Ugarit Overview

Ugarit = c. 1500-1200 B.C. site, excavated since the 1930's by the French.

Ras Ibn Hani is a few km away and has a palace for the royals. Minat al-Beida, the port of Ugarit cannot be visitted, its a military port.

Ugarit was a wealthy site due to trading via the sea and land. Lots of art found here from Cyprus, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and beyond. Also text in various languages.

Ugarit is probably most famous for the texts found in excavations written in a 29 letter, wedge-shaped alphabet. The language was a local script, but it is one of thhe earliest attestations of the alphabet.

The site has a huge palace that was multiple floors, all built in stone, and at least 2 temples plus lots of local residences. Bring good walking shoes as the site is covered in brush and pretty buggy.

Highlights from Lattakia

E: Seeing Mount Sapanu in the distance from our hotel room. Hellooo Baal.

M: Incredible views approaching our first (of two) Crusader castles - Qala'at Salah ad-Din.

E: Fransisco the rooster. And the rest of Ras Ibn Hani, a site c. 1200 BC across the road from our hotel. A sea-side retreat for the royals of Ugarit, and now the home of chickens. And lots of weeds.

M: The customer is ALWAYS right. Especially when its me. (E would like to note that she got a lot of reading done while M was being "right.")

E: Marching around Ugarit. TWICE. While M carried the backpack. In insane heat.

M: Climbing down into an incredibly well preserved underground tomb in the house of Yabninu at Ugarit. People buried their family members inside their houses at Ugarit. Bunches of tombs here and at Ibn Hani.

E: M realizing the the Arabic word for "hotel" (funduq) has the word fun in it. Cnat count the number of times I have heard "We're having fuuun in the funduq" in the past 4 days. Maybe not a highlight.

M: Finally took a microbus. Got off at the wrong stop. Not taking a microbus again.

E: Lattakia museum. Or not. Tiny, and the guard kept tapping his watch and shaking his keys trying to make me leave so he could go sit back down with his friends. So NOT how a museum should be run.

M: The View. Really trendy new resteraurant overlooking the sea. More nachos made from doritos, and I tried fish and chips.

E: The gate to Ugarit is too amazing for words. Also, I owe big thanks to M who was dumb enough to ask me what my impressions of Ugarit were and then nice enough to let me give him an hour long sermon about the importance and problems of the site and its texts.

M: Giant flying red insect in the cab with us for the entire 1 hr trip back from the castle. As if the ride was not already bad enough from the strong gas fumes.

E: I would just like to add the gas fumes + fear of heights + early morning + crusader castle + summer Syrian heat = whoa. M was way braver than me.

Lights out in Lattakia

Apparently faulty electricity is not just a feature of Aleppian life. Lights are in and out in Lattakia hotel tonight as well. Probably because the hotel is booked. Just a reminder that we are still in a country that is under going massive construction and modernization - with some successes and some failures.

Syria : 3, M : 0

M ate mixed meat (deep fried) our last night in Aleppo. Syria wins another round; took M 4 days to recover. (Syria has also won several rounds with E, for those keeping score.) Looking forward to overeating food back in the States and being sick again.

In spite of the illness, we highly recommend the Yasmeen Hotel in the Al Jdeida quarter of Aleppo for dinner - small space, open courtyard, good music, and good food. Just dont mix the meat.

PS. The hotel (Yasmeen) also looks like it has lovely, but $$$ rooms.
PPS. M is better now.

Catching up

After a week of anti-blog, we're catching up.

It goes soemthing like this:

Mike sick in Aleppo, final trip(s) to museum.
Train to Lattakia, drive up to Kassab.
2 nights in Kassab, back to Lattakia.
We're on our last of 4 nights in Lattakia.
Tomorrow we go to Tartus.

For map geeks like E - we're talking about the coast of Syria - Kassab on the border with Turkey, Tartus near the Lebanon border.

Kassab

Added Kassab to the itinerary. Small mountain resort in NW Syria. Just meters away from the border with Turkey.

Sleeping and Eating (M's two favorite things)
The very cheap Al-Mouktar hotel included a bathroom off the porch that smelled like chemicals, so we both skipped showers for 2 days. Views from the Hotel Namar resteraunt were really nice, food a little less memorable.

Out and About:
The taxi driver for our trip to beach and later to Lattakia took us at high speeds over hills, around corners and from one lane to another. Terror ride for M and E. Al-Samara (a beach near Kassab where the mountains plunge into the Mediterranean) was amazing, a great spot for picnics that starts filling up with locals between 1-2 pm.

