Attacking Crac de Chevaliers
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2008
1
12
50
Trip End
Dec 07, 2008
Well I managed to stomach some bread last night and then went to our group meeting. Was feeling really crappy though so I didn't take a lot of it in - which is really annoying cos Bashar tells us something interesting about Syria every night. Went to bed and then this morning I was feeling really good until just before breakfast when I realised my stomach still wasn't feeling well. Had some bread with jam for breakfast just to put something in my stomach and then we had to catch the bus to Hama. We finally made it to Crac de Chevaliers and I was so disappointed not to enjoy more because of feeling terrible. Crac de Chevaliers means castle of the knights. It was originally a Kurdish fortress until the crusaders arrived. The crusaders built most of the current and then due to being surrounded by the armies of Islam, they gave the castle up in exchange for safe passage. There are now Muslim features in the castle. Features that we saw include the 1st line of defence for the castle - slots for where arrows could be fired from and holes where boiling oil could be poured from, the moat which used to go all the way aorund the castle but now only surrounds a portion of it as the Muslims blocked it. It was really stunning, especially the beautifully gothic styled gallery. We also saw the round table and a church that was later converted to a mosque. After the castle we went for lunch at this great place that had a magnificent view of the whole castle. The owner of the restaurant was clearly gay (a rarity in a conservative Muslim country) but obvious to the rest of us. One of the new people on the tour - George asked Bashar he he was a typical syrian man and Bashar replied - no typical gay syrian man!!!! This guy had slicked greasy hair, lots of gold and very very manicured eyebrows, however none of those features matched how feminine his manner was. The food looked really nice and I had bread and rice!!! They didn't charge me for anything other than my drink so that was nice. We then went inside and had a group photo taken infront of the castle. We then drove back to Hama. Just got back from exploring the famous norias (water wheels) none of which were actually working. The water wheels usually scoop up water from the Orontes River (so disgusting, thought I would get malaria just looking at the water) and pour it into mini aquaducts which carry the water to the irrigators. Apparently when they are working they make a strange moaning sounds so we were very disappointed that they were not working. Am feeling slightly better at the moment which is good because tonight's tea is on Bashar. All we have to do in exchange is tell an embarassing story about ourselves - I don't really know what to say, I haven't done anything that odd. Tomorrow we are off to Palmyra which is supposed to be amazing so hopefully I will be in top shape for that.
