http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Syria , East , Palmyra en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:29:06 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:29:06 UTC Palmyra ruinsThe alarm clock went off at 0545 and we both groaned. After looking out the window it looked like there was potential for a clear sunrise we could see the moon clearly but still the black clouds did not look promising. Nonetheless we'd agreed to be picked up to head up to the citadel so we set off with our fingers crossed.Unfortunately but not surprisingly the sunrise wasn't gre http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-338883.html Woke up in the Citadel bright and early to escape the worse of the heat to visit Palmyra. Palmyra is one of the largest set of Roman ruins that are still standing well some of it is anyway. The city was a staging post for the caravans from Asia and Europe and as a result became very prosperous. The leader of the city died under mysterious circumstances and his wife took over Queen Zenobia.Q http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-325256.html Summer School 2 was over so we had the opportunity to get away for a few nights before Summer School 3 began. That meant a late evening bus from Damascus to the desert city of Palmyra. We arrived at 1130pm and were soon drinking refreshing tea in our hotel before settling down for a good nightrsquos sleep.The following morning we set out to climb up to the citadel in the morning sun before the http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-311278.html My entire trip to Palmyra cost me 26 USD. 2.5 hr bus Homs to Palmyra 150 SP taxi from Palmyra bus station to hostel 50 SP one night in Citadel Hotel double bed private ensuite 400 SP breakfast 100 SP entry to Palmyra ruins free entry to Temple of Bel 150 SP laundry 175 SP taxi from hotel to bus station 75 SP 3 hr bus Palmyra to Damascus 200 SPTotal 1300 SP 26 USD. And I w http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-286943.html So I left you about two weeks ago as having got to Jordan I discovered that the internet was pretty hopeless in fact I would go as far to say it was crap as none of my emails have sent and so onAnyhow following on from my last entry I went out for food and had a really chilled out evening at Casa Mia which is newly opened and despite it's name served typical touristic 'bedouin' food. I had some http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-286242.html After picking up our Mazda 3 at the Europcar rental office we navigated out of Aleppo with the help of Michel a distant relative of mine. He had kindly volunteered to help us find our way to the highway at which point he also agreed to have us dump him at the bus stop to find his way back. This gesture combined with the fact it was Friday morning Fridays are like Sundays in Muslim countries http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-281184.html So I got up at 530 so that I could be out the door to the bus station at 600 so I could make it for a 40 minute bus ride to the next city to get to a 730am bus to Palmyra. So I arrived in Palmyra at 930am and checked out the ruins before it got too hot out. Like all tourist sites I was getting harrassed to take tours motorcycle rides camel rides etc... But I had already decided to just d http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-277562.html We got on the road early decided to try and see some ruins near the north Lebanon border before driving out to Palmyra where we would stay for the night. Roads are poorly marked here and even though we now have a map in aerobic it is still very hard to navigate. We ask for directions frequently and many times since there are such a language barrier people are nice enough to jump in their car bike http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-276806.html Ah yes more roman ruins. And man was this a hot day A beautiful place to look around but we spent a lot of time trying to find shade to hide in There's not a lot around in a roman ruin in case you were wondering. This was one of the main Roman cities in the area a huge place which is now in the middle of nowhere but back in the day was a happening place on the trade route. It was origi http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-270527.html We got on the road early decided to try and see some ruins near the north Lebanon border before driving out to Palmira where we would stay for the night. Roads are poorly marked here and even though we now have a map in aerobic it is still very hard to navigate. We ask for directions frequently and many times since there are such a language barrier people are nice enough to jump in their car bike http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-269476.html Ca baigne dans l'huileNous avons fait beaucoup de kilomtres depuis notre dernier message. Eh oui nous avons encore chang de pays nous sommes maintenant en Syrie Nos derniers jours en Jordanie ont quand mme t mmorables spcialement car nous sommes alls dans l'endroit le plus profond au monde 400 mtres en dessous du niveau de la mer tout de mme. Vous avez devinez ou La mer morte No http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-254313.html Well wersquore currently in Palmyra in the middle of the desert amongst wonderful Roman ruins and an oasis filled with date palms that surrounds the town.Unfortunately we both seemed to catch one of the local bugs in Aleppo and have been feeling a little worse for wear for much of the last week. On the brighter side itrsquos provided us with an opportunity to experience a lot of the local http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-232601.html Go back the timeline for a thousand years or more and imagine a caravan in the Syrian Desert coming all the way from the far East travelling along the silkroad from oasis to oasis through a seemingly