Disappointments:
Sadly, E didn't realize until arrival at Lattakia that the mountain we were staying on, Jebl Acra (sp?), was Mount Sapanu (Biblical Saphon) the mythical home of the Ugaritic weather god Baal.

Population game:
Kassab is supposed to be a much-loved mountain retreat for Syrians. We found a rather deserted town and judging by the number of apt lights on at night, a lot of home owners in Kassab are part-time residents. E compares it to Pentwater, MI: a great place to vacay with some nice scenery but its better when you're staying at gramma's and getting home cooked food.

Syria : 2, M : 0

M got "summer influenza" at Ebla. That's one more for Syria. Best part? When the doctor who came to the hotel put a stethoscope on Mike's chest and said "inspiration... expiration."

For the curious, cost of care in Aleppo:
1 doctor visit to hotel - $30
3 visits from a nurse for shots of antibiotics - $9
1 trip to the pharmacy for 2 different medications, syringes, and vitamins - $18

Also, M feeling better.

Bak-SHISH

We ran into a bunch of children at Elba this morning who kept coming up to us and saying "Bakshish? Bakshish." Confused, we said goodbye and kept going.

It got worse later, with a group of boys following us all around the backside of the tell Yelling "Bak-SHEEESH!" Boys 200m away would scream "Bak-SHI-ASH!" from the other end of the tell as well. They especially loved harassing M.

Our driver says "Backshish" means "money" or "tip."

Experiment

E noticing that women in Aleppo dont smile. With a couple of wonderful exceptions, most women look the other way or stare without smiling.

M hypothesisized that women who were dressed more liberally would be more likely to smile then those in the very traditional and conservative dress. Thus far (experiment ongoing), not true.

Thoughts?

Barak Hussein Obama

According to a Catholic shop owner in the old city, the American president is Muslim, knows the Koran by heart, and American is no longer a Christian country.

We eventually gave up trying to argue with this man, but checked in later with a shopkeeper named Dmitri. Dmitri says that everyone here knows the presidents middle name and is waiting and watching to see how relations with the Middle East will change.

PS. Shop owner #1 is waiting to visit his sister in NJ until we have a different president.

Emar and Ebla

The past three days have taken us to Emar, Ebla, and the regional city Idlib.

Emar:
Imar/Emar is an ancient site (3rd and 2nd millenniums BC). Roman and Islamic ruins here also. The ancient sites WERE located on the W bank of the Euphrates, but thanks to a dam project by the previous president in the 70's, most of the site now lies under Lake Al Assad.

We went to see:

1. The acropolis with temples to the storm god (probably Baal) and Ashtart(?), the "western" version of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. The temples make a great pair with a procession-way between them leading to the edge of the acropolis. We were lucky enough to visit around 5pm when the sun was setting and it is very clear that the procession way lines right up with the setting sun. Temples badly destroyed but enough left to get E excited.

2. Parts of the lower city, still high enough up the hill to be above-water. Emar is exciting because when the French conducted excavations in the 70's (quickly, before the dam was built) they claimed the site was only from c. 1400-1200 BC, even though texts from around Syria mention an Imar/Emar from c. 1800 BC and earlier. In the past ten years, Syrian and German excavation teams have gone back and found the older city below the French team's Emar. So we got to check out some of the older layers of the cite.

3. The palace. OK, we didnt really see the palace, because the hill it was on is now an insland in Lake Assad. But we here it is now the home of a thriving rabbit colony and even some snakes.

4. Lake Assad. The director of the Islamic excavations was nice enough to take us around the site and claims that the waters of Lake Assad are swimmable and even drinkable. We waded. E and M have now officially been in the Euphrates. And the water is fantastic.

5. Archaeological debris. M thought he saw a small skull and bones down in a pit, but now admits that he was letting his archaeological imagination run wild.


Ebla:
Ebla could be called the earliest "big city" in Syria. It has tons of texts, art objects, palaces, temples, stairs, fortifications, and goes back to c. 2400 BC. Sadly, there is no running around in the ancient buildings, but the Italian excavators have the site pretty well labelled with paths to follow and three different "tours." Many buildings, many local children running around, many good views, and many restorations. 30 km away, the city Idlib has a museum with some of the find from Ebla. The old museum, which used to be right outside the ruins, is no more.

Aleppan Cuisine- Emerald Restaurant

Last night we finally found some authentic Aleppan cuisine.

