Blogs from East, Syria, Middle East - page 2

El Eúfrates nace en Turquía y pasa por Siria antes de llegar a Iraq, las fotos son de Halabiya, lugar de veraneo de Zenobia donde quedan restos de una Iglesia de la época de Justiniano, siglo VI, Deir el Zor donde la AECI tiene un proyecto de rehabilitación de pozos romanos, el mercado de los beduinos y la iglesia armenia. Firat Süriyede geçer, ben Diyerbakirda gördüm, geçen hafta Halibiya'ya gittim orda Zenobianin yazligi yer aliyor ve Justinien döndeminde kalma surlar ve kilisesi var. Sonra Deir Ez Zor'a gittim AECI ( Ispanyol Ulusalarasi Kooperasionu Dernegi) bir kaç proyesi var romali kuyularla reabilitasionu yaparlar. Ilginç bir kent bebdebilerin çarsilari, osmanli Kapali çarsi ve ermeni kilisesi. The Euphrates river flows from Turkey to Syria, I went to see it in Halibiya, the place where Zenobia used to spend her ... read more

Syria continued Right, so I left the last entry having just met a fellow biker and his girlfriend looking over my orange crush downstairs. Turns out they're backpacking it this time... but it's pretty obvious he has serious bike withdrawl ;) and I can't blame him considering his pedigree! Veteran of an 8 year round the world solo trip and seemingly countless other biking jaunts here and there. Wow. Great people both of them and we spent the Saturday checking out the town and eating. We were both thinking of leaving the next day, and both going in the same direction so agreed to meet up again here in Palmyra. And what a place Palmyra is! I've seen a few ruined old cities in my time and to date Pompeii has been the most impressive in ... read more

DAY 47 This morning is a free day in Damascus. We take our time and then head off for Francine to pay and collect her jewellery. Love it and bought another ring as a gift. We head off in taxis for the public intercity bus station. We have booked seats and are off to Palmyra in the northern desert. 3 ½ hours later we arrive in the centre of the Syrian desert. We stay at a quaint hotel and would have been beautiful in the 1950's when first built. You can still see a lot of the art deco finishes. We take a wander along the main street and Angie buys a pair of earrings made from camel bone. The shopkeeper tells her he has given special price as he is having a closing down going ... read more

Dag 245. I dag skulle vi til Palmyra, ca. 130 km ost for Hama. Vi spiste ikke frokost paa hotellet, men kjopte med oss kjeks og vann som vi hadde underveis. Bytte av sjaafor og bil idag - en forholdsvis ny Hundai. Vi var tilsammen 5 i bilen - sjaaforen, en koreaner (husker ikke navn), en australier (Jamie) og oss to. Forste stopp var Shamamis-fortet. Fortet var bygd av en arabisk familie, Shamis Gram fra Homs - det 1. aarhundre f.Kr. Det ble lagt i ruin av et jordskjelv i 618 e.Kr. Kongen av Homs bygget det opp igjen i 1229, for det igjen ble lagt i ruiner av mongolene (i 1260) og tartarene (i 1401). Det var et kort men bratt stykke aa gaa opp til fortet. vi gikk til det som saa ut som ... read more

Today was the tour of Syria's "star" attraction, the desert city of Palmyra (Tadmor) which had a rather lengthy classical history and then faded away after the second century AD. Situated on an a water supply in eastern Syria, the "palm' bit of the modern name comes from the palm trees growing nearby. Original huh? It was fairly chilly when we started at 8am with a guided tour of the central areas of the site. The long processional route had been restored quite a bit, but this simply helped to give an idea of how impressive it would have been for the 3000-camel caravans entering the city from the desert. Occupying a central position between the western and eastern worlds it had a mix of archaeological features, although to the untrained eye it just looked 'Roman'. ... read more