IMAGE GALLERY: Man Recalls Syria With Fondness

For Michael Bloch of Westborough, watching news of the violence in Syria stirs up emotion. Bloody and fiery scenes fill news reports of Syrian activists rising up against the Bashar dictatorship, meeting strong resistance from a government intent on staying in power. For Bloch, the images are horrifying and saddening, as he recalls the peace and beauty of the Syrian people that he visited less than a year ago.

“These are warm and friendly people,” said Bloch. “The radicals are getting all the noise.”

Bloch, a father of three boys and owner of Westborough video company Quadrinity Media, traveled to Syria with a friend this past March. As part of his fiftieth birthday celebration, he set off to walk Abraham’s Path through Jordan and spend several days in Damascus. It was his fifth trip to the Middle East, and his first visit to Syria. At the time, news of demonstrations had just started to trickle into the media, he recalled.

“We were getting news of what was going on as we were traveling,” he said. Despite that, the two men had no intention of changing travel plans.

They walked portions of the Abraham Path in Jordan, covering the historic footsteps of Abraham through the Middle East. The men stayed in local homes along the way, getting an intimate look at the life of villagers. The path continues through Israel, Palestine and Turkey, though Bloch confined his trail travels to Jordan.

The ten day trip included five in Damascus, the capital city of Syria with a population of 1.5 million.

“I was incredibly surprised at how westernized it felt,” said Bloch when recalling his first impressions of Damascus. He said that women drove, men and women were holding hands and kids had iPods. “It felt modern — not dusty, old or dilapidated, like in rural Jordan.”

Touring Syria was inexpensive, he said, with great restaurants. One of the highlights of his visit was seeing the Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus.

Residents welcomed the travelers, sharing relics of the country’s history and offering gifts. “It took me a while to get rid of the US eyes,” Bloch said, noting that he had preconceived ideas of the country and people — ideas that dissolved once he shared time one-on-one with Syrians.

As he flipped through his extensive collection of vacation photos on his iPad, he smiled at the memories of his trip through Syria. He told the story of a man who did not speak English who led the two Americans down a back alley in the city to see a bath house that was several centuries old. There was also a shop owner who Bloch photographed. In gratitude, the man offered him to take what he wanted from the store — a free souvenir from his trip to Syria.

The two Massachusetts men stayed a boutique hotel in Damascus. Bloch said he had access to high speed Internet, though many of the websites he wanted to visit had been blocked. He was able to watch CNN on television, ironically covering a protest in Damascus, though reporters were not permitted in the country.

“The people were friendly,” he said. “I never felt that being Jewish was an issue. I never felt politics and people were related.”

Despite the warm welcome from the Syrian people, Bloch said that he felt a sense of suspicion within the community. “I could see that they live in a constant state of fear,” he said.

He recalled hearing about an uprising in Daraa, a town on the Syrian-Jordanian border. Preteens reportedly criticized the government and were punished, Bloch recalled, and their families were protesting. The town, he said, was quarantined. Tourists were not permitted to see it.

Since his visit, protests have escalated and the country is now in a war, pitting a government against its people. The news clearly disturbs Bloch. “Clearly what they [the government] are doing is horrific,” he said. “I think we are seeing an accurate picture of a government trying to stay in power.”

Bloch hopes to see the Bashar dictatorship fall. “I think the Bashar government is done.”

Despite the horrific images that continue to fill news from the Middle East, Bloch is planning a return. He and his wife, Sondra, will be leading a business group of 48 tourists on a trip to Jordan and Israel next month. Syria is not on the agenda.

As he recounts the internal strife in a country that he learned to appreciate less than a year ago, Bloch said that he wants others to know that there is a human element to the sometimes numbing pictures splashed in the headlines.

“If you can take off the lens that is defined by CNN and The New York Times, you can meet the people. It is the only way to know what the people are like,” he said.

“Whether you are from the West Bank, Syria, Jordan, Africa, Russia, Guatemala or the US, we all want the same things. We all share dreams that our children will live a better life than we do.”