Update: 24.10.2005
Place: Palmyra
Day: 9
Distance Travelled: 2,234km


Crickets are still chirping here. However, after crossing over the mountains of Ansarriya (or an-Nusariyya) and reaching to the Mediterranean coast, their voices decrease a bit but as they are still chirping at the end of October, they are probably not called as "August bugs" in Syria like we say in Turkish.

Well, moving towards Lattakia (al-Lathiqiya as the Syrians say, or Lazkiye as we say) after crossing over the mountains, a mild wind that gives goose pimples began to blow from the Mediterranean side. Seemingly, the Mediterraneans are getting a little bit wet in this time. And my dreams of "camping on the coast of the Mediterranean" are devoured by the water as well.

After I left Aleppo towards north on Thursday around 12:00 in order to see the monastery/castle of St Simeon, I had to trample the suburbs of the city approximately half an hour in search of the Azaz-Kilis exit. However, I realized afterwards that the Kilis exit was completely apparent in my GPS map and the poor device had been striving to thrust it under my eye. Perhaps, you have already noticed this in the second track file I have posted to the Google Earth section. After I set off the journey, I have been following the road signs with great attention not to miss St Simeon exit. Nevertheless, although my odometer had been telling me that I was almost in Kilis, I could not see any sign on the road that reads "St Simeon" and finally understood that (before coming to Kilis), I had already passed the turn. The best thing to do was to drive around going up and look for the turn on the other road, and I did so. I did but this time the Syrian pilots..., sorry, drivers who wanted to prove their driving skills on the sharp bends of the mountain roads, finally had an inevitable accident in front of my eyes and the road was closed to drivers for almost one and half an hour. Don't get excited, there is not much to worry about. Only a combine harvester, trying to "move ahead" towards us was hit by a midibus which passed me and the two other trucks on a very narrow road with 20-30% slope and 180 degree bends. The damage was very luckily very little for for such an "expected" accident. No dead or wounded. As if this was not enough, once the ones in the back (and naturally the ones coming from the opposite side) tried to find their ways by concentrating on the "holes" on both side of the road full of pine trees and rocks, the surrounding turned into a theater of war. The road was already interlocked, vehicles that got stuck by the rocks, sinking more to the soil the more they skid, an ongoing automobile horns... I stopped the car, turned on the music to the max, took out a cold drink out of the refrigerator and began to watch the live movie in front of me. An hour later a police officer, covered in sweat, walked up to the eventful spot. After watching his efforts to open the way up for approximately half an hour, the movie ended, we set off. It probably took them a few more hours to save the adventurers stuck in various places.


The Monastery/Castle of St Simeon
You might judge me of being unconsistent by saying I do not really like visiting the historical ruins, yet heading to St Simeon. You are certainly right but please do not forget the commentary that goes, "unless a place is specially recommended to be seen..." Syria has got three in this category: The Monastery/Castle of St Simeon, Krak de Chevalier and the ruins of Palmyra. Each of them is must-see. So, I played the good kid and included them all in my list. The real reason why I did include St Simeon is the extraordinary story that lays behind, which goes as follows:


