The Middle East

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Aleppo, Syria (16-17th July 2010)

We got the overnight bus from Goreme through to the Syrian city of Aleppo. As useful as overnight buses can be, and as comfortable as they may appear at first glance, they never deliver a proper night’s sleep. Still, at least the buses didn’t look like they were about to fall apart like they did in Albania.
First impressions of Aleppo were something of a culture shock after the laid back attitudes in Europe. Northern Syria is very conservative. However, despite initial impressions, we soon found that the Syrians were some of the friendliest and most welcoming people that we have come across, with so many people in the street stopping simply to welcome us to Syria or to ask us where we were from.
Aleppo old town was very cool. We wandered around the covered souq, where the vendors would try and sell you anything from clothing, to copper tea sets, to an entire lamb’s carcass. Often the hard sell can get annoying, especially when you have zero interest in purchasing, but the Syrians had a great sense of humour when it came to marketing and haggling. As we walked past one shop the man promised us all his stock was handmade, to which the next seller retorted that all his stock was definitely machine-made. As we made our way out of the Souq, we came to the huge Citadel, which is surrounded by a dry moat. No Conservative MP has ever lived here as far as we are aware. After exploring the Citadel, we joined the locals having a (non-alcoholic) drink at one of the numerous buzzing coffee shops.
The Christian quarter, Al-Jdeida, had some great little streets, café bars and great restaurants. This was the only area in which we could get a drink so we ended up going there on both nights, eating at a great little roof-top restaurant with views across the city.

Hama, Syria (18th July 2010)

Hama is renowned for its water wheels, which creak a lot and, in all honesty, are not the most interesting of tourist attractions. Our main reason for visiting Hama was to use it as a base to visit Crac des Chevailiers, described by Lawrence of Arabia as ‘the finest castle in the world’. I’ve always liked castles and, after some convincing, Nat decided that if it was good enough to get that title then she wouldn’t object to a visit.
We set off on our day trip to the castle with a very nice couple from Birmingham that we met at our hotel. Our driver, Abdul (no relation to Paula as far as we could ascertain), seemed intent on racing his 1975 Merc around the mountain roads, but thankfully after a couple of detours he finally got us to the Crac. And it was quite an impressive sight. While it may not have had quite enough secret passageways, it was certainly the best castle either of us had ever visited.

Palmyra, Syria (19-20th July 2010)

We wondered whether was nuts to visit Palmyra, which is in the east of Syria, in the middle of the desert and quite close to Iraq, in mid-July. Palmyra is known mainly for its Roman ruins. What have the Romans ever done for us, we asked?
We discovered, whilst enjoying an early evening drink at the posh hotel right next to the ruins, as the sun went down behind the hills, that a visit was certainly worthwhile. At night time, some of the closer ruins are lit up and you could see in the fading sun just how vast the site actually was. It proved to be a pretty amazing place to enjoy a drink.
The next day was spent exploring the ruins themselves, a Roman city built as early as the 4th century BC and yet, in a lot of cases, still incredibly well preserved. Nat pointed out that I really should wear a hat as it was 40 degrees plus. I managed to resist for at least 20 minutes before I gave in and bought a scarf that made me look like a tourist, trying to look like an Arab. We managed to wander around the ruins for about 4 hours before we had to seek some shelter from the blistering sun.
That evening we headed up to the castle on the hill to watch the sun set across the desert landscape. That was, once Dave had helped push our taxi driver’s car up the hill. Later on, we met up with the Brummies again, as they were following exactly the same route as us through Syria (obviously we had planned a very original trip). We had a great dinner at the posh hotel overlooking the ruins and managed to sink a few drinks in the cave bar of the hotel.

Damascus, Syria (21st July 2010)

It was great to finally visit this city that has been at the heart of so much history. The walled old-town was very pretty and we wandered around most of it, discovering the Christian, Jewish and Islamic areas of the city. Is it wrong to say that we also managed to get loads of cheap movies on DVD at the same time? Well, we did and it has helped make long bus trips far more bearable since. Dave even managed to get his haircut in the old town and avoid getting either shaved or a mullet.

