Blogs from Palmyra, East, Syria, Middle East

Palmyra On our last day in Damascus almost all signs of the demonstrations the day before were gone and the city seemed to be back to normal. I would find out later that demonstrations and unrest have been continuing in Syria but I never did see anything from the people of Syria that would show any anger towards their president they seemed to be protesting against the security forces and some members of hardliners still in power from when his father was president. After one final morning in Damascus we left in the afternoon for Palmyra and checked out the sunset from the Arab citadel before another excellent dinner where the Mezza (appetizers) are so good that when the main dish came out most of us were fully stuffed. That night we decided to drink at ... read more

It was a serious trek to get from Baalbek to Palmyra: one minibus to Beirut, another one from Beirut to Homs then finally Homs to Palmyra. Also throw in the fun of crossing the Syrian border and the fact the engine of the second minibus effectively exploded so we were towed for a few hours! The bus driver was great though kept loudly shouting in Arabic at the border staff, got me through in no time. Palmyra is Syria’s main tourist attraction, and guess what it’s more Roman ruins! It was an important city on the Silk Route and benefited greatly from rerouted trade routes after Petra was captured by the Romans. The city was left generally abandoned and hidden under a layer or sand for over a thousand years. It wasn’t until the 1920s that ... read more

Z Damaszku do Palmiry wyjechalismy wczoraj rano lokalnym autobusem. Kolo stacji ulokowaly sie warsztaty samochodowe, ktore sprzedawaly tyly badz przody samochodow - cos, co - mam wrazenie - u nas jest nie do pomyslenia i generalnie zabronione. Tutaj natomiast mozna stworzyc hybryde, kupujac tyl peugota i przod nissana. Droga z miasta usiana byla po obydwu stronach tonami smieci, a potem - gdy skonczyly sie zabudowania mieszkalne - zaczela sie bura pustynia. Monotonie przerywaly tylko znaki wskazujace, ile kilometrow do Iraku. Na miejscu rzucaja sie przyjezdnych taksowkarze. Oferuja transport do hotelu za 1 euro ale to tylko przyneta, bo licza, ze jak zlapia takiego turyste, to juz bedzie z nim caly dzien podrozowal, a potem cena zalezy juz tylko od zdolnosci negocjacyjnych stron. Miasto slynie z ogromnych, wspaniale zachowanych wykopalisk, ktore sa ulokowane na tak duzej przestrzeni, ... read more

Geo: 34.548, 38.2787We decided to head directly into Damascus to the market in the old city section… This I knew was going to be fun, the drivers in Jordan are very Egyptian in style and quite a few blast of the Shorty's horn was heard!!We found a parking spot in a back street near the old city and headed out on foot. The really interesting thing is Syrians are really nice people despite the fact they live between Israel and Iran!! We were wondering along the tiny streets within the walled city and realised we had no idea where we were going.. A couple of chaps happy lead us in the direction we wanted and parted, we then headed into a small shop where we struck up a conversation with the shop owners who promptly arranged ... read more

Palmyra - Time now for some Roman ruins and a history lesson. After leaving our desert camp in Wadi Rum we drove further North into Syria until we arrived at the ruins of Palmyra which is also the name of the adjacent town. Palmyra dates to before the 1st century BC with many of the ruins and monuments having been built during the reign of the Nabateans and eventually the Romans invaded and conquered the area and built what must have been a magnificent outpost of the Roman Empire. We spent the afternoon wandering the site and eventually made our way to the town for coffee, Internet and food for those that wanted to eat. I was keen to go back to the ruins to get some late light photographs as the sun set so I ... read more