Blogs from Syria, Middle East - page 5

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Middle East » Syria » West » Krak des Chevaliers January 1st 2011

It's 2011! Happy New Year! Today we woke up early. I had arranged the day before for a taxi to take us to Krak des Chevaliers. Krak des Chevaliers is also known as Qala'at al-Hosn. The place is THE best Crusader castle still standing today. It is a seriously impressive place and need few hours to enjoy. Slight problem, it is 250km from Aleppo, or 220km for Damascus. We decided to hit the place from Aleppo and to finish our day 70km south of Aleppo visiting the Dead cities of Jerada and Nuweiha. If you have a lot of time in front of you, you can make it to the fortress by public transport, but time is not on our side on this 1st of January. The same night, we have our train back to Damascus...I ... read more
rainbow on Krak des Chevaliers, the pic may not be amazing, but the experience was!
Happy New Year from Syria!
inside moat of Krak des Chevaliers

Middle East » Syria » North » Aleppo December 31st 2010

For the last day of 2010, we have chosen Aleppo, the oldest city continuously habited in the world...ok, it may be Damascus, go figure out! You can go from Damascus to Aleppo by road, between 4 to 6 hours...by plane...or simply by train. Leslie loves night trains...so why not. Little problem with the train, it seems the only way is to book it last minute. They have old sleeper trains, 2 beds per cabin, it is relatively clean and pretty confortable. We booked 2 connecting cabins...for 3 of us, 4 beds, the total cost is around 22usd one way....not per person, but for the four of us! I guess if you really want to save money, you could do Aleppo-Damascus and back every day, would be cheaper than a very basic hotel. The train leaves at ... read more
New Year Eve dinner...we were too tired to make it to midnight!
Amazing Citadel on 31st December...
Outside walls...impressive...

Middle East » Syria » East » Palmyra December 30th 2010

I could copy you the full guide book, but I simply won't. If you need a full historical guide tour of Palmyra, I invite you to google it or purchase a guide book. Let me share with you the great day we had exploring Palmyra. In order to make sure none of us stay too ignorant, here are few historical info. Palmyra lies 250km North-East of Damascus, and is around less than 100km from Iraq. It is basically in the middle of nowhere, or should I say right in the middle of a huge desert. So why is Palmyra so important...well, easy...trade! The city has been a huge trading post for centuries, seeing a huge growth juste around 1st and 2nd AD, thanks to the Roman Empire. The city grew in importance till the arrival of ... read more
The Great Colonnade
our guide...I mean, Leslie and the book!
Funerary Temple and Qala'at ibn maan

Middle East » Syria » South » Damascus December 29th 2010

Going to Syria....oh yes, but we need a visa! Two ways to get a visa, in a syrian consulate, or at the border. In order to apply for a Syrian visa, you need to visit the consulate where you are officially resident. For syrians, this is already where it can become tricky...guys...I have a belgian passport, and I live in Thailand...why would I go back to Belgium to apply for a visa. Than the guy told us simply...by the way, I cannot give you a visa, you fly to Amman and are going by road to Syria...I need to see an airline ticket to Syria. So the Syrian consulate in Bangkok is...useless. Next stop, call to the Syrian embassy in Amman....ok, I'm organized, this is back in September. Sorry sir, you are not resident in Jordan, ... read more
more perfumes...
Khan As'ad Pasha
Spices from the Souq

