Palmyra and Mohammed, the “Mountain of Mirth”
We visited the ancient city of Palmyra, which used to be a commercial center in Syria hundreds of years ago, a place where travelers and traders who were crossing the desert would stop to rest their weary feet and trade and sell their goods. For us, it was truly an oasis in the middle of the desert with the best milkshakes in Middle East and home to one of the craziest characters we’ve met on our trip thus far.
Public transportation in Syria is wonderful! We took a super clean and comfortable bus ride of nearly 3 hours from Damascus to Palmyra for about $3 each. A bus attendant handed out little water bottles a few times and even walked up and down the aisle to spray some air freshener a couple times during the trip. They showed a movie, in Arabic of course, which had some scenes where a Arab guy used some sort of x-ray vision to look at women and see them in their underwear. Not quite what I was expecting in this part of the world but the bus had almost only men on it, so there you go.
Palmyra is probably the number 1 historical tourist destination in Syria and it did not dissapoint. The town is small, located in an oasis in the desert not too far from Iraq as was evident by the street vendors trying to sell us old Iraqi currency with the face of Saddam. It is a relaxed place that is quiet during the day and even more quiet at night but with a great infrastructure for backpackers: cheap lodging, friendly locals who speak decent English, and good and cheap food including western dishes like milkshakes and some of the best crepes we´ve had on this trip.
But the main thing to see and do in Palmyra is visit the old well-preserved ruins from Roman times. Though we were a bit
ruined-out by this point we did really appreciate the beauty of these spectacular ruins during both day and night. By day we visited burial chambers built into the mountains and walked the vast ruins which we had to ourselves most of the time as it´s slow tourist season and pretty damn hot. At sunsent we took a bus ride up to the castle set on top a nearby mountain to watch the sun drop and all the ruins change colors slowly right before our eyes. Then at night we walked around the ruins again with a group of backpackers from the USA, UK, France, and Germany as the ruins are wonderfully lit up revealing yet another myriad of colors.
We were impressed with the ruins but the highlight of Palmyra was quite possibly the most friendly, outgoing, funny, wild, and gregarious guy we met in all the Middle East. Mohammed, the “Mountain of Mirth” as he is called in the Lonely Planet guide to Syria. He´s a young guy probably in his mid 20´s who works for one of the cheaper hotels and takes it upon himself to meet every tourist who comes to town and chat and laugh with them until your stomach hurts. We really had a great time hanging out with him, hearing about his self-proclaimed star play for the local soccer club, and having him take Shan around for some jewlerly shopping. We will always have a special place in our hearts for Mohammed.
For our Palmyra pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlovesphotos/sets/72057594139201865/
-Anthony
But the main thing to see and do in Palmyra is visit the old
well-preserved ruins from Roman times.  Though we were a bit
ruined-out by this point we did really appreciate the beauty of these
spectacular ruins during both day and night.  By day we visited burial
chambers built into the mountains and walked the vast ruins which we
had to ourselves most of the time as it´s slow tourist season.  At
sunsent we took a bus ride up to the castle set a top a nearby
mountain to watch the sun drop and all the ruins change colors slowly
right before our eyes.  Then at night we walked around the ruins again
with a group of backpackers from the USA, UK, France, and Germany as
the ruins are wonderfully lit up revealing yet another set of colors.
We were impressed with the ruins but the highlight of Palmyra was
quite possibly the most friendly, outgoing, funny, wild, and
gregarious guy we met in all the Middle East.  Mohammed, the "Mountain
of Mirth" as he is called in the Lonely Planet guide to Syria.  He´s a
young guy probably in his mid 20´s who works for one of the cheaper
hotels and takes it upon himself to meet every tourist who comes to
town and chat and laugh with them until your stomach hurts.  We really
had a great time hanging out with him, hearing about his
self-proclaimed star play for the local soccer club, and having him
take Shan around for some jewlerly shopping.  We will always have a
special place in our hearts for Mohammed.
------------------------------
including western dishes like milkshakes and some of the best crepes
we´ve had.
But the main thing to see and do in Palmyra is visit the old
well-preserved ruins from Roman times. Though we were a bit
"ruined-out" by this point we did really appreciate the beauty of these
spectacular ruins during both day and night. By day we visited burial
chambers built into the mountains and walked the vast ruins which we
had to ourselves most of the time as it´s slow tourist season. At
sunsent we took a bus ride up to the castle set a top a nearby
mountain to watch the sun drop and all the ruins change colors slowly
right before our eyes. Then at night we walked around the ruins again
with a group of backpackers from the USA, UK, France, and Germany as
the ruins are wonderfully lit up revealing yet another set of colors.
We were impressed with the ruins but the highlight of Palmyra was
quite possibly the most friendly, outgoing, funny, wild, and
gregarious guy we met in all the Middle East. Mohammed, the "Mountain
of Mirth" as he is called in the Lonely Planet guide to Syria. He´s a
young guy probably in his mid 20´s who works for one of the cheaper
hotels and takes it upon himself to meet every tourist who comes to
town and chat and laugh with them until your stomach hurts. We really
had a great time hanging out with him, hearing about his
self-proclaimed star play for the local soccer club, and having him
take Shan around on the back of his motorcycle for some jewlerly shopping. We will always have a
special place in our hearts for Mohammed.
Due to technical difficulties, we are currently unable to provide the link to our Palmyra pictures, but will do so as soon as we can.
-Anthony
Tags: Middle East, Palmyra, Syria, Travel
Shan