Geo: 39.1452, 35.2123Back in the mini-bus we hit the road for Goreme. On the way we made a stop at a school that likes tourists to come and visit. The kids were very excited that we had arrived. Some of them dressed up in traditional clothing and did some singing and dancing for us. Part of the classroom was set up as a traditional Turkish house. Spent the rest of the day driving. Was looking forward to the next hotel, as Hussein told us that the rooms were caves! I found out later on that my room was nothing to get excited about. The hotel is on the side of a hill and all the rooms are caves. The room that I was given was horrible. It stank mouldy, had a tiny little window and was ... read more

Geo: 36.1498, 37.5119We had a late start today, which was great as a I got a sleep in. We walked through the bazaar to the city's castle. It's a pretty good castle, surrounded by a moat. Inside there are roman baths and a secret passage. From up here we had a great view of the city. We had lunch near the castle, it was crap. I ordered a hamburger with a dried, thin meat patty. Just ate the chips. Walked back to the hotel to check out my new room. Very similar to my old one, I just can't understand why I had to change rooms!Went for a search around Aleppo- the town with hardly any ATMs to get some cash. Found one but it couldn't process my request, which is annoying. Will keep searching later ... read more

Geo: 35.1608, 37.0257Tonight we would be staying in a really romantic location, Fahed got quite excited each time he told us about it. We reached Krak mid-morning and went to the castle. The castle is called Krak Des Chevaliers and was built in 1031ish. It is considered to be the greatest fortress in the world and sits on a 650 metre high cliff. Fahed gave us a tour of the castle, which meant that we power walked through it all and stopped in the shade when he wanted to tell us something. It is strange that a Syrian hated standing in the sun. It was an unreal castle. Really huge and most of it was not closed to the public. We had a great view up here of the surrounding villages. On a clear day it ... read more

Geo: 33.5, 36.32Today we spent the day in the city. Damascus is said to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. We started our day with another crappy breakfast that we didn't eat and then set off for our city walking tour. We first walked through the Souk El-Hamidiyeh (bazaar). Walked past many shops- although there was no time for shopping now, we had a mosque to visit. But before we could go into the Umayyad Mosque, all the girls had to put on the most ugly gown- it was dreadful! This mosque apparently contains that head of John the Baptist- did look for it, but couldn't see it. We spent the afternoon relaxing.... read more

Geo: 30.7668, 35.3437We hit the road this morning for Shawback castle. Rabbi decided to change the itinerary, as he believed this castle was better than the one we should have visited. It seemed okay. It did have a secret passage or two that we were able to go partly down. This castle was set up on a hill and we were all celebrities for the half hour we were there. There was a group of local children who wanted to continuously take photos of us!We kept driving until we arrived at our Dead Sea resort. There we ate a huge, fancy buffet lunch. After we had eaten all that food we had to change and get ready to float!! The sea was still, no waves. We were told not to open our eyes or mouth under ... read more