We could not enter through the doors of St Simeon

St Simeon was born in the year 392 AD as the son of a shepherd. Although he chose the monastery life with his free will when he was small of age, the monastery life too began not to satisfy him after a while. He withdrew into solitude in a cave on a deserted mountain in order to abstain from any of the earthly communication. His extreme piousness, in time, began to be noticed among his peoples. In order not to miss this chance that has readily come by itself, the inhabitants in that area with the hope of earning blessings by such a great saint, began to pay him visits. However, Simeon was disturbed with these visits ruining his hermetic life. Therefore, he initially built up a three meter high pillar to escape from their touches and began to live on top of that. However, this three meter high pillar naturally could not resist to the ambition of "being blessed by St Simeon". Simeon, in turn, tried to deal with this by building higher pillars. Each time his admirers found out ways to reach higher, he leapt over to another one. He perched on these pillars for almost forty years and the last one is rumored to be 18 meters high. I say "rumored" because it is not standing today. The pilgrims who came to the spot took away small bits from the rock over hundreds of years, there remained only a small piece of rock. When St Simeon died in 459, the books say that he was the most famous person of the fifth century. His body was taken to Antioch (present day Antakya), which was one of the biggest centers of Christianity, and buried there. After a while, a gorgeous church was built around his perch. It is said to be the biggest church of its time, still preserved in quite a good shape. The pilgrims seemingly had not much to do with the church other than pulling St Simeon's perch apart. Now, you think that I have seen all these, right? Unfortunately, you are wrong. Among all these, I was only able to see the ruins of the arch in the entrance of the old road going up to the monastery. Why? Well, it is Ramadan! Apparently the doors were being closed at 15:00 instead of 16:00... And as I was there at 15:20, I could only see the "outer door". I almost forgot: The saint, as he was living in the last perch of 18 meters, had an iron rail made on top of the pillar in order not to fall from at night time. He used to tie himself with the help of chains from the iron circle around his neck to this iron rail.

Lattakia (Lazkiye)
After the defeat of St Simeon, I have experienced a similar desperate struggle in Edlib (or Idlib) like in Aleppo as I entered there exactly at the time of iftar, and all the road signs supported with the Latin alphabet changed completely into Arabic once in the city and there was not even one soul on the streets to inquire the way. Finally, as the only "soul" I could find was a taxi driver, I gave him the usual taxi fee to lead me to the city, so that I could scribble down Edlib in the list of defeats.

After crossing up and down the mountains of Ansarriye full of twists and turns, I entered into Lattakia. I did and was instantly struck dumb with amazement. While I was expecting a gloomy seaport city, I came across a lively and active Eastern Mediterranean city, almost far superior to Beirut. It was full of modern buildings, boys and girls on the shining bright streets, cafés, bars... If it weren't for the weariness from crossing over the curvy mountain roads in the dark, it could have been nice to hang around for a few hours. However, the fat sleep angels sitting on my eyelids seemed not to be granting me with this option. From the list of "recommended", I had an eye on a few of the hotels and began checking them one by one. When I was in the last one, I was struggling hard to climb up the narrow stairs trying to convince myself this is the best of all.

Lattakia is the largest seaport of Syria. In time, this has provided the privileges of being open to the outer world and the door for the flow of money. Therefore, Lattakia has always enjoyed being a different face of Syria. As the port establishments severed the ties of the city with the sea, they caused the touristic facilities to be situated completely outside of the city. Lattakia with its past of at least a thousand year BC, has changed owners quite a lot of time. It was damaged seriously during the Crusades, lived through earthquakes. However, it has all the time remained as a lively seaport town. Although during the reign of the Ottomans, it had an unproductive period due to being overshadowed by the presence of other Ottoman seaports, the decision of Syrian government of making it the largest seaport, especially after the agreement of the restitution of Antioch back to Turkey, procured it with its former vigor.

As the following day was officially holiday (Friday), I have made advantage of it and slept a bit longer (until 08:30) :). After having a short tour in and around the city, I left Lattakia. There was no trace of the liveliness of the previous night as it was holiday. Probably, people were shaking themselves off from the fatigue of the night. My target is Tartus via coastline. On the way, I will stop by Qala'at Marqap (Castle of Marqap) briefly.


Tartus/Tartaus/Tortosa
Tartus is the second biggest seaport of Syria. It is a quiet city. Because Lattakia uses the advantages of being the seaport to a great degree, not much has been left to Tartus. For example, there aren't more than a few fish restaurants and coffeehouses to sit on the coast. As fishery is being practiced here, there are fish restaurants, but the best of the fish is exported to Lebanon, the ones remaining here are usually "undeliverable ones". Still, I had fish and salad for dinner in the first evening.


My friends from Tartus. We wandered in the city walls together.

