Semiramis Damascus

... through the market place, from ancient Europe and Egypt to India and China and back. The old souk (Arabic market) is barely changed, still bargaining and bartering silks, satins, perfumes, spices and jewels.<br><br>Through here, the milky mist of my third arak reminds, also passed pilgrims, missionaries, soldiers, ideas and diseases.<br><br>From Greece, Cairo, northern Italy to Afghanistan, Kashgar, Beijing. East to west to east, forging the new world. The dots somehow begin to ...

... sword crashing down on the table for effect. Although we<br>cannot understand the words, his expressions and intonations are more<br>than enough for an enchanting experience.<br>The<br>following day we travelled to Palmyrie and wandered around the ruins<br>of the ancient city, I will always remember our delicious picnic of<br>cherry tomatoes with feta and bread followed by fresh figs, and the<br>intimidating Valley of the Tombs looming ahead of us, casting long<br>shadows on ...

... foreign" for lack of a better word because for example Buddhism is super different than Catholicism, but detail in the temple and the really intricate attention to public ritual is something I could relate to. Anyway, it's also only one mosque and it is a major tourist attraction so with a grain of salt I will move on to the rest of the day.<br><br>We headed back through the souk which honestly became too much for me after awhile. I was like, ok we are headed to the ...

... pistasjenøtter) og aprikos dekket av herlig sjokolade.<br><br>Vi tok også turen om Crac des Chevaliers, den storslåtte borgen til tempelridderne på en uinntakelig høyde 2 timer nord for Damaskus (tempelridderne bestemte seg ganske enkelt for å gi opp borgen, da enorme muslimske styrker banket på de 500 gjenværende riddernes dør.). Borgen er meget vel bevart, og vi kunne drømme oss tilbake til Arns tid.Her møtte vi for andre gang ei som skulle bli vår følgesvenn p ...

... was an interesting religious ceremony taking place while we were there, during which the participants, mostly young adult males, grew incredibly emotional and started pounding their heads, followed by more tears&#8230; at some point I really need to find out the specifics behind the event. After this we saw the Citadel, the gorgeous and tranquil Azem Palace, and a few churches and gift shops &#8211; one of which is run by an old Palestinian dude who crafts works of ...

... with the barren desert! It was a long drive and relatively boring - driving through desert, your only visual companions are a few random camels and herds of sheep, and the occasional mirage!! Eye spy was not an option!! We turned the final corner in the car and saw Qala 'at Ja'abar, the Arab castle which was once landlocked and now is surrounded almost 270º by clear blue amazing water! What a stunning location! Wow! The castle and its faultless blue sky reflected so ...

After Lebanon i made my way over the mountains to Damascus. I set off early in the morning and seemingly every ime i went toi buy something i got ripped off. By the time id actually made it to Damascus as 2 hotels i went to check into were fully booked its fair to say i was suitibly ****ed off. I wandered the city but no matter how cool it was i ...

So here I was waiting at a bus stop in Ma,lula Syria. This famous village is some 56 kilometers from Damascus. The people that live there still speak Aramic, the language spoken by Christ. The houses are carved into the rocks. An amazing place to see. I had traveled to Syria on my own even though I was married. My husband was not interested in traveling to the Middle East and after much convincing him he finally was ok with me going to Syria ...

... we went to the site where Paul was let down over the city walls in a basket to escape the Romans, who had discovered that Paul had "changed sides". A Christian church was also on this site. Back near our hotel we had our shoes cleaned by one of the many Iraqi refugees and grabbed some fruit for our evening meal and got ourselves organised to leave Syria. It is with reluctance, as it is a beautiful country with lovely friendly people and very little hassle.

... place it into storage. I was also apprehensive about losing the bag again and wanted to avoid any chances that it might get lost. Best laid plans go awry...unfortunately the flight to Cairo was 2 ½ hours late. I had had only 2 ½ hours to connect. Waiting in Amman was fine because I got to use Royal Jordanians new Business Class lounge, the Crown Club. The lounge is on par with most first class lounges around the world ...