(Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes)
"Truly it would not be possible to describe the beauty and
the excellence of this Damascus, in which I resided some
months in order to learn the Moorish language, because
this city is entirely inhabited by Moors and Mamelukes and
many Greek Christians."
- Ludovico de Varthema, The Travels of Ludovico de Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508, trans. by J. W. Jones and G. P. Badger (London: Hakluyt Society, 1863), pp. 8-9.