The most interesting part here is the Old City. Its surroundings are either ruined or have suffered from the "minor" alterations performed by the latest inhabitants of Tartus. This part surrounded by the walls made by the Crusaders, consists of a small square and buildings stuck around it tightly. The city is named after Antarados (Anti-Arados) as it is situated opposite to the island of Arados, with its new name Arwad which is 3.5 km away from the shore. Tartus (former name Antarados) was initially founded by the Phoenicians to provide service to the island of Arados. However, as the city was seized by the Byzantines, the Christians living in the city considered them much better than the pagans of Arados and after a short while the name of the city was changed into Constantina. After the reign of the Byzantium Empire, the city was first invaded by the Arabs, and then the Crusaders and was named as Tortosa. The Crusaders could only endure the attacks of the Mamluks twice and had to retreat to the island of Arados after realizing that they cannot survive there any more. After staying there for twelve years as a military post, the Crusaders left the island and therefore Tartus as well, setting off towards Cyprus.


"Minor alterations" on the city walls strike one's eyes

I spared my second day in Tartus to visit Krak de Chevalier. As I mentioned before, it is almost the same to leave Syria without seeing Krak de Chevalier as not visiting the Kaaba in the pilgrimage to Mecca from the view of a "traveler". Because of this reason, I spared a day to fulfill my duty for this purpose.

Krak de Chevalier (Qala'at al-Hosn)
Krak de Chevalier is "the most beautiful castle on earth" for some (and among these "some" is Lawrence of Arabia) and is situated on the best overlooking hill in the surrounding, and could be reached by climbing up an approximately 10 km mountain road (asphalt) after turning to north in the middle of the Tartus-Homs (Humus in Turkish) highway. Again, in this region, the Crusaders, who did not neglect to erect a castle on almost every hill they saw and every city they captured (it is said that they built 2000 castles in this region), built this castle too and it is the biggest of all in the surroundings. This castle which was built on a highly strategic point where all the transaction between the southern part of the Mountains of Ansariyya (they also cut across the coastal Mediterranean from the inner land) and the northern beginning of the Anti-Lebanon Mountain range, is almost completely standing. Originally, the first castle was built by the Prince of Tartus-Homs in the eleventh century, and took its present magnificent shape in the time of the Crusaders who took over the duty after 11 years of occupation by the irregular soldiers of the First Crusade. And capturing it back... No, it was not captured back. The Crusaders, in spite of their food supplies good to last for 5 years, had handed over the castle to the Mamluk Baybars in return for the promise of "the guarantee of their security" with the realization of their desperate situation as Jerusalem and almost all other castles had already fallen.


Krak de Chevalier


The chapel has also been converted into Islam

After deciding that two days are enough for Tartus, I set off to Hama, "the city of water mills" on 23 October around 10:00 in the morning.


The blue road sign is the evidence that I am on the right way!

Hama
It is not wrong to call Hama as "the city of the water mills". This is basically true not because of the few historical water mills still standing, but because of that some other historical beauties before 1982 are now supposed to be "nonexistent".

Settlement signs from the Neolithic Age are found in the excavations in Hama and the city takes its name from the Kingdom of Hamah in 1000 BC. The city which changed owners for many times, hosted a number of important buildings during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. However, the military revolt that began in February 1982 against the regime of Enver el-Sedad and incited by the organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was afterwards declared to be illegal, and the bloody operation of suppress with 8000 soldiers which took 3 weeks, caused the city an irreparable destruction. Therefore, most of the beautiful structures that are mentioned in the old records do not remain standing in a good state, with a few exceptions. The destruction was so immense that the decision was to repair a small portion of them whereas the greater number is completely left aside.