endless landscape of sand rocks and stones and then out of the sudden somewhere in the middle of nowhere one of the most graceful and splendid ancient cities of the Middle East with green palms http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-230104.html pics added in turkey. Rousted by the Syrian Army So we leave Palymera to find a camp site for the night. Usually Oasis camps right at Palymera in the ancient ruins but we were a bit ahead of schedule and Allepo is a long drive so we decided to drive for a while. It was also really hot and no one was particularly excited about putting up a tent in the desert heat of the late afternoon. We dr http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-171759.html So. Das ist nun also das beruehmte Palmyra Syriens Sehenswuerdigkeit Nummer Eins eine Stadt die wie keine andere am Touristenschwund seit 2001 zu leiden hat. Fangen wir aber von vorne an Der Bus brauchte von Deir keine zwei Stunden 200km dank GPS konnte ich sehen das wir teilweise ueber 130 fuhren. Man stelle sich das in Deutschland vor..... An der Haltestelle eigentlich ein Cafe wir http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-169180.html While the mercuryrsquos been steadily climbing in Damascus itrsquos a hazy 95 on the day I skip town a heat wave is hardly the time to visit the desert. But itrsquos my grave misfortune that Palmyra the legendary sandstone city and socalled ldquoBride of the Desertrdquo was plopped down about 100 miles from the asscrack of Nowhere. Itrsquos on the wrong side of 100 when my b http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-162123.html Sleepy in PalmyranbspMiddle East raquonbspSyria raquonbspPalmira By anabegoodMay 16th 2007Ana So then it has been way too long since I've last written. For that I apologize. And umm we might as well forget about pictures for now it is just impossible to organize everything. It feels like I've lived out of a pack forever. Our massive yellow Oasis truck is great. We have our own lil st http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-159151.html Hello Hello I set of from London on April 23rd to Turkey and joined in on a 35day overland tour from Istambul to Cairo. Fun eh I'm having a blast and Loved Turkey. My Favourite place was Goreme which was so interesting with all the Farry Chimney's. All the Local shop owners kept offering us apple tea so we would come in for a chat...and maybe buy something. Fi one of he girls on tour stoped i http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-155663.html On behalf of myself Irsquod like to welcome you once again to the source of your insanity. Prelude These past two days have brought me very close to deathhellip in more ways than one. Firstly I kept seeing a blinding white lighthellip but we were in the desert and I could hear voices so I reasoned that I wasnrsquot dead yet. The reason was that we walked for hours and hours around vari http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-151597.html Okay you're gonna be see305gn a lot of typos 305n th305s one... thats because Turk305sh keyboards suck ass. Theres an 305305n the i pos305t305on between U and O but 305ts some form of un305quely Turk305sh 305 unsu305table to us fussy Westerners. Instead theres a second i key to the r305ght of what would be a sem305colon but 305s 305n http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-149302.html Roman ruins.Columns and old streets.Probably the only place in Syria that has been negatively affected by tourism. A real shame.Offers of cheap hookers not accepted.Great sunset on a hill. http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-130502.html The ruins from the Roman period at Palmyra are impressive in both their scale and condition of preservation. One can imagine the ancient city in its entirety based on what is left standing.There is not much in the modern town of Palmyra a community that seems to have grown up around tourism but is now doing it tough following the downturn in tourist numbers since 911. As always the tourism s http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-120999.html After sleeping soundly in our wicked digs last night we got up early thanked our hosts and were on the road before 8. We knew it was roughly 100km to Palmyra and we wanted to get there before dark. We found ourselves making excellent time on the flat smooth desert roads and had covered 50km before 11. A friendly truck driver offerred us a lift and couldn't comprehend why on earth we would r http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-120988.html Yesterday was a very very long but very very fun day. My morning started at 530am when I got up and packed for the long day ahead. I headed out the door at about 6am and met some friends and we took a cab to the university. The bus pulled out of the parking lot at about 7am and headed for Sedeyna. Sedeyna is a town outside of Damascus with a beautiufl church and I forget the story but there http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-69010.html Det r s mktigt att det r svrt att beskriva. Jag har inte historien i huvudet Henrik min kompis som r arkeolog hrnere mtte bli djupt besviken men jag vet att det hr var en av de viktigaste stderna i mellanstern fr flera tusen r sen och sen kom en jordbvning och allt delades och folk flyttade hrifrn. I dag r stora delar av Palmyra utgrvt men det r ett jtteomrde fullt med http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-67508.html S fort jag stter mig i bilen vet jag att det r en bra id. Laleh r p hgt hgt p CDspelaren och jag kr fortare n alla andra genom knen 200 knyck ltt som en pltt och jag sjunger ganska falskt jag gr en booostadsanskan gr en booostads anskan kra drottning och vr kung det hr r krlek inget hat det r bara det att jag ar s jvla desperat efter en booostad. Svetten klistr http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-67503.html