Fashion weeks, crowded markets, tourists, resorts, ancient architecture and even casinos — prewar Syria was a peaceful, hospitable and absolutely wonderful place. Sputnik guides you through Syria, a world lost in the ongoing bloody civil war. When will once bustling and lively Syria rise from the ashes?
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© AP Photo / Hussein Malla
A Syrian model, center, displays a creation during a competition for Syrian fashion designers with 12 participants, in Damascus. October 6, 2009.
A beach of a resort hotel in Latakia.
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© AP Photo / Bassem Tellawi
A Syrian vendor stands at his sweets shop in downtown Damascus. October 9, 2007.
Buyers at the central market in Damascus.
A stand offering various sorts of pickled and colored vegetables at a covered street market in central Damascus.
A herdsman grazes goats on a mountain slope near Slenfe.
The central market of Damascus.
Locals at the central market of Damascus.
A general view taken on December 30, 2010, shows the Syrian capital's first casino, located near Damascus airport.
On the way to the Temple of Baal in ancient city of Palmyra.
Syrian whirling dervish dancers from the Aleppo Heritage Ensemble perform during the festival of "Nights of Spiritual Music" at Qasr al-Adhm in Damascus. Late September 7, 2008.
Syrians weave carpets at a market in Old Damascus. October 6, 2003.
Syrian Bedouins watch over their camels as tourists tour around the historic town of Palmyra during the al-Badia festival, northeastern Damascus. May 4, 2007.
A general view of the Christian Syrian village of Maalula, 60 kms north of Damascus. June 29, 2009.
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© AP Photo / Ola Rifai
A tourist takes a photo during her visit to Al-Azem Palace that houses the museum of arts and popular traditions in the Old City of Damascus.
A family at the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus.
The Souk Al Hamidiyah, the largest marketplace in Damascus.
A Latakia local resting on the Mediterranean Sea.
At a restaurant in the suburbs of Damascus.
