Who of us doesn’t dream of a few hours in an old typical Damascene house, gazing at the spacious courtyards with a cup of coffee under the shade of a citron or a jasmine tree? (Part 1)

Once you step into Bab Touma Square you will be surprised to see a large number of cars parking in it and dozens of people moving in and out of the square either to take a car or to park a new one, that is to say the square has changed into a noisy parking lot with hundreds of people visiting this quarter of Old Damascus to enjoy a few hours of calm in the quiet alleys of the Old city, creating an unprecedented jam. The local residents of Bab Touma are not used to this although more than ten years have passed since the invasion of tourism started on the quarter changing it into a village of restaurants, bars and coffee shops planted in the old houses as an irresistible call for foreigners and tourists or even for the Syrians themselves.

Who of us doesn’t dream of a few hours in an old typical damascene house, gazing at the spacious courtyards with a cup of coffee near the central marble pond, and under the shade of a citron or a jasmine tree?

The dream has already come true when more than one hundred restaurants were opened in the old alleys of the city giving an added value to this part of the city, and fixing the name of Bab Touma and its surroundings on the tourist map of Damascus, where hundreds of people drive their cars all round the day looking for the most beautiful, the oldest and the most passionate place to spend an hour or two in it.

But is tourist investment in houses more than 300 years old safe of criticism and admonition? Many people direct their blame to the investors, to the ministry of tourism, and to the administration of Old Damascus.

Crazy beginnings for similar places

Samir alNa’asan, or the Khawaja*, as people used to call him, was a mere reckless in the eyes of the majority of his friends and colleagues who responded to his idea of opening a restaurant in Old Damascus with rejection and abhorrence, believing that he will waste his money on a failing investment. But the success of the coffee shop he opened under the name of Piano Bar exceeded all expectations, and became, since its opening in 1992, a land mark in the quarter, a testimony asserted by the several certificates of goodness granted to it by the ministry of tourism and the Governorate of Damascus.

Khawaja Samir says that Old Damascus has something no other places in the world enjoy. “We live in the oldest inhabited capital, and we should make use of this privilege, and offer the best service to the tourists who visit it”.

But what about those who consider changing old houses into restaurants a distortion to our heritage? What about the negative effects of this trend? Khawaja Samir answers saying: “When were those critics interested in Old Damascus? Old Damascus was always neglected. On the contrary, restaurants and coffee shops contributed in cleaning the Old city, in promoting it, and in employing a large number of its work force. Add to that that the phenomenon of these restaurants appeared as a logical consequence to the openness of Syria”.

Mr alNa’asan calls for support to expand such investments at many levels: reducing taxes and reducing the prices of essential services like water and electricity, ‘because the development of tourism industry is not the duty of only tourist investors. The state should take its responsibility and encourage investors” he said.

We leave the Piano Bar to stroll in the alleys of Bab Touma. At a corner in Ja’afar Street, a small door attracts our attention with a simple sign suspended above it saying “Red Wine”. We ascended a stone ladder which led us to a simple place. Everything is intact in its original place; old tiles of the room, the crack in the ceiling, the decaying wooden window, only six tables creating a certain atmosphere, several portraits of customers known to be celebrities, business men or tourists looking for good service and delicious foods. The “Red Wine” is a typical family project because those who work in it are of the same family: Michael Hilal and his brother. Contrary to our belief Michael surprises us by saying:” I prefer local customers, because they have good taste, and they know what and how to eat. The local customer has a local cuisine in his home. His wife is usually a gourmet, so they can distinguish the excellent from the gabber dasher, while the foreign tourist doesn’t know, and can not distinguish between our foods and the others’ foods”.

This answer surprised us because as far as we know most of the customers of “Red Wine” are Europeans living in Damascus or visiting it.

Since the establishment of “Red Wine” in 1993 Michael was convinced that excellence is not in luxurious decoration, but in the stuff served on the table. People are fed up with decors” and what they really ask for is a delicious dish, thanks to which the restaurant acquired its good fame.

Interviewed by : Haifaa Mafalani