In M's opinion, Emerald (a new restaurant located on the same street as the Tourath Hotel)offers a much better taste of Aleppo than the widely acclaimed Beit Sissi. Not only was it tasty, but the atmosphere of the restaurant (in the courtyard of an old house with a fountain in the center) was very relaxing.

M ordered:

Mouhamara- a mix of walnuts, pomegranate molasses, toasted bread crumbs, olive oil, roasted peppers and spices
Sujok-sausage rolled in arabic bread and cut into small pieces
Cherry kebab- a lamb kebab drenched in a cherry sauce

M's favorite was the sojuk. The cherry kebab was certainly unique and flavorful, but the sauce was a bit much after the first few bites. (Would love to see a restaurateur in Traverse City whip up a version of this!)

Emerald also has a really nice pub upstairs which M really likes because it has karaoke on Sunday and Thursday nights (Arabic and English)! M hopes to swing by to see if "Like a Prayer", "Toxic" and "Gin and Juice" have made it to Syria.

Aleppo Citadel

Super impressed with Aleppo's citadel.

In brief:

In the Old City, on a huge mound raising 15 meters above the rest of the city.
Remains of earlier occupation (2 lion sculptures from 1st millennium BC) found, but unlikely that these levels with ever be excavated.
Most remains from 12th-15th centures AD.
Prepare for walking (E frustrated with long skirt and sandals).
Inside: views along the walls, the palace, a cavern, 2 mosques, a theater, remains of a men's suana (hamman), and more.
The city inside has multiple levels, expect to get lost going up and down stairs, in and out of entryways.
Cafes in front of the bridge provide shade, E's favorite fruit drinks (order without ice), and a chance for M to work on his nargileh skills (cough cough).

Overheard in the souq

Shop owners have mixed up their English a few times while E & M were walking through the souq. Some memorable ones:

"Please come, we have rotten fruit and vegetables.." (meant fresh)
"Won't you come into my shop? We have expensive scarves" (meant cheap)
"We have nasty clothes, come look" (meant nice)

M was also heard shouting "left" "right" or "down" so that E could avoid looking at the carcasses hanging in front of the numerous butcher shops...The lamb heads were too much, even for M.

Ain Dara and Qala'at Samaan

Location:
NW of Aleppo, getting close to border with Turkey.
Scenery is beautiful with rolling rocky hills and pine trees and agriculture. Also whole fields of sun flowers.

Sites:
Ain Dara - Neo-Hittite (c. 800 BC) site. Famous for the huge footprints walking into the temple (probably the feet fo the deity, note they only go into the temple). Spent about two hours alone on the tell trying to make sense of the layout of the temple and its architectural decoration (mostly lions and sphinxes). E and M love Ain Dara.

Qala'at Samaam / Saint Simeon - Remains of a cathedral from 5th/6th centuries AD on the top of a rocky hill. Apparently Simeon situated himself atop a pillar NW of Aleppo in the 5th century, soon gathered a following of pilgrims and later (6th century) had a whole religious center and town devoted to his lofty religious teachings. Famous picnic spot, great tiolets (for a fee), ruins were nice, but overloaded with tourists.

Shocking News from Aleppo

E electrocuted herself trying to turn the lamp on at 6.30 am.

Also almost fell into a tomb at Qala'at Samaan.

PS. No noticable difference in energy level post-electrocution. haha.

Sleeping in history

Staying in the Baron Hotel. Agatha Christie stayed here. So did T. E. Lawrence. It used to be the hotel of hotels. USED to be.

Now the Baron experience includes:
vestiges of its more glorious past (bar with leather chairs!)
tourists that come only to photograph, not to sleep.
a ghost-y-looking 3rd floor with a crib in the balcony.
huge modern tubs in the remodelled bathrooms.
cracks in the 15' tall ceiling.
an AC unit with japanese instructions.
old keys that barely open the doors.
and according to Lonely Planet a "woeful breakfast" (we didnt think it was that bad).

We're supposed to be staying in T. E. Lawrence's room, but we think its a hoax.


A few streets over, E's Professor is staying in the newly-built Sheraton hotel. Digging for the development of the property uncovered part of Aleppo's ancient city wall. Its now on display below the hotel, and the only part of the wall that is uncovered.

Squeaky shoes

We took the train from Deir es-Zor to Aleppo. A 4.5 hour journey beginning at 7am.

Nice view, but the sounds were more memorable than the sights. The family in front of us (6 children?? more??) had a 2 year old with squeaky sandals. Think of the noise of a dog toy. Everytime the child stepped. And then imagine a father encouraging his child to jump up and down and run the length of the train car. OVER and OVER again.

