I used to have a recurring dream of being lost forever while driving in the labyrinth of narrow streets which is the old quarter of Aleppo, Syria. It was one of those dreams where nothing would go right, and you’d wake up sweaty and in a panic.
One day my worst nightmare came true. As a rule I always parked my car on the wide boulevard outside of the old quarters, which meant a long walk, but I wasn’t courageous enough to try to drive inside the old quarters to the souq to get a closer car park.
One day I went with a mate who knew the souq better than I did and he suggested a parking spot right near the entrance of the souq we wanted to go to. When it came time to leave, I surveyed the situation and felt I would need a 20-point turn to do a U-turn on the narrow alley to get back to where we came from. No worries, I thought, I’ll just drive straight and turn off down another alley and keep making left turns. My mate disagreed with my plan, but I had faith in my internal compass and would find a way back to the main road. I drove on and then on a bit further but there were no side alleys and in fact the alley was becoming narrower. Finally we reached a T junction. I could only go left or right. But I was driving a full-size station wagon and had to make a sharp left from one narrow alley into the next. The car wouldn’t fit! I had to go forward and backward 20 times before I could make the left and even then scraped my left flank against a stone wall. I finally cleared the T junction but to my horror I was in the inner depths of the souq on a narrow alley like the ones in these photos.
People were banging on the car and shouting, and we were brushing up against donkeys. My palms were sweating, and my heart was racing. I was claustrophobic. We were never going to get out of there. We were going to be swallowed up in the bowels of the souq and never be seen again. I drove on as that was all I could do and the banging on the car continued, and angry faces were pressed against the windows. And then there was divine intervention – I saw light at the end of the tunnel. To our left an alley opened and I could see light and even a few cars. I turned and the world opened again. I looked in my rear-view mirror and still saw people shaking their fists at me.
To this day, I always park in an easy access location and will always walk the extra distance to my destination. I never ever want to repeat that experience.