This building is patiently waiting for its turn for the restoration

Some of the undamaged historical buildings are Rüstem Pasha Inn (which was used as an orphanage until recently), Esat Pasha Inn (it is being used right now as the branch office of the Ba'as Party which is the only party of Syria), Nureddin Mosque and Esat Pasha Palace (Esat Pasha al-Azem). The Great Mosque, (eighth century), which was severely damaged, was rebuilt by following the original plans loyally. Among these, Esat Pasha Palace (he was one from al-Azem, of the most respected families of Syria, and was appointed as the Ottoman Governor in 1472), is especially known for the beauty of its harem quarters.


The courtyard of the harem in Esat Pasha Palace

Back to the water mills (noria): Hama is a city founded by the river of Orontes (Asi in Turkish). As the water level of the river is quite below the bank, these "water elevators" were built in order to provide the water supplies of the city. And it was not in recent ages. These huge water mills were present even in the fifth century AD, as the mosaics in the Museum of Hama show. However, the present ones were built in the thirteenth century by the Eyyubis. The water mills of which 17 remain and situated on the two sides of the river that goes through the city, were either repaired or rebuilt during the Ottoman reign. A few of them still function with a loud squeaking noise and by scattering the water all around. One of the biggest, Noria al-Mamuriyya, is located in the central park of the city, almost 20 meter in diameter. The wooden mills in the middle of the wooden wheels are turning around over the wooden beds on the stone bases. From the growling they make, they seem to be exhausted by turning round for so many years... The water carried above is being transmitted to the necessary places by the help of the water channels built on the aqueducts.


Al-Mamuriyya water mill (noria)

Time reserved for Hama is up. I am leaving the city on 24th of October at noon after shaking hands with the folks of Hotel Cairo in which I spent a comfortable and cheap night (S£450.-=USD8.50). I am heading directly to Palmyra.
The road is perfectly straight, as if drawn by a ruler and the horizon line is so straight that you can tell you are now in the Syrian Desert. I see a few settlements, some villages of a handful of houses, or rather hamlets. As my sources indicated me that there was a gas station on the road, I did not need to refill before leaving Hama. Actually, I had enough fuel to take me easily to Palmyra -almost 160 km- but I decided to fill in on the first gas station I see. At that instant, a gas station appeared in the distance. While the tank was being filled in, one of the workers came to me and we began to have a conversation with his a few "words" of English and my few "words" of Arabic. When he heard that I was Turkish, his eyes shone suddenly with excitement. He couldn't believe his ears, so he asked once more. I said "Turkish!" once again. Trying to conceal his excitement, "Me Turcoman!" he said. Apparently, there was a Turcoman village just behind the gas station. This time, we continued our chat in Turkish. He invited me to his village and insisted that we break the iftar together. He said, "You'll go after the night prayer" trying to convince me. I told him that I didn't want to arrive after dark and we parted. I realized that he became sad.


Palmyra
I arrived to Palmyra, the last item in Syria's "must see" list, around 15:30. After paying a quick visit to the two hotels in my list, I decided to stay in the second one, Hotel Ishtar. Without waiting for another moment, I took my cameras and ran to the ruins for the sunset.

The camel shepherds often meet the travelers in the ruins.
My guide was Muhammed

Palmyra (a.k.a. Tadmor) is considered to be one of the most important ruins of Syria as well as being one of the best known historical heritage in the world. Since the time of the Asyyrians and Persians, Tadmor has always been a much-frequented place for the caravans traveling between Mesopotamia and Mediterrenean. Tadmor developed its economy from the high fees the caravans had to pay for transition. Even after the Romans expanded their borders to the Eastern Mediterrenean from the end of the first century and took control of the city, Tadmor was never deprived of its advantages. The Romans named the city "Palmyra" (the city of palm trees) and Emperor Adrian, who visited the city around 130, vested the city authority of collecting their own taxes and also the status of "free zone". Later on, Palmyra joined the colonies of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Caracalla whose mother was Syrian and the city enjoyed from the same rights as the Roman citizens as well as being exempted from paying for the taxes of the empire. After Odainat, one of the nobles of Palmyra, had defeated the Sassanians who troubled the Romans greatly, he declared himself "king". He was then commissioned by the Emperor Valerian in 276 to "bring order" in the eastern part of the empire.


