If off the beaten track travel is what you want, than Syria is for you. In the two weeks we were there, we only saw a few independent travelers. Though not without its flaws, it was a wonderful place to visit. The people were incredibly friendly, the food was excellent, especially the sweets(dried apricots filled with pistachios dipped in chocolate were a favorite), and it was super cheap($20 a person a day).
Everywhere in Syria there are pictures of the President, Bashar al-Assad. In every shop, in every home, in restaurants, on cars, everywhere. We invented a game where we would see how many Assad pictures we could count from a given spot. Yo had the record with 41 from the central square in Damascus.
We stayed in five cities in Syria and at every one we just happened to stay at a hotel run by someone named Mohammed. I asked the Damascus Mohammed why this was so. He said, "Big problem in Syria, too many Mohammads, every home has a few, very confusing."
The problem with so few travelers is that there is little tourist infastructure. There were some amazing sites in Syria: Roman ruins, Byzantine churches, and Crusader castles. However, if you are not on a tour its difficult to get to these places. A day trip may involve a taxi, numerous buses, hitchhiking, walking long distances, and literally take all day. But its a bit of a catch 22 though, it's not going to get better unless more people visit, but more people will not visit unless it gets better.
We met few people who spoke English, but occasionally we were asked where we were from. Upon hearing I was from America the most common response was, "American people good, Bush no good." It made me laugh, but it also made me think that its cool that they can differentiate between a government and its people. Syria was not an easy place to travel, but hearing comments like that made me happy that we went.
-Shawn