Semiramis Hotel Palmyra

... of plastic chairs stacked at the end in the aisle and horrors of horrors they were later used as make shift seats to be put on the aisle. The ticket cost 100 SYP which is pretty dear for a 'coffin on wheels' and buying one felt like registering for prison. The kid who was selling me the ticket was shouting at me in Arabic. Luckily the taxi driver, who came to look for me (and also since I havent paid him yet), helped me abit. Also when the bus was about to leave ...

... service for two years this sunday... holy ****!<br><br>our hotel consisted of a rooftop terrace, and if you are on a tight budget you can sleep on a mattress or a bed on the roof. so that's where you meet all the backpackers. it was fun but the bathroom got nasty after a while.<br><br>both of us love it here. i would totally come back to the middle east. although it is ...

... My favorite bit is that he was doing all this at the behest of Thetis, making him Greek's earliest mama's boy.<br><br>Anyway, the tomb is a pretty small and claustrophobic space, but they managed to pack in close to 400 bodies down there. The strangest thing about the tombs is that you can only enter briefly at fixed times of day: 8:30am, 10am, and 4pm. I understand they might not want man it during midday due to the incredible desert heat, but I don't get the ...

... with a hint of cigarette or burnt milk, it really just didn't sit well. <br>Towards the end of the trip the bus assistant menacingly came up to us leaned over Shona and said to Dino "Come with me." he was then given a cushion to sit on and a cup of tea, so the driver could have a chat to him and practice his English. Shona didn't know what was going on but found the whole situation amusing. <br><br>Arriving in Palmyra we raced to the castle to watch the final rays of the ...

... too. Again we were taken by the lack of tourists &#8211; the guys selling camel and horse rides outnumbered the foreigners by about 2:1.<br><br>We wandered along the cardo maximus, taking in the theatre, the baths, the market place and countless other sights. As we'd arrived in the afternoon our goal was to walk through the ruins and then climb to the citadel to catch the sunset. The citadel was perched, eyrie-like, on a natural promontory 750m past the old city ...

... Damascus and apparently our hotel offers free wi-fi as well and is quite fast. If that's the case I'll try to upload some photos. Cynthia would like to add that there are not as many cats in Syria as there are in Turkey and the ones which she has found are quite dirty (not surprising considering all the sand) :( I'll try to update the "pin" entries in Damascus when I have my journal handy. PS The Syrian hotels are a LOT nicer with better service than Turkish hotels

4:30am start for sunrise over Palmyra, with camels (naturally) - 2nd century AD ruins spreading over 50 hectares and an important link on the old Silk Route from China and India to Europe. The city was at its most powerful under the rule of the warrior Queen Zenobia, who came to power under suspicious circumstances after the assassination of her husband, King Odainat. Such was the strength of Palmyra, both economically and politically, that the Romans ...

... is ruins - and lots of them. The main colonnades are free and available to walk through and go on for about a mile or so. But as you can see from the pictures, just a lot of stone that is either incorrectly slapped together or left to return to the desert from which it came. What survived of the statues and decoration from this area is in the city's museum which unfortunately is not very well-documented. There are some other ...

Today was quite the experience. I finally decided to head to Palmyra in eastern Syria. It's always an episode trying to get from A to B, but I'd read so much about the ruins - Palmyra is Syria's number 1 attraction - I should go. I managed to jump on a green minivan, showed him my map and he waved me in to Harasta station, which is the closest thing to a "bus station" that they got. I bought a ticket to Palmyra for 200 pounds and then ...

... finally completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1089. After centuries of obscurity, Palmyra was "rediscovered" by English merchants resident in Aleppo in the 17th century. <br><br>Although Ephesus was clearly a larger ancient Roman site, the desert has allowed for better preservation in Palmyra. You can really get a feel for how large and important the city was. I explored it alone all day on my birthday - it was a good day! <br><br>Happy 33rd to ME!! :-)