Back in the city I loved a lifetime ago [ The Real Story is here Please Read Must be one Time

Part 1
Back in the city I loved a lifetime ago [ The Real Story is here Please Read Must be one Time
Colin Thubron returns to Damascus after 50 years

It is 50 years since writer Colin Thubron published his portrait of Damascus, in which he recounted his travels around the Syrian capital and explored the history of the city. A lot has happened since then - not least the civil war. Recently Thubron returned to Syria to see what was left of the place he recalled so fondly.
The city that comes into view is of course bigger than I remember - its population must have quadrupled. Since I was here its suburbs have swamped the Old City that I loved, and even inside its walls a rash of restaurants and boutique hotels has appeared.
But they're all closed now, or empty. It's a city at war. Whole streets are fenced off by tank blocks and razor wire. Less than a mile away from my empty hotel I can see burnt-out tenements still in rebel hands.
This is perhaps the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth. In the Muslim world it had grown open and tolerant. A quarter of its people belong to Christian and other minorities, including Alawites, a sub-sect of the Shia, who dominate the government and army. However reluctantly, the Damascenes cling to the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The Islamist alternative, just outside the walls, might be fatal to them.