Equally remarkable - the parents survived the trip without incurring the wrath of fellow passengers.

Syrians LOVE children. And squeaky shoes???

Halabiya. Or: A Bug's Life.

Halabiya. 45 mins. N of Deir es-Zor along Euphrates.

Main remains are the walls of Justinian, going up a mountain.

Travellers be warned:
-Mosquitos, mosquitos, mosquitos. Hopefully not carrying malaria. E survived with a bandana across her nose and mouth and sunglasses and high powered bug spray. M struggled.

-Love of climbing required. The stairs only take you about 1/2 way up and then its very steep - mix of rock, pebbles and dirt. Mosquitos deterred us from going more than 3/4 but we hear the view at the top is sensational.

-Dont miss the wooden bridge (for cars!) about 500 meters north.

Dura Europos

Not E's specialty, but still interesting to wander.

Saw the synagogue, early church, and Bel temple from 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

Located on a cliff overlooking the Euphrates - the land below is agricultural, Dura Europos is desert.

Vast space with amazing view of the Euphrates along the W and N edges of the site.

City walls remarkably intact and fun to wander.

The site could take a whole half day, we RAN to almost every edge in 1.5 hours.

Sand blowing everywhere. Sand in our eyes and stuck to our teeth. Mid-day heat intense and there is little shade from the sun.

Highly recommended, but go prepared.

Mari

Location:
Euphrates river, Syria. Upstream from ancient Babylon. Location on the river is ideal for trade.

Historical overview:
c. 2400 BC - Finds from Mari (lapis lazuli, gold, and more) show that Mari was part of the earliest trade networks in ancient Mesopotamia. Later "shakkanaku" rulers at Mari.

c. 1800 BC - Mari ruled by Amorite kings who all had "Lim" in their name. Yahdun Lim is killed by a northern king named Shamshi-Adad who installs his son as a ruler at Mari. The purported son of Yahdun-Lim, Zimri-Lim, escapes to the West (probably Aleppo!), returns and takes back the throne. After a decade of rule, Mari is sacked by the famous Hamhurabi of Babylon. Mari never regains prominence.

Archaeology:
Excavations since before WWII have uncovered a massive number of artifacts as well as the palace of Zimri-Lim and beneath that, the earlier 3rd millennium palace.

Some favorite/famous finds:
-c. 15,000 tablets. Letters, administrative texts, rituals, and more. There are clay models of livers for omen reading and texts describing local battles and political relations.
-Bread molds with designs of leaping animals, naked women, and more. Imagine eating that.
-Mari water goddess. Famous across the country (see separate post).
-Votive offerings by the dozens from temples.
-Bronze hollow-cast lion guarding a door of the temple (c. 3 feet remain).

The site / palace:
-All built of clay/mud bricks.
-Winding hallways and rooms (over 100 rooms in Zimri-Lim's palace).
-Remaining walls up to 15' high and 5-6' wide. The walls were originally painted with various scenes.

Impressions:
-E an M got lost trying to figure out what was what with only mounds of mud remaining and multiple levels of the architecture exposed. Site is not labelled and you need to buy a map ahead of time.
-Wild dogs nearby. Um, help.
-Blown away by the enormosity of the early palace. Definitely a "rat in the maze" feeling.

Boom goes the dynamite

Walking to the pedestrian bridge tonight with Mazen, a new friend, when we hear an explosion.

Lots of smoke is in the air. From the bridge, we can see two pieces of wood burning on the land below, along the Euphrates.

Mazen tells us that the sound is used to fish. "Bomb in water, fish float." (Whats on the dinner menu?) As we get closer he says it appears to be an accident.

One of the fires looks like a boat on an island in the river.

Later young boys tell M a scene for a movie is being filmed.


We have no idea what to believe, vote for your favorite:

(A) Fisherman's bomb exploded, sending boat into the air, leaving fire, mass smoke, and possible dead bodies and fish in the Euphrates.
(B) Movie scene, nothing out of the ordinary.
(C) Movie scene, but they REALLY DO fish with bombs.
(D) Create your own story.

Deir es-Zor

Good food is lacking, flies are many, but the people have been wonderful,very friendly and engaging. Two blondes stick out in everywhere in Syria, but here we get greeting, requests for photos, emails, and lengthy conversations. Some of our favorites:

Two brothers and a girlfriend asking us to join them in a cafe on Friday. Discussed cultural norms here and in America among young people.

