Last update: Monday, September 05, 2005

Sunset at Palmyra. Click for large!

On Tuesday the 21st we made our first attempt to cross the Syrian border at Akcakale. But we had no luck. Turkish soldiers hurried to the Syrian police with our passports to ask if we could get a visa at the border. The answer was simply no. We had to go to Ankara to get the visa. Because that was just a bit to far for us (a one week setback) we decided to drive to Gaziantep and try the Syrian border there.

So on Friday we showed our faces at the Syrian border at Kilis. At the first office (the gate to the border area) our car was registered. They told us that it would be impossible to get a visa at the Syrian border, but they let us pass anyway. At the second office our passports were stamped and we were told to go to customs. OK, but where is customs?? We saw another big building, went in and started to look very helpless. This worked, and somebody winked us in his office. Our Carnet was stamped and registered and we were told to go in another office. Somebody from customs wanted to check our camper so we had to open every door (I think he was just curious). Even the fridge was examined. He thought the egg-plant was really something special, grin. Everything was OK so we finally could drive to the Syrian border leaving the Turkish border area.

Keeping our fingers crossed we showed our passports to the Syrian police and told them we needed a visa. And surprise, surprise, it was no problem. I think because we are Dutch and in Holland there is no Syrian embassy. First, we had to go to the bank (opposite to the custom office) to change dollars and also pay for the visa. The visa is expensive (34 US$ each) and we got a note saying we paid something (Arabic signs) and we got 750 Syrian pounds back. This was for the police, the bankmanager told us. Kind of weird. We went back with our passports, the receipts and the 750 Syrian pounds. There was a problem, we had to pay 760 Syrian pounds! Arno went back to the bankmanager and returned with 10 extra Syrian pounds, a small mistake made by the bankmanager. Finally we got the visa, which is just a series of postage stamps. Our carnet was registered and stamped, and we were done. Now we had to buy the insurance for the car. We went to the insurance office but we were sent to the bank again. We first had to change dollars and pay for the insurance over there. Again, very expensive: insurance (truck) for a month costs $ 34, customs $ 8 and diesel tax 100 US$. That certainly is a lot of money. And the coverage for the car is only 7500 US$. After we arranged the insurance we could go to the final check. After checking the camper from inside we could finally enter Syria!

Searching for a camping (a shower would be nice after a week, grin) we drove to Ariha. According to our map there should be one. Well, this time we were not so lucky. There is none in Ariha or nearby, according to a restaurant owner of a big tourist restaurant near the road. But we could stay in his garden for free, he told us. Which was very nice. The whole evening we watched the most colourful Syrian trucks and busses passing by. They were decorated with colourful lights, reflecting stickers and of course images of Assad and his son, the new president.

The Italian dig at Ebla, the first Syrian archeological site we visited   

The next morning, Saturday the 23rd of September, we visited the ancient city of Ebla. On this site, more than 15.000 clay tablets were found. Excavations are still going on by an Italian team with help of Syrian locals. A fascinating mixture of modern dressed Italian and locally dressed Syrian. Although you need much imagination to picture the main palace, the citadel and other buildings, it still is an interesting place. After that we drove to the coast, hoping to find some sort of a camping-place over there. Well, no luck again. We stopped near Baniyas at a large restaurant with a big partly secluded parking-place and ask if we could stay there. It was no problem and we could use the (cold) shower in the sleeping-room of the waiters. We were so happy we finally had the change to wash off all the dust and sand! That evening we had a nice diner in the restaurant with the waiter Michael, who let us taste different kind of special Syrian food.

Michel and Arno at Michel's house chatting about live in Syria                 Cat in the sack :-)    

The next day we spend all day doing the laundry, cleaning the camper and just relax. At 5 in the afternoon Michael invited us to go to his house to have a cup of tea. His family had a summer-house near Baniyas and at the moment they where at their mayor house in Damascus. In order to make some extra money for his family, Michael had to stop his study English literature at the university and work in the restaurant. We talked about live in Syria (which is hard and the majority of the people are poor) religion and the problems Christians can encounter in Muslim Syria. All this while sipping special tea from Argentina (matté). Michael had tried to immigrate to Canada, where he had more change of a better live, but he couldn't get a visa for reasons not explained to him. Again, we felt so very blessed we are able to make this trip. Of course, traveling sometimes isn't easy, especially if you are driving your own car and don't want to eat in restaurants most of the time (as a trade for spending the night). And our little house is sufficient but very basic and small. Yes, I'm ashamed to say that I sometimes dream about our kitchen and bathroom at home, grin. And it always takes a little bit of time to get use to another country. But we still are so happy we can make this trip and feel very privileged.

