Tourist Hotel Aleppo

... from the 12th
century – the Ayyubid period and was constructed by Saladin's
son....it is quite a feat of Arabic military construction with
several defense mechanisms against attackers. That's just in the
gateway! The ruins are still very laid out and it doesn't take much
imagination to picture it in its heyday! However this is all very hot
work so we settle in one of the cafes outside to contemplate the day
so far. Whilst there I observe ...

... which commerates St Simeon Stylites, one of Syria's most eccentric Christian. In AD423 Simeon climbed onto a 3 metre pillar and spent the next 36 years on top of it (or moving to a higher pillar). After his death a Church was built around the pillar and it became a pilgram site. The area offers great views of the surrounding villages. Heading back into Aleppo the rest of the group headed off to visit the citadel but as I was ...

... American dollar. I rummaged through my backpack and managed to find 2 Euros. I handed it to the tourist office guy and he managed to buy some Syrian money with it then he paid the cashier and I received a slip. Next I had to wait at yet another window in a huge cluster of people to get my passport stamped. There was no line-up at the stamp window, just a bunch of people from the bus companies pushing to get their handfuls of Russian and Turkish passports stamped ...

Today we left the hotel at 8am to start our drive to the border. We got to the travel agency where we were getting our taxis from and we said goodbye to Alan and Catriona, Michael and Andrea and Dorothy and bypassed Keira and Ilhan as they had their "group hug" with Hawke and Stuart. We got into our taxi then drove down the road and were stopped by police who checked our passports. We then kept driving and came to an area where we had to get out and show ...

... I arrived at the bus station at 930 am. I was hoping to find a 10 am bus to Gazientep but there was only an 11 am bus. So I just waited in the lobby of the bus station. Some locals came up to me to say hello. Others came to shake my hand. What a friendly part of Turkey! I really like the Kurds. Fantastic people! It is so different from the Aegean coast where I found the people to be such scammers. I arrived in Gazientep at 1pm. I found a mini bus to take me to Killis which ...

... The border was long and annoying. First you have to go change your cash into either Syrian Pounds or Dollars and then you pay for it. Afterwards, you return to the first building to be interrogated and chase bits of paper from counter to counter. Yes, ok so this was not the best experience when I have had very little sleep and NO, these guys aren't in a rush they just push in the line anyway. Syrians don't understand ...