Beirut, Lebanon (22-24th July 2010)

The bus from Damascus to Beirut should have taken about 3 hours. It took at least twice that and seemed to be unable to top 20 mph. For once Nat didn’t have to worry too much about crazy, speeding drivers. When we finally arrived and dragged ourselves up the hill to the hostel, it was damn hot, we were damn tired and the hostel was damn dirty. Just to help the mood, the owner was an arrogant loser, who was well aware that budget accommodation in Beirut is limited to say the least. Customer service was not his priority. Against our better judgement we stayed at Talal’s for two nights, mainly because we couldn’t find anywhere cheaper than the Four Seasons to stay. The next door rooftop rave on the second night which finished at 9am finally convinced us to up our budget and move hotels.
Beirut is quite an amazing city. You can pass the Holiday Inn which stands riddled with shell damage, as a lasting reminder to the more violent times in Lebanon’s recent history, before reaching the pleasant Corniche on the waterfront. Most of Beirut’s centre is incredibly plush and feels like all the smartest parts of London combined, as Ferraris and Lamborghinis pass you on the street. We really hadn’t realised quite what it would be like to visit.
Beirut can be a great city to visit if you aren’t on a budget, so we decided to make the most of it by forgetting about the cost and spent our nights bar hopping in Gemayze , dining at a great restaurant, then drinking with the beautiful people in a fantastic top-floor bar with a roof that opened up to the stars every half-hour or so.

Amman, Jordan (25th, 29th July & 1st August 2010)

We only really used Amman as a base to see the far more interesting locations nearby. However, it was a very chilled place and we found an amazing local restaurant with mezze that you could pig out on for hours.

Jerash, Jordan (26th July 2010)

Another day, another Roman ruin. Those guys really got around. Jerash is very impressive and, while not quite the same in terms of location as Palmyra, it is certainly worth seeing. Nat managed to make a number of friends in the course of our day exploring the ruins, including two Arabs playing the bagpipes in the ancient amphitheatre (reminding her of her Scottish routes - photo attached) and a three and five year old Jordanian sisters, who insisted on giving her gifts and a kiss!
On the way to Jerash our tour had also stopped at Umm Qays which is located in the far north-west corner of Syria. From here you could see the Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, Syria and Israel. Quite an impressive view.

Petra, Jordan (27th July 2010)

We headed down to Wadi Musa from Amman first thing in the morning, checked into the comically named Cleopetra Hotel, and after a quick turnaround, we headed to the main entrance of Petra.
This was always somewhere we had looked forward to visiting on our trip, and it has been recently been named one of the seven modern wonders of the world. We were slightly taken aback at the rate of inflation of their entrance fees (no thanks to the seven wonders accolade) but headed on into the desert towards the scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Having seen this film at the cinema as a 10 year-old I had always wanted to see the real thing and the winding canyon walk towards the Treasury was worth every penny. The Treasury is the building you will all have seen in photos; films etc. and is the most recognisable sight at Petra, but is only actually one of a number of buildings that make up the ancient city, built into the surrounding rock-faces.
I made Nat hike up to the ancient place of sacrifice, some 100m or so above the main canyon and buildings in the middle of the day and in searing heat, but, once there, it was well worth the walk for the view alone. We almost witnessed a modern day sacrifice of five American students who, while posing for a photo on the cliff edge, were very nearly taken out by their clumsy friend who tripped as he approached them.
Before leaving the area we made sure that we had a drink in the bar near to the Petra entrance. The ‘oldest bar in the world’ was something we just couldn’t pass by so we enjoyed a drink in a section which was apparently an old tomb. Nice.

Wadi Rum, Jordan (28th July 2010)

We joined an overnight tour into the Jordanian desert with two Canadian girls and two Danish guys. At the visitor centre we were piled into an open-backed 4x4 and made our way around the valleys and across the dunes. Apparently Lawrence of Arabia had been through here and we got to see his spring and his house. To call it a house was stretching the truth somewhat as it was just a few bricks next to a really big rock. Oh, and he had only actually been here once. Still, the scenery was pretty amazing.
We all raced down the Red Dune and climbed numerous rock formations, including a rock bridge which looked all-too-precarious as we sat on top of it for photos. The night was spent at a Bedouin Camp and we were amazed at how bright the stars where after dark. Our group were a great laugh and the trip proved to be a real highlight of our Middle East adventure.

Dead Sea, Jordan (30th July -1st August 2010)

As a Birthday treat for me Nat had arranged for a special stay at the Movenpick Dead Sea Resort & Spa. We made sure to arrive early on the first day in time for the buffet breakfast. When you haven’t enjoyed a big breakfast for ages it makes you determined to eat quite literally as much as you can. We did exactly that and spent the rest of the day sweating in the sun.
Nat also managed to get us an upgrade so we enjoyed our villa by a private pool for two nights and made the most of the luxurious surroundings. With the Dead Sea right in front of us we made sure to have a couple of trips down to the seafront to cake ourselves in mud, which is very good for the skin, and float in the incredibly salty water. You can only compare the feeling to being on a lilo, except without the lilo. It was unlike anything we had ever experienced. One word of warning for anyone who visits the Dead Sea would be to not get the water anywhere near

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Comments

[Matt]

syria
awesome. i loved it, was so crazy, but i wouldnt like to know what some of the meat was....all good here , west ham rock bottom hoorah! get ready for jerusalem......