Bab al-Faradis

In the north wall of the Old City, between Bab al-Salam and Bab al-Faraj. It was one of the seven gates of Roman Damascus, and in that period it was tied to the planet Mercury. The name comes from the orchards that once lay outside it: faradis means gardens. The gate was rebuilt in 1241 by the Ayyubid ruler al-Salih Imad al-Din Ismail, and that is the fabric standing today.

Getting there

Leave the Umayyad Mosque by its northern gate and walk toward Amara. Ten minutes. The gate does not face a square. It sits inside a market street, with shops built against it on both sides and a stone ceiling carrying the old wall overhead. If you want a marker, there is an explanatory plaque in Arabic and English on the pier to the right.

How long it takes

15 minutes. The gate is a single passage; the time goes into the Amara souq behind it.

What is there

The gate is double, an outer and an inner passage. The stone ceiling between them now roofs a row of shops, and the street runs straight through the gate. Awnings, cables and signboards sit in front of the masonry, so it is easy to walk past without noticing the structure at all. Stop and look up.

What most people miss

Walk out through the northern mouth of the gate, then turn around. On this face the courses of the old wall read without interruption, while shopfronts hide them on the inner side. The mouth that opens into Amara is also where that quarter’s everyday market begins.