Half a day in Damascus: two madrasas, a bimaristan and a hammam

Four buildings, one idea: stone cut for the light that will fall on it. This walk is 1400 metres and four stops. It starts in a tomb chamber north of the Umayyad Mosque, carries on at a striped facade beside Bab al-Jabiya, and ends under the dome of a hammam that is still working. Three stops belong to the daytime; the fourth is left for the late afternoon on purpose.

The route

Start at the Zahiriyya madrasa, two minutes from the north gate of the Umayyad Mosque. The door sits low against the street, so look for an arched opening rather than a sign. Coming out, turn southwest: the Bimaristan of Nur al-Din is 350 metres on. The muqarnas hood of its portal is on the outside, so read it before you go in. Then follow the line of the souq west for 400 metres. The Sibai madrasa stands at the west end of the Midhat Pasha souq, on the same corner as Bab al-Jabiya. Its facade gives straight onto the street, with shops packed against it; cross to the far pavement to see the rings on the minaret. The last leg is 550 metres and the direction turns east. Inside the Bzuriye souq, close to the Khan As’ad Pasha, an ordinary door at street level: that is the Hammam Nur al-Din.

Timing

09:00 at the Zahiriyya. The room is small and dim; once your eyes adjust, the band of gold-ground mosaic opens along the wall, which does not happen in a crowd. 10:00 at the bimaristan: founded in 1154 as a hospital and a medical school, its courtyard is narrow and fills up after midday. 11:15 at the Sibai, where the facade of 1515 stands without shade in the morning and the black and white courses separate from one another. That much is done by noon. Leave the hammam for later; its real hour is the late afternoon, as the souq closes. Spend the gap in the Bzuriye — the distances here are short, the waiting is the long part.

Take care

Men and women have separate hours at the hammam and they change with the season; ask before you go or you will make the trip twice in one day. Allow an hour and a half, as this is not a place to rush. Whether the Zahiriyya and the bimaristan are open also varies, so ask while you are at the Umayyad Mosque. The Sibai is a working mosque: enter outside prayer times, shoulders and knees covered, a headscarf needed for women. Do not use a flash in the dim room; it flattens the mosaic.