(What remains from) Dioclethian Bath

The most interesting part of the story begins after this. Odainat was assassinated in 267 and his second wife Zeobia took over the government in the name of his son Vabalathus. Irritated with what happened, Rome sent an army to Palmyra in order to interfere with the situation. Zenobia responded to the attacking army and defeated them. She, then, leading her armies, occupied first the military post of Bosra, then the Province of Arabia and finally invaded parts of Egypt. Furthermore she had coins printed with her name and demanded liberation from the Roman Empire. However, that was the last straw for the Romans. They defeated the armies of Zenobia first in Antioch and Tartus-Homs and then besieged Palmyra. Zenobia, having a stubborn nature, mounted on her camel alone and split through the siege in order to get military help from the Persian Empire instead of surrendering to the Romans. However, while she was crossing over the Euphrates River, a Roman horseman caught her. She then was brought to Rome, and made to walk on the streets of Rome in golden chains. It is said that she spent the rest of her life in a villa assigned to her by the emperor. However, some sources claim that, she preferred to commit suicide by not eating anything instead of leading a captive life. So is the story! The insolence and obstinacy of Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, was recorded in this manner in the history books. The end of the queen also meant the end of the city. The Roman troops burnt the city after a huge massacre in order to revenge on her achievements in the past. Later, the city was supported by being commissioned as the borderland station of the empire in different times but could not retain its former power and was completely buried into history after the conquest of the Muslims in 634.


The road of pillars and the entrance arch (in the back)

The rediscovery of the presence of Palmyra owes to the English merchants living in Aleppo in 1678. Later, despite it had been visited many times by the "adventurous travelers", the scientific excavations to dig it up from the desert sand accumulated by the wind only began in 1920 and have continued until today. Still, new ruins are being found in excavations by the archeologues of various countries.


Theatre

During my two night stay in Palmyra, I will watch the sunrise, again with the recommendation, from the Arabic Castle (Qala'at Ibn Maan) on the hill that the city rests. That means that I have to climb up the top of the mountain at the crack of dawn. I wonder how.

I have to put an end to this update. If I wait in order to add more details, it will be more difficult to follow the reproachful e-mails. My next direction is the capital: Damascus

Update: 30.10.2005

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Place: Dead Sea / Jordan
Day: 15
Distance traveled: 2,920km

A second night in Palmyra was a bit too much. Since you don't have much to do but see the ruins of Old Palmyra you occupy yourself doing trivial stuff; such as shaving your head… That's just what I did whilst testing out the shaver I bought back in Turkey

How do I look?

Actually the reason for spending the second night there was so that I could watch the sunrise from Qala'at ibn-Saam. But when the cold that has been lurking around my head since Tartus revisited with a slight temperature just before the second night, I couldn't brave the chill of the dessert night (the daytime heat of 30 degrees drops down to 10 at night) and the climb up to the castle at 4:30am the next morning. Instead I opted for capturing the sunset in the evening with my camera.

Qala'at ibn Saam turns red at sunset. The lighting is completely natural.

I woke up early and started off after breakfast. I drove a few kilometers into the dessert behind the city with an irresistible urge to take photos of the oasis and the ruins of Palmyra together.

The signature of Palmyra - its oasis and the ruins

Yes, Palmyra is an oasis in the middle of the dessert. It wouldn't have been smart to build a city in the dessert unless it was in an oasis anyways. This is a piece of 2km x 1km green land. Most of the greenery is made up of date palms. In Syria date is consumed in any form; from raw dates to date honey. The color of date ranges from yellow (and shape from a large green olive) to the ripened date color that we are familiar with. I tried each kind; they are all nice in different ways. It wasn't possible to get past the date merchants to take photos of the date bundles as they used them to attack me. I gave up since trying to escape them was not as much fun as chatting with Mohammed "the camel-rider". Palmyra is such a "tourist" attraction.

