Dedeman Palmyra

... he would charge a lower price.<br><br>We felt the people so degenerated by tourism, that they would have sold their souls just to get another Syrian Pound by the tourist.<br><br>Out of the reasons mentioned above, Helmut decided to stay the day in Bed to recover from his illness. Manuel on the other hand would not waste his time in a cold and humid acommodation and went to explore the site, to convince himself of the positive points ...

... we were dropped off the buildings seem to suggest that it was not the touristy part of town. On the way looking for my hotel I got harrased by some kids wanting me to buy some sort of lentil drink. After I bought one, one of the kids even asked me for baksheesh, as in tip for leading me to buy the drink. I ignored him and the drink was horrible, threw it away once I turned a corner. <br><br>The hotel was actually just next to the ruins. It was raining heavily and pretty ...

... A bus trip through the desert to Palmyra followed. This time a 2nd century trading town - wow - what an amazing site (Steve's growing to love them!) although we did have to wait a day to see it as when we arrived it was rather obscured by a sandstorm. And to add to the excitement there was a place in town selling banana pancakes and chocolate milkshakes - I know but variety is the spice of life!<br><br>Next stop Lebanon... tick!

A couple of people have mentioned that the weird zigzagged lines on the blog's map are a bit confusing due to posts about events that take place where I'm not actually traveling: Connie's baby in LA, Kathleen's baby in NY, and now this post in Berlin. So I've decided to engage in some revisionist history and changed those postings to reflect where I was when it happened, and ...

... centre of the Mosque is a tomb said to contain the head of John the Baptist, found when excavations began for the Mosque. John is revered by Muslims and Christians alike. Local people continually came up and dropped donations inside the tomb, whilst workers diligently polished the ...

... passed on the lamb's brain for some other traditional foods such as a dip made with red peppers, walnuts, and pomegranates, a fresh green salad with grilled cheese and a citrus dressing, and a chicken cooked with sumac and wrapped in Arabic bread and deep fried. The food was magnificent and we ate till we were completely stuffed. But then the waiters brought out a plate of cookies and a plate of fruit. We were so stuffed from ...

... souk was filled with lots of lovely smells, weird and wonderful dried products, like starfish and turtles and even small frying pans of wax (which is apparently used for body waxing!). Stumbling on Khan Asaad Pasha (a khan is like an inn for travellers. Upstairs are rooms and downstairs are stables for the animals) This particular Khan held a World Ceramic Exhibition, a glimpse of a whole collection that will be shown in London, including a 2500BC piece. (it also turned ...

... were quite Byzantine too. Walked through Souq al-Hamiddiya, named after Sultan Abdulhamid II. It was a taller version of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The products and people were exactly the same. Had pistachio covered ice-cream at one of the ice-cream shops inside the Souq. Excellent. The Tomb of Saladin Eyyubi was a disappointment. And so was the ethnography museum inside Azera Palace, where the Ottoman governor used to live. I decided not to visit anymore etnography ...

Today will be my last day in Damascus. I am definitely going to Beirut tomorrow. The plan was to just spend the day updating my blog and perhaps find some time to see more of the city. The first thing I did was go to the Internet Café. Unfortunately it wasn't open. I then decided to go to the post office and mail some postcards but the post office was also closed. I forgot that today was a holiday a lot of places would be closed. So I decided to walk ...

... and was awoken by the bus driver to get my ass out of there. (once again, tbeing the only tourist sometimes can be an advantage.. the locals always make an effort to take care of you.) I was dropped off in what looked like the middle of the desert. I saw ruins in the distance and was told to just start walking towards them. I looked for a road but couldn't find one... I was seriously worried about stepping on a landmine or something. I ...