Middle East » Syria » South » Damascus December 11th 2010

Witajcie po dluugiej przerwie! Wlasnie zerknelam na historie bloga i zobaczylam, ze ostatni wpis dodalam juz zponad 2 miesiace temu. Wybaczcie! Jakos tak teraz nasza podroz przebiega, ze albo nie ma dostepu do internetu, albo gdy juz jest, przytrafiaja nam sie takie przygody i okolicznosci, ze naprawde szkoda siedziec przed komputerem. Kolejna winowajczynia mojej dlugiej nieobecnosci na tym blogu, jest nasza nowa strona internetowa. Praca nad nia trwaja i gdy tylko mamy dostep do netu, skupiamy sie na materialach na strone, jako, ze tego bloga zamierzam wkrotce zaniechac. Mam nadzieje, ze juz niedlugo bede mogla Wam przedtawic nowa strone oraz nowego bloga, ktory bedzie ladniejszy, latwiejszy w nawigacji bardziej przejrzystszy. Co do naszej podrozy - dotarlismy juz na kontynent AFRYKANSKI:-))) Jestesmy w Egipcie, a od paru dni stacjonujemy w Kairze. Nie wiem jak to wszystko ugryzc, ... read more
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Namiotu czar

Middle East » Syria » West » Saidnaya November 2nd 2010

El pasado viernes fue el bautizo de dos sobrinos de Yasmin en la iglesia de Mar Elias, el lugar donde según la tradición vivió el profeta Elías. Geçen cuma günü Yasmin'in yegenlerini vaftiz ettirdik Mar Ilias kilisesinde, Ilias peygamber efendimiz kaldigi yerinde. Last Friday we had the baptism of two nephwes of Yasmin in the church of Mar Elias, the place where once lived the prophet Elias.... read more
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Profeta Elías

Middle East » Syria October 30th 2010

After a long drive from Amman we crossed into Syria. We camped at the new Kaboun camping ground in Damascus. We set up and went to bed and straight on to Lebanon the next day. We 12 of us started at dawn and we went to Baalbek which must be the best preserved Roman site which we have seen. It is very compact with 3 temples but amazing. Then after a great lunch buffet it was on to Beirut. This a a very European city-mostly rebuilt but some great sights including the American University, old city and of course the infamous Holiday inn still a shell riddled with bullet injuries. On again back to Damascus. We spent a pleasant time exploring the covered Souk and enjoying coffee,mosques and generally enjoying this friendly city. Roman ruins again ... read more
Syria Damascus Souk
Syria Damascus Souk
Syria

Middle East » Syria » North » Aleppo October 4th 2010

Enjoying the nice view of the Syrian landscape, kilometers are passing. Slowly in the desert landscape changes into inhabited area. We are approaching Aleppo. When we entered the city, we saw immediately that this is not one of the countries where I would like to drive. The traffic is a complete mess. It reminded me to the traffic of Cairo. The distance between Gaziantep and Aleppo is 120 km, but to arrive here was quite time consuming. We wanted to have a small rest before we started with orienting this city. We asked the driver to bring us to a middclass hotel close to the city center. He brought us to a 'hotel' in the middle of the center. According him it was cheap and cleaner compared to the rest of the hotels nearby. We paid ... read more
Zekeriya mosque
Souq
Citadel of Aleppo

Middle East » Syria » South September 29th 2010

Saidnaya está a 27km al N. de Damasco, hay varias iglesias bizantinas como la de Aghia Sophia, la cripta es del S. VI y la iglesia del XIX con frescos del XII, de rito grecocatólico, o el Monasterio de la Transfiguración con un icono de la Virgen atribuido a San Lucas. Saidnaya Samdan 27km kuzeyde yer aliyor, bir kaç bizans döneminde kalma kiliseler var, Agia Sofia gibi. ... read more
P. André
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Middle East » Syria » South » Damascus September 9th 2010

we started our trip in damascus, then we visited maaulla and headed to palmyra. stayed there three nights and it was so hot. from palmyra to the huge crusader castle Krak des chevalliers and stayed in the pleasant city of hama on the orontes river. don't miss the gardens and the norias. we stayed at cairo hotel, which we warmy recommend. the owner organizes trip to the sourrandings including apamea and the dead cities. the went to visit the roman city of apamea and the wonderful dead city of baara and serjilla. then we took the bus to aleppo and stayed in a nice little hotel in the old city, right in the middle of the souqs. after three nights in the city went to gianzantep in turkey and headed north to katha. we slept in ... read more
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