Damascus
I arrived in Damascus at around 14:30 over a pretty much similar track as before. After the previous defeats I was weary of another possible navigation problem. Even though I struggled a bit because I couldn't find where the country road joins the highway and had to enter the city from a secondary road and through the suburbs, it didn't take me too long to spot the main road and then I easily found the hotel which I had previously selected. I went on a brief tour in the old city, careful not to stay out too long after the sunset - so as to avoid the chill of the night. After all I am still recuperating.

What I said for Aleppo is also true for Damascus. "Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world". Now you will say "Wasn't that Aleppo?" Well it was. At least that's what I was told. It is written in the books as well. They also say and write the same things for Damascus. In fact, this is true for both cities. Perhaps Aleppo and Damascus have a few years or a decade between them as far as being "the oldest", yet at present time it is not possible to calculate their exact ages. The cuneiform tablets found in Mari indicate that the beginnings of both cities go back to similar dates (2400 - 2500 B.C.) - Mari is a city state founded around 5000 B.C. on the west bank of Euphrates near the present-day Iraqi border. An important find is the renowned palace of the king Zimri-Lim before the city was destroyed by the Babylonians in 1758 B.C.:200 meters by 120 meters in size and had 300 rooms! - Nevertheless, excavations have proved that both cities were settlements dating all the way back to 3000 B.C.

Damascus is a city which lies on a large plateau. It would take two days on foot to see the old city of Damascus which is stuck in the middle of this plateau, provided that no time is wasted and no shopping is done… It is enclosed by city walls (initially built by the Romans but have seen renovations and reconstructions since) and as you will probably guess it also has a citadel. The walls currently stand as they were in the 13th century… Entry to the city is through many gates built in various times. Bab Sharqi (Eastern Gate) on the east wall is the only one to have retained its Roman plan. Up until the 20th century, all of the 13 gates that existed at the time were closed everyday at sunset until the sunrise the next day… Apparently there were also gates within the city walls that divided the Muslim, Christian and Jewish districts. These gates disappeared in time but the Christian and Jewish districts remain.

Ummayad Mosque
Ummayad Mosque is no doubt a building of major significance in the Old City. It is considered as one of the most impressive works of art in the Islamic world and of course the single most important religious structure in Syria. The spot where the mosque now stands has been a place of worship since 3000 B.C. Initially it was an Aramaic temple built for god Hadad, later it was expanded to serve as a temple of god Jupiter in the Roman era, and then was turned into a Christian basilica in the Byzantine era when Constantine adopted Christianity.


The majestic courtyard of the Ummayad Mosque and one of its 3 Minarets, Minaret of the Bride

When the eastern wing of the basilica was turned into a mosque following the Muslim conquest in 636 A.D., Christians were still allowed to use the western wing as a place of worship, for the next 70 years. Once Damascus became the capital of the Islamic World, Caliph Halid ibn al-Walid ordered the construction of a mosque which has never been designed before and never will be after his reign, the Christians were shown the door. Ummayad, the new mosque was the fruit of work by over 1000 master stonemasons and craftsmen for 10 years. Its interior walls are covered with expensive fine mosaics, its minbar (the pulpit) decorated with gems and its ceiling with embossed gold inlaid wood ornaments. 600 lamps -each made of gold- illuminate the interiors. Naturally all this grandeur came at a high price: total amount of taxes collected in Syria for 7 years… It is truly fascinating even in its current state after having survived Mongolian invasion, earthquakes and fires…

Souq al-Hamidiyyah
In order to enter Ummayad Mosque, you need to enter the Souq al-Hamidiyyah from one end just near the citadel and exit at the other end -the surviving west gate of the Roman temple which once stood in the place of the mosque- and you find yourself facing the outside walls and main entrance of the Ummayad Mosque.

