http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Syria , North , Aleppo en-us Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:02:50 BST Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:02:50 BST Schoolrsquos out work has finished and we had a few days off before returning to the UK. It was the first day of Ramadan and we had been surprised to hear drums outside in the street at 3.30am. This is apparently to wake everyone up for an early breakfast before the fasting begins each day Even so we had managed to get back to sleep and still made it to the bus station in time for a 8.30 de http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-320557.html 22 AUGUST HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME 34 TODAY. Who would have thought that I would spend my birthday in Syria not me that's for sure I'm a bit hungover after all the drinking in the Baron Hotel the night before but I soon forget about that when Ali gives me a birthday post card and gorgeous pearly bracelet which she designed and made herself. I only mentioned once to her at the start of the trip http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-320035.html 20 Aug we're officially in the Middle East now wow. Syria always seemed to me to be such a mystical ancient and biblical place and relatively unvisited by western tourists...all of this appears to be true although there are lots of Iraqi tourists here. We meet Hussain our excellent tour guide for all of Syria. We'll be in the country for 5 days so really looking forward to getting to know m http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-320023.html Die Drei Fragezeichen waren gestern die drei Fs sind heute Fahrer Fuehrer Fotograph. Die Verteilung brauch ich wohl nicht zu erklaeren da die Staerken von uns drei in diesem Urlaub und manche auch darueber hinaus zu den beiden anderen guck ja schon bekannt sind. So sollte es heute zum Steine gucken gehen. Der Weg aus der Stadt war schnell gefunden und irgendwie haben wir auch das erste Zie http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-319014.html Tag 3 der Reise ausserhalb der bekannten ZivilisationAleppo wurde erkundet mit all seinen Facetten. Vom eher Reichen Teil mit recht modern dreinblickendem Stadtbild bis hin zur hintersten Gasse. Das Wichtigste jedoch Der MarktNachdem wir uns angepasst an den Strassenverkehr bis zum Markt bewegt hatten begann das Staunen. Erst stellte sich uns die Frage Lieber Hirn oder doch die leckeren In http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-319013.html Wie man den trkischsyrischen Grenzbergang mit einem deutschen Auto berquert Nunja irgendwie beginne ich ziemlich viele Blogeintr1606ge mit dieser Phrase aber es passt irgendwie das der Moment kommen msste war ja klar aber ein bisschen mulmig war mir in Kilis dem letzten trkischen Ort schon. Wider erwarten gestaltete sich das Gefriemel an der Grenze dann aber doch verh1606ltnism http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-318478.html with a sore head and a sore stomach i leave istanbul for syria. this is when my train journey ends and i haw have to take coaches 24 hours on a bus to damacus. but i have run out of money. i travel with a very well spoken mother and daughter who studied at the arts institue all i need to do now is meet someone from watford and then the weirdness will be complete and loron a turkish girl who http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-314567.html ok here's the entry on the actuall Aleppo Syria as opposed to the drive tofrom there.I was consering going to Syria soon after finding out that my friend's wedding is close to Syria on the Turkish side. A visa however was 175 in Syrian Embassy Washington which was too high for a one day excursion.In Antakya a city I was staying in I accidentally found out that there will be a one day http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-303192.html There are two separate parts to this trip both of equal amount of time of satisfaction. Border Crossing and City exploration.I will talk only about the border crossing here and Aleppo in another entry.On the way to Syria Syrians asked all the Americans and no one else to go with them. Turned out they wanted nothing more than our parents' names. What surprised me at the border is that the Du http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-302737.html A Sunday in Aleppo http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-293052.html 30 SECOND RULE 30 SECOND RULEI shouted as Jen and I scrambled to rescue the Goldfish crackers that had spilled all over the floor... We arrived at the Syrian border around 1100 in the morning Friday the 13th unsure of how the day would play out. Technically US passport holders are supposed to jump through a lot of hoops and spend a lot of money in the process in order to get tourist v http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-287515.html Eventually I get to Antaklya Antioch in one piece around 9am from Goreme. From here I am hurried onto another bus for Halep but first they collect our passports. This is the moment I have been dreading. On my bus are two girls from New Zealand who also donrsquot have visas. When the ticket man gets to my passport he looks and says ldquoAmerican Oh you will have to wait very long timer http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-286910.html Woke up on Sunday reasonably early as I was meeting Thomas and Kate couple at 9 so we could go to Qalaat Simeon. On arrival at the microbus station numerous people told us we needed to get a taxi but persistance paid off and we found the right bus that went to the village close to St Simeons luckily we didnt have long to wait before we set off and the bus was very popular with frequent stops to http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-280409.html So after moving hotels I eventually set off to explore Aleppo and got lost which was a fab start and my morning descended downhill from there Aleppo appears to be a city that does not eat or drink and as I was desperately in need of water it was not much fun. Anyhow I finally found a coffee shop and bought some water and rehydrated I walked towards the citadel. Outside the citadel is a nice ro http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-280034.html So after