Syria is an amazing country with more sights to see then you can possibly name.

There are over 600 "dead cities", ancient roman ruin cities, that haven't even really been set up as tourist sites, many are actually still on plots of land where sheep and goats are free to graze. The one I went to had goat droppings everywhere :) If there was a single one of these in North America it would be a national treasure. The most famous ancient city is Palmrya, which was a very important Roman city at it's peak in the 3rd century AD. As you can see in my pics, it is pretty impressive, arguably the best preserved roman city in the Middle East. The other major site to see is a castle called Crac des Chevaliers, which Laurence of Arabia called the finest castle in the world. It is a castle built mostly in the 13th century by the Crusaders and is really amazing. Pics just don't do it justice. One of the fun things about going to places like these in Syria and most of the middle east is the lack of signs and order. You can just go as you wish, anywhere, all over the sites, no ropes or park rangers to ward you off. Want to each lunch on a 1900 year old piece of stone?, go for it!!!

The sites are cool, but the best thing about Syria is the people and culture, peticularly in the cities of Aleppo and Damascus. It is like no other place I have ever been. The people are amazingly friendly and as genuine as a man on the street can possibly be. A standard walk down the Ave. almost inevitable turns into an afternoon tea (which is generally 1/2 sugar), maybe including a game of backgammon, and a smoke off the narghilah pipe (usually apple flavored tobbaco), with a previously random stanger who welcomes you into his shop/home/stand, and simply wants to make sure you are welcome in his country and that you have a good time. No one is harrassing in the souqs/market place as you might expect and the second you buy something you have a friend for life. Every time you walk by the shop the rest of the week you are not allowed to pass on, tea and conversation are mandatory. Mind you all of this is done with broken english or a younger person helping translate the conversation which adds to the fun :)
The sites, sounds, and smells you come across simply walking down the street are very hard to describe but make up the highlights of every day. One street will be the pet/dinner street, where you can buy some goldfish for your aquarium or pigeons & chickens for supper, a block down the road you will find the fish market right next to a gutted sheep with it's eyes and innards in a tub for you to choose the pick of the lot, yummm!!!!....Further along the way will be the textiles and materials for dress making (both man and women), a bit further is a street full of wood works, then on to the plumbing st, and tire st etc. Mixed in are all the foods cooking at the various st. stalls along the way with the spices and medicinal herbs in the air as well from across the road, Brilliant!!!!
After a nice walk around the shops and maybe a snack or two, an ice cream cone cost about 20 cents, a shwarma sandwich about 50 cents from a st. side vendor, you need to relax with a visit to the hammam, or turkish bath. Here you get the traditional service of a sauna, washing yourself down with syrian olive oil soap (quite famous actually so I am told) and pools of various tempered waters to rinse, having someone scrub you quite hard with a tough brush to exfoliate nearly your whole body, then a message to crack all the bones and muscles you didn't know you had. Followed of course by tea, Brilliant!!!

I don't think I could have a much better view about Syria. Of course a lot of the infastructure is horrible, hotels rooms are a must see before commiting to, the streets and open land for that matter have quite a bit of trash spread about, and transportation is a bit of a confusing mess including negotiating for just about every ride all the time even if they have posted prices. But that is part of the experience of traveling in places like Syria and just adds to the overall charm. I never came across any anti-american or anti-western sentiment, and actually due to such a lack of tourism, I actually felt like the main attraction a few times, you definitely get some stares from people who haven't seen anyone that looks like you before, a welcome change of roles on occasion. Syria is not for the faint of heard, most people I know wouldn't make it a day due to the dirt, grime, sometimes horrendous smells, and what seems like chaos in the street, they call it driving. I loved it for everything it is and isn't, including that it is the only place I have ever been that doesn't have Coke or McDonald's.