The museum guard asking M why we dont have a baby and pointing to all the objects and saying "be-catalogue" (in the museum catalogue).

A group of 8 girls and women on the bridge teaching us bits of Arabic, giggling, and spending their evening with us. One even kissed E's cheek for a photo and kept saying "taqburni, I love you!"

A law student helping us find the train ticket office then buying us ice cream and talking with M as we walked up and down the pedestrian bridge over the Euphrates.

An English student on the bridge wanting to practice his English and learn more about American accents (E demonstrated good midwest accent, M said "I pahked my cah in Hahvahd yahd"). Poor guy is probably SO confused now.

A young girl on the bridge waving shyly and saying "hello." Parents smiling. E's biological clock kicking in (just for a second).

Young boys having fun with M's total lack of arabic skills.

Shout-out to G-ma

In the humble state of Michigan, many years ago, E's Protestant gramma married her Jewish high school sweetheart.

Today we saw Dura Europos. The 2nd / 3rd century AD site along the Euphrates river in SE Syria. The site is famous for the oldest synagogue discovered and was found with intact frescoes depicting Biblical scenes.

Just down the street, on the other side of the city's main gate, was a Christian chapel.

Cheers to my grandparents for keeping the spirit of Dura Europos alive. We thought of you today!

Traveller's Alert*: Iran

Met an Austrailian couple in Palmyra. They say traveling in Iran is wonderful and the people are VERY welcoming and happy to see travellers and speak with them.

Hooray for world peace.

Add Iran to the list.

We are adding "Travller's Alert" for anyone who comes across this blog that is planning travel to the Middle East and Syria especially.

Google map-alicious

Finally got into google maps.

Follow the links for satellite views of our places over the past week:

Palmyra

Qadesh and Qatna

Deir es-Zor (with Mari, Dura Europos, and Halabiye)

Recipe for a successful Kadmous experience

Kadmous = bus from Palmyra to Deir es-Zor.

1 bad batch of spaghetti the night before travel (spaghetti shoudl be safe, right?!?)
1 morning in the bathroom (stomach hurts sooo much)
1 immodium (+other medication for sleeping)
1 hot desert day
1 taxi ride to station with driver who is trying to tell you alternative (more expensive) ways to travel
1 45 minute wait in a station with many flies (and a meat carcass)
1 terrifying trip to the bathroom (= hole in the ground)
40 other Syrian passengers staring at the only Western travellers (clearly confused and in the way)
2 large back that have to go under the bus (this means forfeiting the spot at the front of the line and boarding LAST)
1 2.5 hour ride (thank g*d for air con)
1 interrogation at police station upon arrival
1 rush to get the bags before the bus departs again

All said and done, we are now in Deir es-Zor. E is eating bread and peanut butter.

Locals at Palmyra

This post is from E.

One of the saddest things I have ever seen.

Two tourist women atop a camel being led through the ruined collonade by a small boy singing Arabic songs. The singing was obviously meant to be part of the experience, but what child should have to sing for money? Music for me has always been very personal, and to see it being so depersonalized for such a young child is a strong reminder of the affect of Western tourism and Western money on the local economy and community.

Could post more examples of seeming changes in local community based due to excessive tourism, but will leave it here.

Palmyra

So much to say, so little space/time.

Top 5 favorite (or not) moments:

(1) 5am visit to Diocletian's camp / Zenobia palace. Its on the edge of the ruins. And behind the building are stairs going up into the one remaining tower and a tomb cut into a cave. Amazing view from the tower (c. 15 feet high).

(2) The necropolis. An area full of tombs behind the ancient site. Tower tombs, house tombs, tombs cut into caves. Counted at least 50. Ruins felt untouched and many open for wandering. Did we mention we were the only people there? (6.30am long walk worth it.)

(3) The smell of the Ishtar Hotel's bathroom. yucky.

(4) Sunset from the citadel. Overlooking the ruins (facing East). Realized at the last moment that behind the citadel has an ever MORE amazing view of the sun setting in the desert mountains. Applause from many tourist as the sun dissapeared.

(5) The blisters. Why didn't we buy good walking shoes?

(6) Ruins overall: peaceful in the early am and late pm. Very untouched, pretty well preserved. Major contrast to what you see in Rome. Very authentic feeling. Highly recommended.

(7) Resteraunt selling point: (owner pointing to two people walking on street) "They ate here last night and didnt get sick."

(8) Camel noises. haha.