On Monday we drove to Qala'at al-Hosn (Castle of the Knights), one of Syria's prime attractions. And a prime attraction it is! It's a big, well preserved, fort of basalt and limestone, built in the 12th century. We decided to explore it very early the next day, to avoid big tourist groups. And, a surprise, there is a small camping spot at restaurant La Table Ronde, with, oh how wonderful, HOT showers!!!

The fort really is a beauty. You can walk for hours exploring the 13 towers of the outside wall, and the different rooms of the main building. This fort supposed to have housed 4000 soldiers. While paying the entrance fee, I had a little discussion with the ticket-seller. Syrian people should pay 30 Syrian pounds but foreigners 300! I don't mind paying more than Syrian people but I thought this was just a bit to much of a difference. And the way I see it, this money doesn't go to the poor people who needs it, but to the government.

After admiring Qala'at al-Hosn we drove to Palmyra, another prime attraction. I was really excited because we had to drive 160 km through desert! It was a special experience, although we didn't see camels yet. At one point we were a bit lost and we found ourselves on our way to Baghdad. Oups, don't want to go there for sure!

The main street to the new city of Palmyra leads right through the remains of the ancient city of Palmyra. A magnificent site!! This was once a very important Greek city which was ruled by a very ambitious woman (!) from 267 AD. By sunset we enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the great colonnade (the column lined main street of ancient Palmyra), the ancient theatre and the tetrapylon (four groups of four pillars). And our first camels! Because we thought the official camping place was just a bit to expensive to spend two nights, we parked our car on the square in front of the museum.

The next morning, Wednesday September 27, we found out it was a special day: nobody had to pay entrance fees to attractions and sites all over Syria. We were so lucky that we were in Palmyra that day, since it saved us a great deal of money. We decided to enjoy this to the max and see the museum, the temple of Bell and the funerary towers. The museum was small and mildly interesting, but the temple of Bell was wonderful! Sitting between the big pillars we were wondering how the ancient people managed to build this huge and wonderful buildings with their tools.

Camels before a bedoein tent. 

That evening we went into new Palmyra to do some shopping and souvenir-hunting. The shop-owner from a very little supermarket recognised us from yesterday and invited us for a cup of tea. The next moment we found ourselves sitting outside, surrounded by Syrian man in traditional clothing, sipping tea and trying the nargileh (waterpipe). A weird experience! The mother of the shop-owner saw me and invited me into her house. She must have thought: that poor woman, surrounded by men, that's no good. So the next moment I entered a large room, with no furniture except a little table and a TV on it, carpets on the floor, colourful silk sheets on the walls and cushions on the floor instead of chairs. And this room was filled with a lot of women wearing scarves, who all started to giggle when I entered. At that moment I felt a bit awkward. One woman could speak a little English and we had a nice conversation. And a big laugh because the way you say my name, it is also the name of a sort of yoghurt drink in Arabic. And of course they had to laugh about my height (Syrian women are small). A very special moment. And such a hospitality. At that moment I wish I could do something in return to let them know how much I appreciate this, but I just didn't know what.
After this visit we went to the souvenirshop. The shop-owner wanted to share our evening with him and invited us for tea and a puff of the nargileh. The latter we didn't take, grin. Again, we had wonderful conversations about the way Syrian people live, religion and so on.
We left the centre without any bought souvenirs but with a very warm feeling about Syrian people, an even bigger souvenir!

The next day we had a very stressful drive to busy Damascus and an even more stressful search for the only and relatively expensive camping place. But we found it! It is 4 km out of Damascus centre and from here it takes an easy and cheap ride with the microbus to the old city and souqs of Damascus. The afternoon we experienced the wonderful atmosphere of the lively souqs and we decided to treat ourselves on delicious hand-made ice-cream at the famous Bakdach Ice-cream parlour and a kebab on a little square surrounded by people smoking the nargileh. How privileged we felt!

Ofcourse, one afternoon is too short for Damascus so we returned to the centre the next day. Too bad for us (but good for our wallets, grin), it was Friday, so most of the little shops were closed. We wandered around in the little streets behind the souqs and just enjoyed the special atmosphere. And of course we couldn't resist eating another ice-cream and a kebab (a big plate this time!). This really is the good live.

That evening we spent at the camp site just to rest a bit to be able to survive the Syrian-Jordan border crossing and of course the hideous traffic of Damascus. We wondered how Jordan would be like after having seen a bit of Iran, Turkey and Syria since each country so far had it's own characteristics.

And everywhere we camp we have companions.