Straight Street, Damascus
Number eight in our continuing series
STRAIGHT STREET, IN THE OLD CITY OF DAMASCUS, SYRIA is number eight in the Daily Telegraph’s list of world’s best street walks. Perhaps not an obvious travel choice, this street has historical as well as religious connotations. Originally known as Via Recta, it’s the ancient east-west Roman road, famous in Christian tradition. It’s the oldest continuously functioning Roman road in the world - stretching for over a mile it has been walked for over three thousand years.
It isn’t a street that looks particularly old and neither is it straight anymore, but imagine, it has outlived empires, crusades, and the rise and fall of entire worlds. It has strong Christian connections; it was mentioned explicitly in the New Testament (Acts 9:11) as the place where the Paul the Apostle was healed of his blindness.
Walking East to West, you first get to The East Gate (Bab Shariqi). It’s the only remaining Roman gate in the city. This leads to the Souks - covered markets where you can inhale the small of fresh spices and find the famous Damascus silk. Also, branching off Straight street are the Hidden Alleys - labyrinths leading to hidden Roman columns, ancient churches, and traditional courtyard homes.
There are various ways to navigate the layers of Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic history of Straight Street. For example Civitatis offers guided walking tours. However, it is more likely that you will explore from home on your walking pad /treadmill, and there are a number of Youtube videos to choose from such as this one from Austin Davis Vlogs.
Good To Know
During the Roman Empire, this wasn't just a road; it was a massive, ceremonial highway designed to show off the wealth and power of Rome.
When the Greek architect Hippodamus originally laid out the street it was a perfectly straight, lined with majestic columns. However, over thousands of years he street has narrowed considerably and now it’s a bit bendy!
It acts as a historical and cultural boundary line within the walled Old City of Damascus. As you walk from the East Gate, the labyrinth of alleys branching off to your right leads into the traditional Christian Quarter (Bab Tuma), while the alleys branching off to your left lead into the historic Jewish Quarter (Harat al-Yahud).
The massive, vaulted iron ceiling covering the Souks was installed during the late Ottoman era to protect merchants and shoppers from the intense Syrian sun.
When American author Mark Twain visited Damascus in 1867, he walked Straight Street and was definitely amused by its name. In his travel book The Innocents Abroad, he wrote: “The street called Straight is straighter than a corkscrew, but not as straight as a rainbow. St. Luke is careful to notice the direction of the street, which leads me to believe that he never saw it himself.”
