Hama and the beehive villages

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Rather guttingly I wrote a long entry the other day about my trip to the Beehive villages but alas it would not publish and so I shall have to rewrite it!

A quiet evening followed my last entry with a walk through the shopping district leading up to a restaurant/hotel that is linked to the Cairo where I am staying. It appears to be a bustling city and it is funny because having seen barely any 'sweet' type shops in Damascus the road from the hotel for ages onwards is full of shops selling Baklava and other yummy looking sweet confections.

Thursday morning I woke up to go for a walk around and see the Norias whilst also looking at the various sights in Hama. I got to my first set of Noria's and was upset to see that they werent turning but they were still pretty cool looking! Anyhow I got a bit lost but found the Azem palace without to much trouble though I did aquire a gardener as a guide on the way!! Anyhow unlike the Azem palace in Damascus this is pretty much just lots of empty rooms in a house which is fabulous as the mannequins in Damascus detract from the beauty of the rooms. I can't describe how stunning the interiors are as it is a real case of having to see it to believe it but the walls are all wooden and painted with calligraphy and other scenes and it is just so peaceful.

Anyhow after this I decided to find a restaurant that was in the lonely planet it was down a little tunnel area and I was convinced that I had the wrong location - I became more convinced that I was wrong when I came out the other end to find I was back by the Azem palace and there was no restaurant in site! I found out that it had closed and so decided to try my luck at a restaurant across the river which appeared to also be shut - by now I was tired hungry and wondering what on earth there was to do in Hama as unlike the night before the place was empty with a lot of places shut and so on. I eventually walked to the other end of town where I found a restaurant and saw some more Noria's which weren't turning - apparantly there wasnt enough water.

My late afternoon walk was a whole different story as suddenly Hama which had been dead and empty was full of life and so I toddled of to the Noria's I had seen yesterday and couldn't believe the difference - Yesterday there was a river it had been flowing and whilst not full there was water. But there was no water - it was like someone had pulled a plug and the water had vanished the Noria's weren't turning and there were just a few puddles amongst a lot of mud.

Friday

Woke up and was pleased to see that my roommate had left - due to the public nature of this blog I won't say much beyond the fact the she remind me of the Noria's - moaning and old!! I went downstairs to enquire about going to Krak des Chevaliers but was told that in half an hour there was a group going to the beehive villages and Qasr Ibn Wardan it would be 400 sp. The countryside around Hama is very rural with lots of farms and fields and so on which is very different from Damascus and Dubai!!

We arrived at one of the beehive village and walked around taking pictures I felt a bit rude at first but I realised pretty quickly that this was a good industry for them. The houses tended to be in clusters of several beehives together and most of the 'doors' were padlocked. However in one there was a donkey and I think that most of the houses are now used for agricultural storage and so on. We got invited for tea into the 'showhive' and were given traditional outfits to try on for a photo very touristic. As we left we were told that it would be good to give 'baksheesh' and the suggested amount was apparantly 100 SYP. One of the Americans paid it which was lucky for them and me as I would have given comparatively less - stingy maybe.

We drove on to the next stop and this was fantastic - I wasnt expecting much from it but it was all rambling ruins but despite that it was still in a fab state and so we spent a merry hour climbing the stairs and trying to figure out what all the rooms were and so on. On leaving we asked if the driver would mind if we stopped at another beehive village to take some pictures and he obliged - we were invited for tea which we declined but before we really knew what was happening we were sitting down drinking and I was thinking this is Syria.

Anyhow I have to go as this has taken far to long but I shall try and update tomorrow

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Comments

[Bekki]

Sounds great! You sound like you're spending loads! Can't wait to see you over here again Take care Bekki x