The Desert City
Trip Start
Mar 07, 2006
1
20
21
Trip End
Jun 07, 2006
Palmyra,
Syria
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Palmyra town itself is an oasis in the desert landscape with date and olive plantations surrounding it. The ruins of the ancient Roman city rise from the sands and spread over an area of about 50ha.
Built in the 2nd Century AD, the city was constructed of pink sandstone and in the hours of sunrise and sunset they seem to glow with an inner light all of their own.
We arrived and first visited the ruins on Friday afternoon, which is the weekend here, and it was choked with people so we figured to get the best out of the site with no people we were going to have to get up the next morning at sunrise. Not actually as difficult as it sounds seeing as we've been consistently woken at about 4.30 every morning to the pre dawn prayer call for the past 2 and a half months now.
So rise we did to clear skies and the most beautiful light with the rising sun over the date palms of Palmyra town. After snapping away to get the best of the light we climbed the rocky hill behind the ruins perched atop which sits an Arabic citadel, Qa'alat ibn Maan.
We picked up a stalker from the point we left the ruined city and he followed us all the way to the top of the hill. Trying to blend into the landscape and hide behind the occasional rock, working on the principal, if I can't see them, they can't see me.
Arched entranceway, Palmyra, Syria
We tried to feed him some of our bread but he wasn't interested in the slightest. WOOF WOOF!! He got bored once we'd reached the top and hightailed it back to his patch of territory to stalk some more tourists in the hope of tasty morsels no doubt!!We watched the sand being whipped up into a dusty haze on the desert plains surrounding the village by a really strong wind obscuring our view but as the sun warmed up the ground and the air over the next few hours the wind subsided and we sat on the hilltop, ate a picnic breakfast and waited for the castle man to arrive and open the gates so we could have a look inside.
Palmyra itself was important as an outpost for first the Green and then the Roman Empire against the possible invading armies of Empires to the East. It was an important stop on the silk and spice trade routes through the region. It's most fascinating icon is that of Queen Zenobia, an ambitious woman who claimed descent from Cleopatra. She was accused of having a hand in the suspicious death of her husband, then ruler of the City. She assumed leadership on behalf of her underage son and Palmyra prospered under her rule. She led successful military campaigns as far as Egypt and set her forces on route to Rome only to be soundly beaten and have her victor burn the city to the ground.
There are stories of her being paraded through the streets of Rome bound in chains of gold and the finest robes but history has not recorded the details of her demise and it is is now not known how she died.
Colonnaded Street, Palmyra, Syria
We moved on from Palmyra after 2 days heading for the Orontes River which runs from south to North and provides the water which feeds the agriculture in this valley.
We caught one of the local buses as opposed to the 'luxury buses' which have air con and a man that brings you water and sweets. It's the only bus trip we've taken so far where I felt really uncomfortable. There were huge military exercises being conducted in the area, I counted no less than 80 tanks and consequently there were lots of soldiers on the move. A couple of young soldiers got on the bus a short distance from Palmyra and they pretty much hassled me to talk to them the whole way to Homs, the final destination of the bus. I wasn't sitting near Tramp and just ignored them, not even acknowledging them as they were saying things that weren't very pleasant. Not very nice when you can't retaliate in their own language, again making me wish I could speak more Arabic.
Anyway arriving in Homs we discovered we had to make our way to another bus station on the other side of town to get a mini bus on to Hama, our destination. So the locals pretty much threw us on this really old battered blue bus; back packs still on our backs, to the amusement of the folk already on the bus.
It's funny how you just put your trust in other people to get you to where you need to go. There was a young Lebanese girl on the bus who spoke some English and she made sure we bought the right tickets and paid the right amount for them. Tramp was chatting to the guy next to him the whole way in English, the man in Arabic, but again they seemed to understand what each other was talking about. We can understand more Arabic now as well which does make things a hell of a lot easier.
We eventually arrived in Hama after what seemed like the longest and most frustrating day we'd had so far.
