"Surprise visit" a Damascus Travel Page by grusl

Two days of Israeli bombing of Beirut forced business contacts to cancel meetings, so there was no point - and possibly some added difficulties later - in staying. I rented a car to the border post at Masnaa, passing the picturesque Mount Lebanon town of Broumanna then through the rather alien-looking Bekaa Valley. In Jdeideh, on the Syrian side, a taxi took me to the lavish Sheraton Damascus. There, the staff recommended the neighborhoods of Casaa and Bab Touma ... on the edge of the old city.