Tourism Hotel Aleppo

... counter. The counter was more like a bank counter rather than the walk thru type, the type you usually see at Woodlands or the airports. While waiting nearby, I realized the crazy guy was already back at the place and he was at the 'Arab Visitors' counter. After he was done he asked where the bus is, I wasnt sure but I pointed in the direction down the road thinking that logically it should be waiting for us there. He acted as though nothing had happened, but I reckon that he ...

... nearby; reinforcing that impression was a trio of giant footprints engraved into the steps leading up the front walkway.

Coming back down the hill to the site's entrance, the curator offered to let us check out the "museum" inside. Skeptical of the small structure but also wary of missing something possibly fantastic, Cath and I went in while Reuben declined, reserving the right to go if we vouched for it.

We didn't.

More a little shack than a ...

The no man's land between Turkey and
Syria is particularly barren, so when you reach Syrian immigration
and their well manicured gardens, you feel as though you are in
Oasis. It's all a bit chaotic and we are grateful for our bus
attendant who hurries our process thru. Otherwise the overly polite
Westerners might have been waiting a few hours! Our first interaction
with a Syrian is our cheeky taxi driver who presumes we are Russian
for some reason ...

... for us and have someone meet us when we got off the bus.

Shona can't believe how much she loves the convenience of this country.

Antakya to Aleppo only cost us 15TL each, that was the price of a drink in the Bull Bar in Olympos.
We were soon shepherded onto our fourth bus for this trip and were soon off again at the boarder. There was no polite waiting in que here, if you didn't push you weren't getting your exit stamp. Our bus already one person down drove onto ...

Aleppo and St Simeons Today is looking like a big day, we trundled off into the countryside to visit St Simeon's Basilica. See the separate post for this. In the afternoon we returned to Aleppo for the Castle or Citadel. The citadel is a very cool ancient castle that is ...

... interpretar-lo, i 2/ no intenteu pronunciar el nom del carrer en arab que surt a la guia perque aixo acostuma a donar resultats d'allo mes decebedors). El viatge que hauria de durar 5 minuts, n'acaba durant mes de 15, malgrat tot el preu es ridicul, forca menys del que ens havien demanat als demes taxistes a l'estacio. Quan recollim les motxilles, ens adonem que els carrers son buits. Provem en un parell d'hotels. Res, tot ple. En el tercer ens hi quedem ni que ...

... off any ime soon. 9am the bus pulls into a garage for about an hour while they fix the engine. 11am comes and it still doesn't look like we're getting off soon. Midday and the bus completely conks out as the driver pulls it to the side of the road. The attendant on the bus goes to open the emergency back door, but the whole thing is dead and doesn't open. He has to crawl through the baggage hold to get out of the bus to fix whatever broke that time. 1pm and we finally arrive in ...

... that the streets are quite safe and that is why the parents leave their children unattended. Near the middle of the day I accidentally walked past a school that was getting out. Tons of school kids flooded the streets. Two boys came up to me and said hi and wanted their picture taken. I snapped a shot then showed them and they were pleased. A few more kids came up to me also wanting me to take their picture and before I knew I was suddenly ...

... colline dans la campagne d'Alep, elle attire du monde ! J'en fis la douloureuse expérience, arrivé à 9h30 sur le site déjà plein ; le monde n'en gâcha absolument pas la visite, merveilleusement ensoleillée. Le nombre de photos parle pour lui même : avec les auto-stops que j'expérimentai en route, ce fut une expédition tout à fait magnifique, assez semblable en sa ...

... Alas shock absorbers aren't fixable with gaffer tape. We soldier on though, we just put up with the bouncy beer terrace. Anyway, Wednesday morning and we were woken by a filling station owner peering in at us, wondering why a Bristol VR double decker bus had appeared overnight on his forecourt. He was a pleasant chap though and very grateful for the 2006 vintage yellow Weymouth football shirt we donated to him. We ...