More Syria

From Aleppo we headed out east first to Raqqa. This town doesn't have much to recommend itself but it is a base to visit the ruins of the ancient walled city of Rasafa. We hired a taxi for the day and got driven down to these ruins. It was really nice here, made all the better by the fact there were very few other people around. Our taxi driver seemed to enjoy the place as much as we did and was out taking lots of snaps on his camera phone. There was an underground cavern which was huge, it really took my breath away. From there our taxi driver took us to ruins of another castle called Qala'at Jabar. We've been a bit spoiled for ruins and castles since being in Syria and I didn't find this one so impressive.

On returning to Raqqa we decided not to spend another night here and went straight on to Deir Ez-Zur. This was a really bustling little market town, and a bit off the beaten track. It was a nice place just hang out and watch everything go by. This was also a base to visit yet more ruins - those of Dura Europos and Mari. These sights are right in the east of the country and only about 15 miles from the Iraqi border. Our visit there seemed to raise a lot interest and after quite a long wait in the bus station in Deir, we're fairly sure we had some secret police following us for the day. Anyway we got the bus to Dura Europos and spent a good long while there. At first it doesn't look so impressive, but as you walk towards the back of the ruins it drops right down to the Euphrates and reveals the ruins of citadel on the banks of the river. From here we hitched a lift on an oil tanker to go a further 10 miles or so down the road to Mari. Our driver didn't speak much English but still had a bit of fun with us and joked he was going to take us into Iraq. We arrived at Mari just as the sun was setting so just a quick look round as dusk set in. We returned back to the highway to hitch a lift back Deir. The secret policemen who we had seen a few times in the day pulled up in their car got out and started flagged down all the minibuses heading back to Deir and ushered onto the first one with space on it despite the fact two old ladies who had been waiting much longer than us for a minibus. The women weren't very happy about that and we didn't feel too good about it either, but you can't really argue with secret police.

After Deir it was onto Palmyra. Probably the most famous set of ruins in Syria, it is an ancient Roman city although a temple of some sort existed there 2000 years before the Romans got there. We spent a few days wandering rounds the ruins and I've taken absolutely loads of photos to bore you with. We also met a nice group of other travelers here so hung out with them and a had few drinks in the evenings. I also got a bit of a dicky tummy here that knocked me out for a day or so. I got a few drugs from the pharmacy in town and that seemed to sort me out. On our last day in Palmyra we headed out to the citadel atop a hill which gave fantastic views across the ruins.

From here we headed up to Hama with a German girl Katie whom we met in Palmyra. We did a tour out to Krak de Chevalliers described by TE Lawrance as 'the finest castle in the world' and it's hard to disagree with him. The castle is huge and very well preserved. We spent the best part of a day wandering round it. I can't say much more about it other take a look at the photos to see for yourself.

Although there wasn't that much to do in the town of Hama itself, it was a pretty nice place and we spent a few days chilling out here before heading onto Latakia minus Katie who instead went to Aleppo. On our way to Latakia we stopped at yet another castle. This one was called Qualat Salahdin. While not quite as impressive as Krak de Chevalliers it has a much more impressive setting and it was a beautiful sunny day. In the distance you could see out to the Mediterranean.

Latakia is a small town on the coast. It is a lot more liberal here than other places seen in Syria. Most girls don't wear head scarves and some even have the temerity to walk round in skirts! Latakia was another nice place but we were a bit short on time so just spent one night here and then had a brief visit to Tartus before making our way to Damascus.

We've met up with Phil's girlfriend Merryl here and the three of us will be traveling round for the next three weeks or so. I am really loving Damascus. We've been here for eight days now and plan to spend a few here more before heading onto to Jordan. I'll write more about Damascus a little later. As for now hope anyone reading this is enjoying my blog and that you are well and enjoying life wherever you may be. I am certainly enjoying life at the minute.

Oh yeah one last thing, Merryl has bought a new lead for my camera so I can finally upload photos again - hurrah! So loads more photos of the same thing from about twenty different angles to bore you with! They're all on smugmug under a new Syria category that I've created.