9th - 11th March 2009, Aleppo, Syria

The border crossing from Turkey was fairly straight forward. While in the queue for immigration we were ushered aside and taken into the Big Chiefs office. They asked if we had Visas, which we did, and a couple more questions and they seemed quite interested in us. At which point they started handing out the Espresso, and were asking us about football!! seemed quite a good start to Syria!! After finishing in the Chiefs office we went through all the regular procedures....... buying car insurance (US$52), paying Diesel tax (US$100!!), and some sort of admin fee of US$10, so not a cheap border crossing by any means. We also got the Carnet stamped for the first time.

After a couple of hours we made it through, and got onto the road to Aleppo, the largest city in north Syria. The landscape seemed to change slighlty with much more agriculture than Turkey, and deep red and copper ploughed fields.

A couple of hours drive and we were entering Aleppo. We were truly on our own now with no SATNAV, a crap map and all the signs in Arabic. We got lost for a while and I was experiencing driving like i had never seen before. I just wanted to shut my eyes and get there, with cars and people coming from every direction, with a chorus of horns in the air. It was at this point that we started to experience Syrian hospitality. We stopped and asked a Traffic cop for directions, and he called a couple of people over who spoke a bit of english, and it ended up us following them in their car to the street we were looking for. Very nice people!! We quickly found a Hotel, called the Hotel Syria, where again the owner showed us massive kindness by coming out, finding a secure car park and negotiating a good price for a few days of parking, where the landy would be safe.

As it was getting late we went for a short walk around the town. Lots of Hustle and Bustle, and a very conservative nature. Many of the women had their faces completly covered, with the rest just showing the eyes. It all seemed very alien. The streets (and roads) were just full of people, most of them wanting to say hello to you and welcome us to Syria!!

The next morning, after discovering ANOTHER flat tire, we went to get that fixed (again with the help of the hotel owner). The guys in the very local backstreet garage we went to did a great job and gave us some cake, all for a couple of quid. We spent the rest of the day walking through Aleppo's famous maze of Souq's (massive rabbit warren type indoor markets), where we spent a while bartering with the locals and bought a nice Backgammon board..... and some Pistachios.

 The markets seemed full of locals, where you could buy anything from nuts and spices, to car parts and sheeps heads!! 

After finally finding our way out of the Souq, we went for a walk to the Citadel, the city's center-piece..... but it was closed all day, so we took a stroll around the outer wall.

 We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city, especially the Christian quarter, a maze of narrow Crusader style streets.

The food in Aleppo is stated as some of the best in the country, and so we did our best to sample as much as we could...... Chicken Schwarma's were really good, and a Pistachio sweet pastry for desert.

11th - 12th March 2009, Crac de Chevaliers, Syria

A couple of hours drive south and we were in Crac de Chevaliers, the best preserved Crusader castle in the world. The drive leading up to the castle, mounted high on a hill in an otherwise flat valley, was full of excitement and anticipation....... well for me anyway. Men and castles go together like beer and football. We found a hotel near the castle that would let us camp in their car park (Hotel la table de ronde - 200 Syrian pounds, after a bit of bartering) and after we settled in we wondered down to the entrance gate. The bargain price of 150SP each and we were in, and spent a couple of hours walking round, with the imagination running wild as to what it would have been like.......

 Fun with Silouettes.......

Higher, Higher, Lower, Lower....... Good Game, Good Game........ Nice to see you, to see you......... I could go on......

12th - 13th March 2009, Palmyra, Syria

After a very cold night camping (sleeping in full Ski gear!!!!) we said farewell to Crac de Chevaliers, and opened a few cards for my...... ummm....... 30th Birthday.

From here we headed east for Palmyra, an ancient city, now ruins, in the middle of the desert. After passing the highway, the landscape became less and less green and slowly turned to desert, with emptiness stretching out in every direction.....

 After a three and a half hour drive along nothing but straight roads (some 10 miles with no corners), we reached the touristy little town of Palmyra, located right next to the ruins. We found a hotel in town (Citadel Hotel, 500SP for a double), and went for a walk around the ruins, most of which are free for you to wander, then headed up to the citadel on the hill to watch the sunset.

The top of the Citadel was a very popular place to watch the sunset over the desert, with lots of little scally-wags selling postcards, but happy to pose on the landy for a pic......

Later on we had some typical Bedouin style dishes for tea and a couple of Birthday beers.

13th - 14th March 2009, Palmyra to Damascus, Syria

Got an early start, as we wanted to go to the Temple of Bel, the only part of the site that you have to pay to get in (150SP each).

  We spent 45mins taking a walk around the temple, but there was nothing there that the rest of the site didn't offer. Also we've started to notice that at a lot of places the landy is starting to become a bit of a tourist attraction in itself!! People tend to video us, or even have their photo's taken in front of it when they think we're not looking.

After leaving Palmyra, we headed for Damascus, the Syrian Capital, so there was no chance of getting lost as 'All roads lead to Damascus'.......... unless you take a wrong turn and end up in Iraq

 Thankfully we didn't take a wrong turn and made it to Damascus, but we were only 140KM from the Iraq border at one point!!!

 After arriving in Damascus we found a hotel in the center (Hotel al-haramain, 1200SP for a double...... 20 quid!!!), and due to the astronomical price of things in the city, it will only be a flying visit.