As the heavy wooden door of the Old Vine Hotel — the newest addition to Damascus’ ever expanding stable of Old City boutique hotels — swings shut, the noise and chaos of the outside lanes fades. Gone are the scrums of tightly wrapped tour-guided Iranian pilgrims, the small boys artfully carrying steaming cups of sweet tea through the crowds and the calls of Syrian merchants flogging cheap Chinese wares. They have been replaced by the Damascus of folklore: a narrow hallway leads to a marble courtyard embellished with a large fountain, filling the traditional Beit Arabi with the soothing sounds of running water. Like its growing number of competitors, the nine room boutique hotel promises to transport visitors back to the Middle East of the Thousand and One Nights legend. “Business has been good, demand is strong,” general manager Sami Maamoun said. “Our guests want to stay in a unique
