Day 12 Damascus to Palmayra

Wednesday March 2^nd.

I headed out this morning on my own to explore the souks some more. Walked to the Citadel, which is under renovation, but found an open door and popped in. Found Tess and Graham in there talking to a guard. He had let them in and look around, so I asked if I could do the same. They left and I headed in. Wandered around some tunnels and up three flights of stairs to get the great view of Umayyad Mosque. The Citadel is a huge old fort that was built during the Ottoman Empire.

After that I entered the souk area and explored. Walking down the souks with all the spices is amazingly aromatic. The smells throughout the souks is amazing. I bought some fresh mixed nuts and a small bag of candied almonds, yummy. I ran into Krys who told me that she was looking for the Azem Palace and told me about the mosque of Noureddin (she was a very popular leader who died when she saw that her beloved father had been beheaded – the Shi'a Muslims worship her and all the women wail and throw toys and candies at her tomb). So, we went looking for the Azem. We found that and explored the palace. It was the palace for the Ottoman Sultans. Beautiful marble building with lots of artifacts inside.

Then we went to Al Madrasa al Nourlyah ( the mosque of Noureddin). It was really fascinating in there. There were lots of Iranian pilgrims and the women were doing their thing. The mosque itself is very beautiful with lots of shiny mirror bits all over it. Amazing place. I loved watching all the different Muslims from different countries as they were praying. It's amazing how devote they are.

Then Krys had to head back to the hotel to pack (I'd done that before I headed out), so I went back into the souk to buy a falafel sandwich. Right after I got it, I met Stamati and he invited me for lunch. So, I packed the sandwich for later, and we went to a little local sit down place and had a mixed grill and salad lunch. After that we walked back out the main souk and stopped at the Bakdash ice cream shop and sat and enjoyed a bowl of ice cream with pistachios on top. Then we had to rush back to the hotel to meet the group for our 1:15 departure time.

We all loaded up into three taxis and headed to the bus station. The ride in our taxi was like being in a video game! I can't believe we didn't hit anything, although we came close. The lanes continually change, the driver doesn't seem to look when changing lanes and the roundabouts are nuts! Traffic is chaotic. Arrived at the bus station and got our tickets, did a passport check and then loaded onto an air conditioned coach for the four hour ride to Palmyra.

The scenery was beautiful desert landscapes. The land is quite flat and nothing grows, except in a couple of spots where the are irrigating to grow olive trees. We saw an accident where a truck had dumped its entire load of tomatoes all over the highway.

Arrived at Palmyra about 6:30 and it was already dark. The bus dropped us off at the station and Jess had already arranged to have a 1950 Mercedes bus pick us up and drive us to our hotel. We checked in and then had a meeting.

After that we went to a local little restaurant for dinner. It was a chicken with a nutty rice with lentil soup as a starter. Back to the hotel for a beer to celebrate Megan's birthday. Then an early bed time because some of us are getting up early for a sunrise view.