Semiramis Damascus

... large courtyard where people can sit, sleep, chat, kids run around, etc. The walls were covered with gorgeous mosaics, lots of blues, greens, and golds. The minarets were neat, this one had three of them and one is actually named after Jesus because as everyone should know but might not, Jesus is one of the major prophets in the Koran. The inside of the mosque was large and Arabesque-y since unlike a Catholic or Orthodox church you aren't going to see any images of ...

... good job on his hair too.

Later that night we made our last trip to the baker to get a chocolate croissant. The perfect end to our Syrian adventure.

Well what can we say our early morning to catch the bus to Amman was meant to be earlier than it actually was. We were supposed to leave the hotel at 7am but instead for some reason we had both woken up for the alarm but decided it was to early. Well Shona woke up at 7am all on her own. Well maybe it was one of those bloody ...

... pistasjenøtter) og aprikos dekket av herlig sjokolade.

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 ...

... and lastly tabouli which is parsely, vulgar, tomatoes and lemon.

After lunch we went exploring the souk even more. Now in this part of the souk was mostly food and you could smell all the spices and sweets in the air. We still were just exploring and weren't buying anything yet. We were all fascinated by all the different sweets in each sweet shop as well as the spices. In the sweet shops were Jordan almonds, which are ...

... gates. I was left to wonder why non Muslim women were made to dress in khaki rather than the standard black. A Muslim practical joke perhaps? Unlike St Peters in Rome, this was a place of learning and reflection. We could hear the Mullah preaching to a small group of men and behind ...

... with no pre-obtained visa. So for about 4 hours we waited while the passport was checked through in Damascus. She was worried that she would be rejected and would have to turn back and enter Jordan again. Luckily, no such "Plan B" was needed. We entered Syria together with another American girl named Katie (from Falls Church, VA) who teaches English at a private school in Amman and was seeking some holiday time in Damascus. The ...

... around the souqs before heading back. Today we didn't actually get up to much. We've been told that we need to book tickets for the Amman bus before we want to travel so today has been trying to find the bus station. What an eventful day! So were all sorted now to head on the 8.30am bus tomorrow for Amman. I suppose we'll spend some more time in the souqs before getting back to pack. I hate early mornings!

... we drove on to Aleppo where we were scheduled to stay 2 nights, our hotel was a fabulous boutique hotel in the winding alley ways of the old town. Created out of a very old house with the rooms around a central courtyard (like the Riads in Morocco) it was just the sort of place we love to be, to explore and in our first foray that night we found bananas , figs and a big bottle of water for around $1A and decided we had really fallen in love with Syria.

... trouble here? I ended up updating my blog for a few hours. I then walked around Al Hammidiyah but it was pretty dead. Most of the stores were closed for the holiday. When I went back to my hostel, I ran into Diane, the 60 yr old British lady in my dorm room. She asked if I wanted to go for a walk with her and I said I would be glad to. She talked my ear off for about 2 hours before we came back to the hostel. Tomorrow I am off to Beirut. Dino Vagabond

... gruppe paa syv mennesker, Victoria (USA), Kara (Wales), Dee og Mike (Kiwi'er boende i London), Bex og Clint (Kiwi'er i London) og Marion (fra Tyskland, som er den eneste som jeg skal rejse med hele turen). Vi boede paa et hotel lige ved siden af den stoerste banegaard i Istanbul, det viste sig at det er paa denne banegaard at Orient Ekspressen kommer ind, ganske ekstotisk, men ganske irrierterende, naar de larmer om natten. Mandag morgen startede turen for alvor, med en fem timers ...