(9) Kittens on the terrace. Hungry for you dinner. Will moew, will circle the table, will congrate, will jump up on the seat and try to lick your knife. Soooo cute. And yet so diseased.

(10) Bel temple. Again, for the best Roman(esque) architecture, go to Palmyra. Even with a tourist group inside it is not crowded. M posing as sacrifical (sweaty) lamb by altar = major highlight.



SEE PALMYRA HERE

Qadesh and Qatna

Qadesh = Tell Nebi Mend / Nebi Mendo

Qadesh Highlights:
E - Orontes river: Ramses claims the Hittite drowned trying to swim across the river when retreating. Today, the river is hardly more than a meandering stream.
M - Visions of movie battles dance through head (Think Troy, 300). Later realizes battle in 1200 BC isn't so epic or well organized.
E - The MOUND. According to records of the battle, the army opposing Ramses camped behind the city. The mound is big enough and high enough to theoretically hide a large group of soldiers behind. A whole army???
M - The wind. Near Homs is the only break in the mountains that run N-S along the coast of Syria and Lebanon. This "Homs gap" is famous for the strong wind, and we definatley felt it. E wished she had bought a hat with a strap.


Directions from Damascus:
Drive twoards Homs
Take the turn off before Homs for Al Qusayr
Arriving in Al Qusayr, ask directions for Nebi Mend(o)
Nebi Mendo is about a 4km drive past Al Qusayr
You will pass the Orontes river and see in the distance a tell rising above the rest of the land.
There is a small village covering part of the ancient mound
You can drive up on the mound and wander for the scenery / view of the land



Qatna Highlights:
M and E - First excavated tell!! (Fun to wander, not well labelled.)
M - The ramparts from the distance. The city ramparts surround a 100 hectare site, in a square. Atop these ramparts (large hills now), views of the entire site are possible. Also, the inside of the site lies c. 10 meters below the top of these hills. Felt like we were inside a crater.
E - Multiple occupation layers. Ancient city rebuilt several times. More recent ruins as well. Also, sites are excavated in grids where small squares of space are excavated. This means you have to be able to see the difference between the walls of the excavations and the ancient walls of rooms and buildings. E's archaeological eyes need more training.
M - Saw 2 bones aying near the more recent ruins. Got hungry.
E - Sheep grazing in the far corner fo the tell. baaaa. (M saw dog in distance, got scared (re-occuring theme).)


Directions from Homs:
Take the raod towards Salamiyya
Go to Mishrife (on the road to Salamiyya)
Ignore the sign that says ancient tell
Take the first major left after the sign for the tell
Entrance for site at the end of the road
(There is a visitor's sign in around the corner from the entrance)



SEE QADESH AND QATNA HERE

Palmyra

Three days and two early morning sunrises later, we are in Palmyra and back at the computer. Computers here are very slow, so in breif, the past three days:

Monday: Drive from Damascus to Palmyra with stops at the ancient sites Qadesh and Qatna. Qadesh is the site of the best-known battle in the ancient world resulting in the famed "first" international peace treaty (copy of the treaty in the United Nations, NYC). Qatna is a major ancient city, M read it is one of the "up and coming ancient sites" for Syria. We reached both thanks to the heavy foot, patience, fantastic English skills, and relentlessness of our driver Amar.

Amar got us to Palmyra late Monday night.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Palmyra, the most famous tourist destination in Syria. Best known from Roman times, when the Syria queen Zenobia asserted her power across the region. Massive ruins, largely untouched by the modern city. Agora, senate, 2 Bel temples (yes!), collonnade, valley with 50+ tombs, a later citadel overlooking the site, and stones scattered everywhere. Have risen 2 mornings at 4.30am to catch sunrise and the ruins in first light, also saw the sunset from the citadel.

A few comments:
(1) Desert is freezing when the sun is down. Incredible wind as well. Gets hot FAST.
(2) Food options limitted, stiff competition from the many "restaraunts." One owner actually tells people they wont get sick from his food, if that is any indication of the dining quality here.
(3) E expected the local population to be relatively removed from the ancient site and the tourism, but the opposite is true. Stiff competition between taxi drivers, "guides" at the sites, hotel owners, etc. Everyone knows at least a little English (and Italian) and is quite bold (sellers, Bedouin, children, cats on the terrace resteraunt, etc).
(4) Finally, a word on Bedouin transporation. Camel is more of a tourist attraction than a reality these days - we have seen "tricycle" trucks, run down jeeps and gazillions of motorbikes.

All for now, hopefully more later (including map).