Smitten with Syria

  Hama, Syria
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

We really like Syria a lot...  

Besides some of the odder moments... (we'll get to those later) the majority of people here are extremely friendly and curious about tourists.  We don't see too too many tourists here, a few, but not too many, so everywhere we go we are a pretty rare sight.  Dan attracts a lot of stares (blonde hair, blue eyes and tall) and the groups of girls do (groups of foreign women without headscarves - very noticable) (each from different crowds).  Two of the other young guys in the group have attracted some other kinds of attention... Shaun in particular has been approached by many men telling him how beautiful he is.  He's pretty OK until they started stroking his face.  He tried to point out how many people had commented on his beauty to Dan, but Dan felt he was still a few points ahead of Shaun, having scored a local girls email at a mosque (mother present!). (I'm pretty sure she was married with a kid though).  It is slightly odd being the main attraction on the streets though.  This afternoon we went down to the river to check out Byzantine water wheels and were mobbed by groups of kids asking for photos with us.  At one point, a man who appeared to be a Sheik, appeared with his Bedouin wife and wanted to pose for photos with us.   

One of the things that is so great about Syria is that everything is really cheap.  You can have a three course meal in a restaurant for under $5NZ, or a half hour ride on a camel for around $4NZ.  A big fruit smoothie will set you back about 45cents, and a Falafel will put you back about 30cents.  In other words, we're eating well and loving the change in flavours.  So much good fresh fruit in Syria! 

Today we woke up fairly early and prepared for an outing to the Crac du Chevallier.  Our guide today was not as good as yesterday, but as his better languages were Spanish, French and German, (as well as his Arabic of course) we forgave is slightly unconfident English.  Crac du Chevallier is considered the best preserved Crusader castle in the world.  It was the last bastion of the Christian crusades in the middle east and finally fell to the Egyptian Mameluke's in the middle of the 13th century.  The inner part of the castle was never penetrated, but a depleted food supply meant the undermanned castle wasn't able to withstand a siege... not to mention all of the other crusaders in the area had already gone home.  When they realized there were no reinforcements coming, after 45 days they surrendered when the Mameluke's outsmarted them and broke in through the Aqueduct to take only one of the outlying towers.   

A Day at the Crac

The site is amazing.  You can almost see the armour clad soldiers running across the battlements, or meeting in the great hall.  The Arrow slits surround the whole castle, as well as various other forms of defense.  Everyone back then seemed big on boiling oil, so the whole place was dotted with places to give ones enemies a scalding bath of the black stuff.  We explored the huge stable areas, the barracks, the kitchen and cooking area, and the latrines! We walked all the way around the outer battlements, searched the interior churches, and viewed the land from the command tower.  They even had some remains of a round table that the knights planned strategy at!   

Archers Eye View

Atop the tall towers, Bashaaar, our wily tour leader, ran up the stairs with Dan.  Once the group reached the top, Dan called for Gabrielle to take a photo and made a play at standing on the very edge.  Wheeling his arms in the air, Gabrielle and tour mates prepared to take a photo when... Dan plummeted from view.  After a shocked gasp and silence from the tour mates, Gabrielle went running over to the edge. 

Slipping on the Edge of Disaster

Upon discovering her loving husband alive and well, sitting out of site on the ramp just below the edge, she began to hurl abuse at him in her relief and gratitude at his non pancakyness on the ground below.  Dan thought he was funny.  Gabrielle... will eventually find this very funny... maybe a few years down the road.    After a huge lunch at a nearby restaurant, which contained amazing views of the castle and an owner with better manicured eyebrows than any of the women in our party, we set out for our destination for tonight.  Arriving an hour and a half late in Hama, due to getting lost and having to ask several men on the roadside for directions, we checked in to our beautiful hotel and set out on the town. 

Good Spread of Spreads

Hama is famous in this area for a series of ancient Byzantine water wheels that used to irrigate the area.  The waterwheels had some unique construction and, being made of wood, give off much creaking and groaning into the air... like sweet music!   We found everyone to be really friendly here, and we were surrounded by groups of children and their mothers as soon as we hit the park.  Everyone wanted their photos taken with us, and to use the chance to practice their few words of English.  It was fairly late upon our arrival, so after a quick wander of town we met back at our hotel for more lessons on Syria from the wily Bashaaar.  We're learning heaps about all aspects of Syrian culture, and Bashaaar answers every single question we have, no matter how taboo it may seem.  He also shouted us all a small dinner of Falafel after a game of 'most embarassing story'.   

We've got a really early start tomorrow to make it to Palmyra, giving us more time for relaxing there.  It's been a pretty furious pace the last few days, and we've covered a lot of miles.  We're enjoying every aspect of what we see here (except the bathrooms) and can't understand why more people don't come here.  Syria is such a wonderful place full of facinating people with easy smiles and an eagerness to help and please.  And did we mention how cheap it is?   

Gabes and Dan and the Castle

All our best from Syria  

Dan and Gabrielle