Blogs from West, Syria, Middle East - page 4

Early start to get to the bus station when arrived though there were no buses. One of the locals advised me that the bus station had moved to near the motorway so I had to get a service taxi. On the way I am sure that the driver tried to offer me his wife to which I politefully declined - arab hospitality is great but I think that is going a bit too far. As opposed to the nearly 2 hour wait in the Beirut bus station amongst the garbage and flies my 15 minute wait in air conditioned luxury was a joy to behold. The journey was 1 and a half hours to Hama and cost just over an English pound - even got a sweet. Booked into the Riad hotel and no sooner as ... read more

Der Verkehrsminister der Syrisch-Arabischen Republik hat erlassen: Die Strassenverkehrsordnung in alphabetischer Reihenfolger A) Abkuerzungen ueber Baustellen, die Gegenfahrbahn, Feldwege o.ae. sind grundsaetzlich erlaubt und erwuenscht. Ampeln: Besitzen drei Farben und leuchten. Sie dienen der Behinderung des Verkehrs. Autos, welche direkt an oder hinter der Haltelinie stehen, die bei rot-gelbem Licht noch stehen, stellen ebenso eine -Behinderung dar. Autos, welche in der Reihe dahinter stehen, haben erstere gnadenlos auszuhupen Arabische Straكenbilder geben ein schoenes Muster ab. Achtung Kamele! Mit ebenjenen ist ueberall auf der Fahrbahn stets zu rechnen. Autobahnen sind grundsaetzlich dreispurig, die Spur ganz rechts ist das, was einige Laender „Standstreifen“ nennen. Er eignet sich fuer -Motorraeder ebens... read more

Our Bradt Guide didn't paint a pretty picture of Tartous, the second biggest port in Syria. Nor did it recommend going to Arwad Island, the only piece of Syrian territory off shore. We thought we would go anyway and are really pleased we made the effort. Tartous isn't a pretty place but wandering through its streets it has a certain charm. Seeing the sea again was nice, but with the moisture of the Med comes cloud and humidity. The temperature was no lower than in Damascus but there wasn't a lot of sun. Still, it made it easier to walk around without feeling scorched all the time. On Friday we joined the hoardes and took a boat over to Arwad Island. It was a bit choppy to say the least, and one man had to be ... read more

Our first trip out of Damascus was not without its difficulties! We took a taxi out to the main bus station for routes to the North of the country. Then we had to find the right bus - not an easy task with almost no Arabic!! Eventually we were on a 10am departure which left on time, moved about 10 yards, then spent 20 minutes crawling along to the police check area at the exit. Finally we were on our way through the hot sandy scenery for a couple of hours. That took us to Homs. The bus station at Homs was a little chaotic as we tried to find a minibus to “Krak des Chevaliers”. Someone offered us seats for 50p (about what we were expecting to pay) but it turned out to be a ... read more