March 13, 2009

International ATMs in Syria
Aleppo, Syria

I've never had such a difficult time finding an internationally-capable ATM (in a large city) as I have here in Aleppo. I was fortunate to have changed some Turkish lira into Syrian pounds before stepping across the border.

The Middle East guidebook my friend sent over to me states that "there were only three ATMs in town at the time of research"—one of which was at the airport. Things have certainly changed in the past three or more years since that chapter was last updated, but most banks are local, as are their cash machines.

If you're looking for an ATM that accepts both Visa (Plus) and MasterCard (Maestro, Cirrus), then try asking a taxi driver to shuttle you to a Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi.

Recently in this country...

Comments:

The United States

jpm

April 1st, 2009

That green thing sticking out (where you insert your card) looks pretty suspicious. I've seen them before. Could be a card copier.

Syria

Craig | travelvice.com

April 2nd, 2009

This one was OK. I usually grab and giggle such things to make sure there isn't some sort of reader attached.

I really wish more of the world would adopt the 'swipe' ATM card system, instead of feeding your card into anonymous machines—just a terrible mechanism that creates more problems than it prevents.

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