West gate of the Roman temple and exit (of entrance) of Souq al-Hamidiyyah

Souq al-Hamiddiyah looks like a classical oriental market as you will remember from Aleppo. The difference is that the markets in Damascus are set up in a more organized manner. I mean it is not really possible to get lost there like you do in Aleppo (or in our Grand Bazaar). Actually there is only one market per road (or street). The streets that intersect the main market street do not belong to that market; they are only side streets that have no resemblance to a market whatsoever. It makes it so much easier to go through them. Let's go back to the Souq al-Hamiddiyah. It consists of neatly organized, adjacent two-storey shops on both sides of a wide road. Shops are on the street level and the second floor is mostly used as office or storage. Though it takes its "neat" look from the meticulous renovations done in 2002, I am sure that it wasn't much different when it was first established. It was named after Sultan Abdulhamid II. The street has a history dating back to the Romans but the market was established during the Ottoman era in the 19th century. Its current name and format was given to it to honor Abdulhamid's visit to Damascus.

Souq al-Hamidiyyah

The street is covered with high iron vaulting, a steel cage dressed with an iron plate. If you look at the photo closely, you can see that the roof has holes, many at places. These holes were drilled into the iron roof by the machine gun fire opened from the French planes in an effort to subdue the Great Syrian Revolt against the French in 1925.

"Ventilation holes" drilled by the French

Another market within the city walls is the Souq al-Attarine set up on the Madhat Pasha Street. In this market there are various historical inns. However -in my opinion- one that is most worth seeing is the Assad Pasha al-Azem Inn. That is Assad Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Damascus and the owner of the palace with its dazzling harem which we saw in Hama, the City of Norias (the water wheels)… When the capital city moved to Damascus so did the Azem Family. Naturally the inns and the palaces were built here in Damascus as well, even bigger and better than before.

The courtyard of the Assad Pasha al Azem Inn

The Azem Palace
Here you can see a decorative technique for building exteriors, called ablaq (striped masonry). It is a technique used especially by the Egyptian and Levantine architects, later it was adopted by the Mamelukes and became very popular during the Ottoman times among the masons. The exterior walls of the buildings were built by alternating different colored "bricks" made up of basalt, grit and limestone - in that order - so the wall would be striped with black, white and pinky beige lines. The best example of this from the Ottoman times is the Assad Pasha Palace. It took 3 years to build (1749 - 1752) and then it was used as a residence by the Azem family until the beginning of 20th century. When the family moved outside of the city walls the palace was sold to the French and they transformed it into the Institute of Islamic Art and Archeology. The building sustained extensive damage during the Great Syrian Revolt in 1925 and was completely restored without altering its original features.

Assad Pasha Selamlik (Administrative) Quarters

Al-Takieh al-Suleimaniyeh
The last place to visit in my Damascus list was Suleiman Mosque and Madrasa. Built in 1554 by architect Sinan, the takieh (mosque and school) was dedicated to Sultan Suleiman al-Qanouni, hence the name. Later his successor, Selim II ordered the addition of a madrasa to the garden. I think this structure has been neglected as of late. The relief work in the roof of the takieh is looking worse for wear and it is being used as a Military Museum just how a place of worship should be used (!). Various models of outdated Mig war planes, cannons, and German military vehicles from World War II are on display in the garden. And the madrasa is a market, where a variety of Syrian handcrafts are displayed and sold.

Suleimaniyeh Mosque

I am thinking my mission in Syria is complete so I check out of the hotel in Damascus at 9am on Friday October 28th and get on the road for Jordan. Following directions, I find my way like a hot knife through butter and enter Syria customs at 11am. Once the efficient and surprisingly friendly officers processed my paperwork, I crossed over to Jordan.

* * *
- Syria is a home to many people of many religions. Various religions and their sects coexist in the same country and people who practice them are quite tolerant to one another. Let's not call it tolerance, but to them the diversity of religion and races and subsequent traditional differences are just a natural "fact" of the life and space they share. For instance, in the cities where Muslims and Christians crowd each others' space, the close company of smoking or even drinking Christians doesn't seem to even bother the fasting Muslims.

