I arrived in Damascus today, and I have to say it was the most interesting and bustling city that I have ever been two. Traveling the back and forth from Ecbatana to Babylon, I had heard a little bit about Damascus, and that the steel trade was the biggest industry there. But most of all, when I was traveling that route, I met tons of merchants who were carrying tons of iron ore that they had traded with Indians and Sri Lankans. The scene in Damascus had always made me curious, but I was amazed at what I saw when I arrived.

The marketplace in Damascus was more busy, loud, and noisy than I had ever heard before, which says a lot, coming from a regular traveler to two of the largest cities on the silk road. There was frantic bargaining over iron ore, which is extremely valuable in Damascus. The steel trade was more alive than anywhere else in Damascus, and the atmosphere showed it. I saw huge heaps of steel being traded all at once, blacksmiths hammering furiously in their workshops. And gleaming, smooth armor and swords being handed over to merchants.

The entire city was decorated with huge and magnificent mosques, like the Umayyad Mosque, which is the biggest mosque that I have ever seen. It is also the largest mosque in the Middle East. At the center of the city, there is also the beautiful Azm palace.

One of the most suprising things about Damascus was the extensive rights of women here. Unlike where I was from, women get almost equal status as citizens, and are protected by almost all the same laws as men are. However, women here still have a low social class, and are seen as impure.

One thing that I heard about here were the crusaders in Jerusalem. The people that I talked to, including one jewish scholar called Solomon bar Samson said: "At this time arrogant people, a people of strange speech, a nation bitter and impetuous {impulsive} Frenchmen and Germans, set out for the Holy City, which had been desecrated {a violation of sacredness} by barbaric nations, there to seek their house of idolatry {worship of idols} and banish {expel} the Ishmaelites {Muslims} and other denizens {inhabitants} of the land…Their ranks swelled until the number of men, women, and children exceeded a locust horde {large nomadic group} covering the earth;…Now it came to pass that as they passed through the towns where Jews dwelled, they said to one another: ‘Look now, we are going a long way to seek out the profane {vulgar} shrine and to avenge ourselves on the Ismaelites; when here, in our midst, are the Jews—they whose forefathers murdered and crucified him for no reason."
These horrible tales have made me more nervous to travel to Jerusalem, and I will have to be cautious of the Europeans when I travel there.