Qa'lat al Marqab Qa'lat al Marqab

Qa'lat al Marqab

I really tried hard to not pay the entrance fee at this crusader castle, climbing through a gap in the wall and trying my best to not be seen. Of course, I was caught at the very end while I was leaving (having missed parts of the castle in order to not be seen). The guy came up on a motorcycle asking why I climbed in through the wall and blah blah... I offered to pay for a ticket and after a moment's hesitation he offered to charge me 30% less in exchange for him not issuing a ticket (in other words, a bribe). I said yes. Nice castle, eh?


From: Middle East » Syria » West » Hama

Syrian  Flag Following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Syria was administered by the French until independence in 1946. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel. Syrian troops - stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in... [read more]
Blog: The Syrian Hinterland
Date: December 28th 2004

The coast was awesome, but all good things must come to an end, and I'm back in the heartland of Syria, seperated from the mediterranean by a range of mountains. I used to think it a bit lame when in geography class they'd talk about how the mountains would prevent the cool weather from the sea from reaching the hinterland... turns out it's true: I was running around the ruins of Crak des Chevali ... read more




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Ozgur Can Leonard
My trip began (July 19, 2004) as a 14-month leave of absence from my job, with the intention of "seeing the world", and a bunch of unrealistic ideas of what can be accomplished in a year. Turns out a year isn't as long as it seems, so I've recently quit my job (yeay!) to become a full-time traveler. Until, that is, I run out of money or decide I'm ready to rejoin the ratrace. In the meantime, I'm trying to blog at least once a month from the countries I'm visiting. I'm not interested in Western Europe, so don't expect pictures of Venice here. My blogs are basically my impressions of pla... full info
Joined: September 18th 2004
Status: BLOGGER
Blogs: 59
Photos: 241
Forum posts: 8
TB Code:[photo=8946]

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