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I entered Syria from the northern Jordanian town of Irbid, bouncing along in the back of a shared taxi wedged between two women, a Jordanian and a Palestinian.

It is the custom in this part of the world for the women and men to ride separately.

But my cramped quarters could do little to stifle the rising sense of excitement I felt as we closed in on the capital city of Damascus.

It was an excitement that would prove well founded, as I would soon be exploring the ancient and beautiful sights and sounds of a city with one foot firmly in the past and the other stepping forward into the future.

The taxi fare from Irbid to Damascus costs around $15 per passenger.

The trip can take four to five hours depending on the waiting time at immigration and customs as you cross the border.

Our driver only made one stop to buy water before the crossing.

After getting the proper stamps and visas we took off, and there was nothing but desert landscapes and open road all the way to Damascus.

When we finally arrived in the metropolitan part of Damascus and got out of the cab, I felt like I was stepping into a furnace.

The heat was intense. But I soon found some shady pedestrian walkways between rows of brown, stone buildings.

And though there are some 4.8 million inhabitants living in greater Damascus, I immediately noticed that the city was clean and well-kept.

I made my way to a downtown bus terminal.

The local taxi and shuttle drivers were adept at picking out newcomers and quickly surrounded me, aggressively offering their services.

However, if you don’t speak Arabic or have a translator you’ll end up paying a lot more for a private ride.

To avoid this I suggest taking one of the city buses, which are easy to use, clean and very cheap.

I boarded a bus and sat back in comfort, watching the city slide past on the way to my hotel.

Archeological excavations show that Damascus has been inhabited since as early as 7000 BC.

It started to become an important city after the Aramaean people settled there in the second millennium BC.

Syria, popularly known as Sham by Arabic people, has been conquered by Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman and Islamic empires over its long history.

It’s not hard to imagine why Damascus is credited as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

The city reached its golden era when it was occupied by the Umayyad dynasty, the first great Muslim dynasty to rule the empire of the caliphate between 661 and 750 AD.

The first Umayyad caliph, Muawiyah ibn Sufyan, made Damascus the capital of an empire that stretched from North Africa to India.

For over a century, Damascus was the center of politics, trade and culture.

Today, it’s evident that Syrians are still proud of the storied history of Damascus.

This can be seen in the way some historic sites, such as the Umayyad Mosque, constructed in 705 AD, still draw religious pilgrims and other visitors from all over the world.

During my visit, I stayed in a backpacker hotel in Marjeh Square, an area in the city center with a concentration of shops, restaurants and a mix of backpacker and upscale hotels.

During the day, the area is a bustling center of business and trade, but later in the night it becomes the city’s unofficial red light district, and women are advised against walking alone after dark.

Despite a few shady elements, Marjeh Square is strategically located for those wishing to tour the city’s markets and sites. It is walking distance from Damascus’ old city center.

A statue of Sultan Saladin — the Muslim warrior who fought against the crusaders in the 12th century — stood just outside my hotel, still guarding the walls of the citadel and the gate of Al-Hamidiyah Souq, the ancient Damascus mall that offers a treasure trove of shops and eateries stretching on for more than half a kilometer.

There is nothing more exciting than walking through the ancient, winding souqs (markets) and alleys of old Damascus.

It transported me back to an ancient time in a way that no other place I’ve visited has been able to do.

Of all the ancient souqs in the city, the most famous is Al-Hamidiyah Souq, which dates back to the Ottoman rule of Sultan Abdul-Hamid for whom the market is named.

It is a 500-meter archway bazaar running through the old city from east to west.

This pedestrian area ends by the entrance of Umayyad mosque.

It is covered with high iron ribs and corrugated metal and glass allowing the rays of the sun to shoot down in shafts that pierce the darkness of the market.

The shops sell every type of good known to man, from clothes and high-quality silk to leather, jewelry and antique Syrian souvenirs.

Visitors here should not miss a trip to Bakdash, the most famous ice cream parlor in Damascus.

This busy shop has been serving up some of the best ice cream in the world since being established in 1885.

Other souqs worth visiting include Midhat Pasha, Al-Bzourieh and Al-Harir.

They all offer a wide assortment of unexpected and colorful goods sold in the ancient and timeless ambience of a Middle Eastern bazaar.

With one souq often leading to the next, it’s easy to get lost as you move deeper and deeper into the labyrinth.

But getting lost in these ancient alleys is often the best way to enjoy and explore old Damascus.

At one point, I was pleasantly shocked when I stumbled into the ancient Christian quarter, replete with an old orthodox Greek church.

It was here that I witnessed women in modern fashions from the pages of Vogue mingling in harmony with Muslim women modestly covered in traditional hijabs.

It was strange, and somehow refreshing, while surrounded by ancient sights and sounds, to find a bustling diversity and harmony that was all at once thoroughly and wonderfully modern.