Safir Homs

... chiselled pieces off over the years and taken them home to worship. Man Catholics need some discipline. The stonework is amazing with very cool curved corners. The Basilica is made up of four curved basilicas radiating out from a ...

... and we all performed like idiots shouting group echoes across the canyons. The site is undergoing extensive restoration at present and will be quite something in years to come. Unlike the castles in the desert, controlling the trees, grass and water ingress here is the major problem. Our guide explained that they only have a short season for excavation and archaeological digs each year, so progress is slower than they would like. I liked the ...

... Schlafen is da nich viel, aber was solls, draussen ists am morgen eiskalt, war gut im warmen. 2 tage spaeter sind wir wieder in aleppo, der angeblich aeltesten kontinuierlich bewohnten stadt der welt. Aurelie will kaffee trinken, bekommt 30 euro fuer sex geboten. Am naechstem Tag sind wir im park, kommt ein ca 55 jaehriger syrier und laedt uns zu seinem haus ein und redet auch was von frau und kindern. Als wir ankommen sind keine kinder da, auch die ...

... part of the day. It seems to be cleaner and better organized than Aleppo. The city doesnt't feel like a labyrinth at all. I walked into the most luxurious internet cafe ever. Face the museum; take the road to its right and keep walking for 5 minutes. It will be on your right. The average car on the streets of Aleppo and Homs is newer than that in Tehran. Homs has an oil refinary that processes the oil from Iraq.

... histoire récente, ayant quasiment été rasée par le pouvoir en 1982 à la suite d'un soulèvement provoqué par les Frères Musulmans. La ville est traversée par la rivière Orontes, lui donnant une tranquillité que barrent joliment ces grandes roues bruyantes. Il n'y a pas grand chose à dire de plus, en vérité, et j'errai sans ...

Sunday (November 18) So today was the much anticipated day to see Krak De Chevaliers. Just to build up the suspense of this place, the famous T.E. Lawrence called it "the finest castle in the world". Author Paul Theroux described it as "the epitome of the dream castle of childhood fantasies of jousts and armour and pennants". To state the obvious, I was really looking forward to this place. Our tour started off by visiting the town of Musyaf, which is on the tourist map due ...

Friday (November 16) In the morning I organised to leave to Hama with some of the guys form my dorm room, 2 Koreans and 1 Japanese. They had only arrived in Aleppo yesterday and therefore wanted to try and see the citadel in the morning and leave in the afternoon. This suited my plans also as I wanted to go visit the souq on a Friday when everything is closed. I am not sure if I mentioned it previously but Friday in nearly all Muslim countries is their holy day and day of ...

... il fait nuit très tôt (16h30). Le lonely conseille des hotels assez chers comme chez Francis qui a vraiment l'air très loin de sa réputation : le bâtiment est vieillot et n'a pas l'air tres proche. Si les tarifs indiqués dans le guide sont juste, c'est une belle arnaque. La visite du kark vaut le détoure (150 £S l'entrée). On y passe aisément 3 ou 4 heures à explorer les moindres couloirs et salles du château. une lampe de poche aurait été utile pour certaines pièces très sombres.

... silence it is now again used as a performance space! Thank goodness for the Directorate of Antiquities of Syria! I warbled a little tune myself while at the centre to the utter horror of the kids! The acoustics are fabulous! The reason for the fabulous preservation of the amphitheatre is that is is made of mostly basalt. There are marlbe columns in front of the stage, incredibly preserved! The festival of Bosra will be happening very soon. We only had the opportunity to view ...

Jeannie here. Just a brief note so Sean can tell you more. As our guide Bashar likes to say, we "attacked" the castle today and found a well-preserved Crusade-era castle. I especially liked the Ric************* Heart lions on the wall and the round table for the knights. The nearby town was a little lackluster, but they had some old, noisy waterwheels that were interesting to watch.