- If you are traveling to Syria but not with a tour, remember to learn beforehand the local names of the historical places you plan to visit. No matter how well-known in the world it may be (such as Palmyra), do not assume that the locals will also be familiar with that name or you will be sorely disappointed. This was the case even for the youth -possibly high school or university students- in a big city, such as Tartus-Homs. In a way, just like knowing Goreme but not having heard of Capadoccia...

- During my visit to Syria USD1.00 was approximately SP (Syrian Pound) 50.00 - 53.50. Diesel was SP7.00 per liter, meaning you could buy 7 liters of diesel for USD 1.00. Seven times cheaper than Turkey. But is it really that cheap? I paid "diesel tax" of USD200.00 for 2 weeks when I entered the country and I filled up the tank twice while here for a total of SP900.00. That is about 130 liters... If you add the diesel cost USD18.00 to the diesel tax of USD200, the real price of diesel becomes USD1.68. There is no other place in the world where you'd buy more expensive diesel. In order to reduce the diesel price per liter you need to leave the engine of your vehicle running at night. J

- Provided you don't prefer expensive hotels, the cost of one night in a hotel of minimum acceptable standards -of course it changes according to the individual, but let's say in my case- ranges from USD 8.00 to USD 45.00 depending on the quality and the facilities (or in the case Hotel Baron, its fame). The rates of luxury hotels start from USD 80.00 - 90.00.

- Whether it is the taste or the price, you won't have much trouble with food... The cost of a filling meal with alcohol on the side in a modest "city restaurant" in Syria's oriental style will be between SP250.00 and a max SP600.00 (that is USD5.00 - USD 12.00) per person. If you pay anything more than that, you need to know that you are eating at a place more upscale and / or touristy than necessary and possibly being overcharged.

- Syria is a country with warm people, where you will not feel unsafe at any stage. Day and night, everywhere, even in the big cities you feel safe. When you approach someone even just to ask for directions and get an invite to join them for tea, do not look for any sign of a hidden agenda. It is all to show you how hospitable they are. Having said that, always remember that you can never be too careful with the vehicles in traffic. Each is a "kamikaze".

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A few general comments:
- Everything I write in this site were put together from bits of information I gathered off various resources (magazine, encyclopedia and internet) and guidebooks I carry with me (Lonely Planet or Bradt's), as well as what I learned from the tourist guides at places I visited. Not only the accuracy of this information I present is limited to the accuracy of these sources, but also errors maybe or may have been made while conveying this information. At the end of the day I am only a humble and unpretentious "traveler". Unfortunately history and archeology are not in my area of interest either. Therefore, I would like to kindly ask you to remember that it is not a scientific study but something I do as a hobby.

- When I started out, I was planning to update this page once or twice a week and so far I think I managed to stick to the plan. But this "once or twice a week" plan was set as a standard of 6-7 pages of text and 5-6 photos per country. The number of pages I wrote just for Syria (including this update) is about to reach 29. You will notice that it is not a stroll in the park, if you imagine that just one update takes minimum 4-5 hours of work (copying and selecting the photos, gathering information, reading, taking notes, writing, editing, formatting, etc.) For this reason, I trust you will pardon me when I start updating the journal once a week and reduce the content a little. These changes will be as subtle and gradual as possible. As time goes by you will also get bored of following the site, so a balance will be reached. I also need to reduce the number of photos because the photos increase the size of the file incredibly. At places I can only connect to the internet using my satellite phone and a file like this one takes about 15-20 minutes to half an hour to upload. At this rate, the "satellite phone companies" will benefit from this adventure the most. If I don't do all this, I am afraid I will burn out and towards the end the updates (i.e Mozambique page) will look something like this:

Mozambique :
Mozambique is a vry nice country. Well, I ntered frm one end and exitd frm the other. Cities, forests, trees, etc... People r black. It's hot. I'll tell about Zambia tomorrw. K bye.

Track :

Photos :
I couldn't copy the photos but I drew them:

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