Safir Homs

... castle except the outside walls but it's supposedly one of Syria's main attractions so HelMan obviously had to visit the site. <br><br>The highlight of the day was a small place opposite of our hotel which made delicious hummus and falafel sandwiches and Manuel finally liked the hummus he bought (after a bad hummus experience in Aleppo he had refused to eat it since then). You should have seen his face- Heli had rarely seen Manuel that happy!! <br>

... when the snow came in winter. Still they thought he was important and set about beatifying him (sainthood) and then constructing one of the best Byzantine churches I have seen. All of the other churches seemed to have been ...

... the beginning of the 12th century. " Well, I thought this story was interesting, unlike the rest of the castle. However, the location makes this castle special. Perched on top of a limestone hill, the castle awaited our visit hiding in the mist. Our tour bus was unable to negotiate the steep hill and tight switchbacks, so we jumped into Suicide Hiace vans for the hair raising trip down the hill and up the other side to the castle. Why, oh why ...

... is Saturday, there was no bus ride to Crac des Chevaliers, a medieval castle between Homs and Lattakia. Therefore, I had to make a deal with a cab driver. He took me there in 1 hour, waited for 3 and brought me to my hotel for 1,800 Syrian pounds, with tips. I should have told him that tips were included in the 1,650 that we had agreed on. Syria has some stunning fortresses. Although they were built around ...

... et criant de temps en temps. Je ne parvins finalement pas à retrouver Amr, tant pis. J'attaquai la reprise du programme syrien avec le "krak des chevaliers", dit-on le château croisé le mieux fortifié de la région, du monde. Ce fut surtout l'occasion d'un voyage assez longuet, heureusement valant le coup tant la visite du ...

... taken by trickery with the assistance of a forged letter stating that reinforcements were not able to be sent, so that the knights negotiated a surrender. Marqab was similarly a formidable place, and was bypassed by Saladin who considered it too strong to take. It was in fact the largest in area of all Syria's crusader castles, and second in power only to the mighty Krak des Chaevaliers. Its vast ...

... get juice squeezed. So if you don't mind me saying You can see this entry's sort of boring And the click that got you here Was a waste for you and me. But although I'm self-effacing, These words ring kind of hollow Since I'm writing even more of this Dear reader, this ain't right But the bus is loud and squeaky And ...

... about it is that Syria doesn't give a **** about public safety so you could pretty much wander around everywhere, no matter how unsafe. My torch got a good work out exploring dark cavernous tunnels. The views from the castle were terrific and you could really get a sense of just how impregnable the castle was. In times of siege the castle had up to 5 years (!) of provisions. The indestructibleness wow Microsoft Word says thats actually a word!) of the castle has led to ...

... That night it was like a reunion for all the travellers who I had met at Aleppo and we treated ourself to dinner at one of the glitziest places in town. We each ordered a beer and guess what they served us.... Alcohol free beer! Oh well the delicous meal made up for it. Saturday (November 17) Today I was planning on doing a daytrip to Krak Dr Chevaliers, however the hotel was unfortunately not running a tour on this day so it gave me an excuse to have another lazy day ...

... was a wind. Outside the castle walls were the usual tourist hawkers of postcards and happily there was a camel for us to ride on. I went on with Sandy and was quite suprised at the angle we stooped to when the camel rose his hind haunches. It was a fun experience and won't be our last. We have plans to take an extended camel ride through the ruins of Palmya. But, we have learned a few things....the heat of the summer is not the best time to tour the desert!