the last entry I went back to the hotel before going out for food and what a difference a Thursday night makes The 'American Quarter' was heaving with the girls dressed in skimpy outfits and the men out for a night As I said in my last entry Lattakia is much more western than other area's of Syria they have a promod Morgan and United Colours of Benetton. They have a chain of coffee http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-279695.html Internet in Syria is not all it is cracked up to be. No DSL. The first connection we found was 33 kbs so hard to even check email. This one is 133 kbs so I am not posting any pictures until we are back in Turkey. Sorry for the long absence I know Erin's mom is addicted to these now...We caught a 5 PM bus from Antalya to Iskenderun a Turkish city near the Syrian border. The bus ride http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-279310.html After breakfast we took a cab to the Citadel. A very interesting old structure in the center of the city. We then made our way to the cityrsquos bazaar. This place goes on and on. One after the other covered streets filled with vendors selling anything and everything you can imagine. There are little to no tourist here mostly the locals doing their shopping. We took some pictures haggled with http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-276802.html Drove to the Syrian border. After many smoke filled rooms paper work and questioning we were given permission to enter Syria. It got dark during our hour drive to Hama Syria. The roads were rough the traffic was insane and the signs were all in arabic. Itrsquos worth mentioning that the maps for this trip are in Alrsquos lost bag. There for we had to buy new maps in Italy. Sohellip we are http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-276798.html As I think I've said before Syria is far underrated by westerners. In Aleppo we found lovely welcoming people with ingrained hospitality as well as beautiful architecture and great culture in general.Starting the day with big fresh juices and cheesy toaties did help the good mood I admit not our usual boiled eggs white bread and jam and cucumber that we have been coping with through the Midd http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-271795.html After breakfast we took a cab to the Citadel. A very interesting old structure in the center of the city. We then made our way to the cityrsquos bazaar. This place goes on and on. One after the other covered streets filled with vendors selling anything and everything you can imagine. There are little to no tourist here mostly the locals doing their shopping. We took some pictures haggled with http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-269475.html Eigentlich war der Plan ganz einfach sogar quasi idiotensicher Ich wollte mich heute in Damaskus am Flughafen mit Bernd und Johannes treffen die aus Dubai kommen sollten und dann waeren wir inshallah zusammen nach Aleppo geflogen. Pustekuchen war's Allah wollte nicht und der Flug aus Dubai hat unendliche Verspaetung.Jetzt sitze ich allein in Aleppo und geniesse das Hupen der Autos.Auch was http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-260394.html Le discours usuel de tout les gens rencontrs sur la route et qui avaient visit la Syrie tait qu'ils ont aim ce pays pour l'incroyable gentilllesse de ses habitants. On en est presque venu se demander si ces gens s'taient consults au pralable sur le refrain adopter... Finalement force est d'admettre que ces derniers avaient raison. On ne retient pas de la Syrie de grands monuments spect http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-258070.html It was very easy to travel to Aleppo from Damascus. Buses go to Aleppo all day long and itrsquos so inexpensive about 3 or 4 I bought two seats so I could have room to keep my backpack near me. There were a few scary moments when my suitcase was xrayed and four security guards pulled me out of line to ask why I was carrying daggers in my bag. I explained that they were gifts I had bought i http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-257377.html I was walking around the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul when I got the idea to come to Syria. The bazaar gave me memories of Tabriz in Iran not because of any similarities but because of the glaring differences the mass of tourists the relatively dour Turks and the hardsell. My original plan had been to potter gradually along Turkey's Black Sea coast and on to Georgia. However leaving the bazaar http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-254825.html some more pics... http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-235971.html Well a very Merry Christmas to you all from the ancient town of Aleppo in the north of Syria.We ended up staying in Istanbul for longer than originally planned but had such a wonderful time that we really were loathe to leave at all. It was just lovely wandering around jumping on and off ferries and trams as we crisscrossed the continents and explored the myriad of fascinating palaces churche http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-231040.html Hello everbodyhow lucky I was to find an internet Cafe here with WLAN D so I can put some pics online.More pics coming. cant write more right nowLuv Nicola http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-231019.html Syria Aren't all those Arabs lecherous terrorists with a bomb in each pocket All those people guilty of having even remotely such notions get yourself into the kitchen for a big steaming hot cup of REALITY. Better still get yourself over here and experience these people for yourself.The Turks are welcoming the Syrians equally so but on a more energetic level. A couple of brief examples. http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-221242.html I hope that the last entry was informative and engaging. I just realized when I was looking at it that the entry itself is over 3000 words which is something like 12 pages of doublespaced text but I just had a lot to talk about. This installment is going to be the shortest of the three because it is only dealing with my one day and night in Aleppo. Without further ado let us begin.After lying http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-213108.html