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Published: July 20th 2008
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We had a great day out in Bosra. The city is a couple of hours on the bus to the South of Damascus. It seemed that we had to travel halfway to Beirut just to get the bus though! When we arrived in Bosra we were unable to find any accommodation. There were 2 options: sleep on blankets on the floor in a big room behind the “1001 Nights” restaurant, or pay US$200 to stay in 5 star luxury. We took the third way - exploring the site and returning to Damascus!
The restaurant allowed us to leave our now unneeded baggage with them and they even booked our bus ticket for us. Then they pointed us in the right direction and we went out to see the ruins in 40 degrees of midday heat! First up was the fantastic amphitheatre which lived up to its billing. Julio Iglesias performed here last week but we were both working and unable to come. It must have been an amazing experience whether you like the Spanish crooner or not.
It takes a couple of hours to wander around the whole of the amphitheatre. We began by getting lost in the dark
corridors below the seating area. Leaving our torch in the bag in the restaurant was a mistake! We emerged into the blinding sunlight halfway up the stone seating area. It was incredible. We have been to similar ruins in Ephesus (Turkey) and Curium (Cyprus) but in Bosra they are extremely well preserved having been buried in sand for centuries.
Afterwards we wandered around the ruins of the Roman town. Here people still live amongst the remains of their ancestors. Some of the ruins were marvellous but others were rather spoiled by whitewashing and by satellite dishes!! In the old cathedral we saw some frescoes on the walls which are undergoing restoration. There is a lot of work still to be done!!
The small handicraft stalls were nice to browse and Trish even bought a new bag. Russ used all of his bartering skills to bring the price down from £5 to £2. We passed off the chance to tour around in a horse-drawn carriage or ride on the back of a camel, choosing Shanks’ Pony instead (going on foot)!!
The guys in the restaurant waited for the bus with us to ensure that it stopped! As we
were waiting we noticed the illuminations hanging from the street lights. They must be a strange sight at night. A couple of hours later we were relaxing in our flat and wondering what to do with the rest of the weekend.
So, what did we do? Well, on Friday night we went to an Indian restaurant. It seemed we were 2 of only 6 eat-in customers that night. Hopefully they do better on take-aways. The curry was good, but still not as good as a Friday night Indian in the UK!! On Saturday we had a relaxing day sunbathing by the pool at “Le Meridien” hotel. It wasn’t cheap but we really enjoyed it!! Saturday evening saw us back in “The Journalist Club” which has become our local. Eating Syrian mezzes whilst drinking Panda beer from Jordan is one of life’s pleasures! We ended up nearby in the Artists Club where we drank tea and smoked argileh! Seems we’re settling in well!!!!!
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Clare
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WOW!!
What an amazing site. Nice to hear you're both settling in nicely :)