Road to Damascus

We have arrived in Damascus after a slight detour towards Iraq. Never got to within sighting distance, but did start to see road signs pointing the way. Unfortunately, I don't think the burly Syrian bus driver would have obliged me a quick photo stop. Before hitting the border we disembarked at Palmyra, which is a truly bizarre little town in the proverbial 'middle of nowhere'. The one and only attraction is the ancient Roman/Arab city of Palmyra. Palmyra was an outpost city for the ancient civilizations starting in the 1st century, and grew to great importance because of its situation on the spice and silk road. It was ruled by numerous dynasties before finally falling to mother earth, via a massive earthquake. There has been some remarkable excavations done on the ruins and they are extremely detailed and expansive. The city itself is huge and was a full day exploring in the blistering desert heat. The main excavations have unearthed the impressive Temple of Bel and the Main Collanade (see photos above). It was so cool walking around and being able to look at all the intricately carved columns close up. If this site was in Europe you would only be able to look from behind barrier ropes. Palmyra is definitely the top site in Syria and worth the trek out into the desert.
However the small town that has popped up to support the tourist industry is sadly weighed down by greed and corruption, completely at odds with the rest of Syria. It just shows what can happen to people when their lives are governed by the tourist dollar, all ethics go out the window. So, although visiting the ruins at Palmyra was amazing, the town left a lot to be desired.
Prior to Palmyra as mentioned we visit the Krak de Chevaliers near Hama. Unfortunately, due to my stupidty and limited knowledge of Arabic and a thousand Syrian school kids our visit to the castle was marred. Firstly we didn't even realise we were at the castle because the name is in Arabic (Qala al Hosn) rather then the Krak de Chevaliers that is advertised everywhere else. So we held back on taking pics thinking we were shortly heading to the real deal. Also, Sunday must be school excursion day in Syria as there were kids everywhere, and they are not the quite well mannered kids of Morocco. Even still, we had a good trip out the castle.

We are now in Damascus and shortly will be heading to Jordan. A full summary of Syria will follow in the coming days. Also, by popular demand from immediate family and relatives a certain picture is included above.