never look great with scaffolding, do they!) and a labrynthine old souq where donkeys have right of way...but whenever I think of Aleppo, it is the rain and getting lost in nondescript parts of town that spring to mind. I guess I just never really got under the city's skin.

So I apologize in advance to any VT Halabis...I'm not trying to slag off your city, but these are just my impressions.