Michael’s trip to the Middle East

After two days in Aleppo we took a minibus to Krak de Chevaliers and then to Hama.
It is an amazing castle towering 500 meters above the valley below. Its purpose was to control; the access of goods and people from the Mediterranean to the interior of Syria. Going up 500 meters in a very short distance is hard work. I can only imagine how hard it must have been, hundreds of years ago, in the heat wearing armor and with heavy weapons…. Just like the other castles visited the history of this one goes back a long time. The main fortifications have been built by the crusaders in the 11th the century and in 1177 lost to Arabs. The castle has been occupied till 1932 when the French paid off the last occupants to move in the nearby village thus allowing the reconstruction work to take place.
Great story, great views, a must see!
Moving along to Hama, the city of the waterwheels. Tiny city with beautiful gardens, great pictures.

Next day we had a 6AM start towards Palmyra, the city of palms. We got there around 11AM and it was already very hot and the sun was extremely strong. Finally, I figured out why the Arabs completely cover themselves. Over the next two days I wore long sleeves and long pants during the day. Sunscreen will not quite be enough here.
During the first day we visited the citadel and watched the sunset from the top of it.
Next day we visited the vast roman ruins. The Syrian government has done and is still doing a great job of restoring the many historical sites they have over here. Palmira is no exception. Particularly impressive were the temple of Ball, the roman theater and the family tombs.

About 1pm , everything slows down to a crawl around here and everyone is looking for shade or the lucky ones for AC. I drinked close to 4 liters of water and perspired almost all of it. This place is hot.

Last thing about Palmyra; if you forget your hat or cap at home, just buy a koufia and avoid the headache you would get other wise form the sun. 100SYP well spent.

Moving along to Damascus this morning and here I am back in front of a computer.

Lessons learned over the last few days:

• Things are not always cheap around here. Every price has to be negotiated; sometimes quoted prices are 10 times the local price. Most of the time they are 4 – 6 times higher. Forget paying as little as the locals, it will just never happen.
• Cell phone coverage is excellent; just make sure you silence your phone during tours and even better while in a mosque ( oops)
• There are some calling cards that can be used for international calls but they are still expensive by any standards. Even more difficult will be to find a land line from where you can use it. I still suspect I lost a lot of minutes just trying to go through. Is very possible that buying a local SIM card is a better option for international calls. Not sure though.
• Food is great and cheap. Local restaurant are very nice and service is impeccable everywhere
• While available in other cities, with the exception of Damascus internet connections are slow and unreliable ( at least the one I come across)

Cheers
More from Jordan

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 10:16 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.