On the road to Palmyra we see various potassium processing plants. In Syria most of this kind of business is owned by the government

Signs to Bagdad, we are not far from Iraq. The desert has many trucks, roads and hamsters, they are originally from here.

These first pictures are from the sunset on the day we came. We stayed in the Zenobia hotel, name of a Palmyra queen. From the hotel we can see the ruins(nearly as in the picture) as Agatha Christy saw them when she stayed here with her archaeologist  husband. Once she said that the good thing of having an archaeologist as a husband is that the older you are the more he likes you.

Palmyra is a mix of styles from all the cultures that came through here.

“Tadmor” was the old name, it meant “the wonder”.

I’m not sure how I saw him.

In the background the Tetrapylon, for columns formed by for pillars. Only one of them is of the original pink marble, the rest are glueish things done by archaeological restorations of the 60s. Here I have to say something that may be a bit polemic. This thing of ruins being beautiful or not depends very often on the level of restoration. Even this restoration from the 60’s is an outrage archeologically speaking, it makes the ruins look more beautiful. If nothing was restored then everything would be flat and trying to imagine how the ruins were would be difficult. On the other hand if the ruins are over-restored it’s not fun either as you don’t believe anything and it looks like a theme park. Palmyra has reached a good balance, maybe these 60s restorations were not that bad.

On top the Saladin castle.

The sun is about to disappear leaving a silhouette of a ruined funeral tower.

Palmyra became important as an oasis when it became a stop between Mesopotamia and Arabia and also being an important stop on the silk road from China to Europe. Before Palmira existed the caravans had to go around hundreds of kilometres to the north, through greener and cooler places , as far as Turkey and reaching Istanbul by land or getting a freighter to a Mediterranean port. The location of the Oasis of Palmyra greatly reduced the transportation time and therefore attracted many merchants that then changed their routes.

It’s existence is known since the second century BC, but it’s peak coincided with the Roman empire. Rome decide to keep it as an independent city. The Romans also defeated the Nabataeans(in Jordan) in the south which meant Palmira received a lot of the traffic that was going through Petra. (I can’t wait! I’ll be there in just a few days!).

How could all this be built? Same as we were saying about the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, spending a lot of money. Palmyra was so important, and independent, they spent a lot of tax money on building it. It was a service city with taxes for caravans, for each camel, horse, the use of water, there was a charge for any activity performed in the town, even for the practice of prostitution.

Sunrise in Palmira. The sun that will melt us later at 44 degrees is rising.

A sunrise is always more intimate than a sunset, there’s less people, or nobody like in this case. At 4.45 the alarm clock rings, that sound when it’s for work is a horror but when it sounds to go to see something beautiful seems to sound different.

Yes, maybe I’ve published too many pictures… I just couldn´t choose!

I’m feeling good, Palmyra is just for me in this private sunrise. This is a real luxury, a place like this for oneself.

Palmira has charged to see it’s “treasures” for 200 years.

The sun lights up the mist, the columns seems to emerge from it. The light hurts my eyes but I want to keep looking.

You can’t just leave Palmyra without seeing some of it’s dozens of tombs that surround the old city. They had several floors with a lot of sarcophagus by floor, some had a place for 300 bodies. They may be less photogenic than the ruins of the city but maybe more interesting. Later on they started to hide the tombs underground.

I like the colour of the camel’s kilim.

Qasr al-Heir al-Sharqi are two castles one in front of the other. Here is probably where the expression “in the middle of nowhere” was invented.

The other Fernando Ayuso of the trip waving to the camera.

Rasafa castle with 550 meters by 400 in the walls. There’s not much left.

This picture would mean nothing if the water wouldn’t be from the Euphrates river. From the Qala’at Ja’abra  castle, where the picture was taken, you cant see the end of al-Assad reservoir as it is 80 kilometres long. Years ago the Euphrates river is estimated to have been seven times bigger. When I saw it I realized why it had so much importance in history, the water always bring food, progress and civilization.

Overlooking the water we eat an Euphrates fish with biblical flavour

With this we finished the visit to Syria. My father has loved it, he says he’ll come back. He’s flying back home next day and I’ll go to Jordan to swim in the Dead sea.

After Jordan I’ll have to come back north to Syria and Turkey to go to Georgia, so I’ll tell you some conclusions when I’m back.

See you soon!

Fernando

Seventh century, after days in the desert rationing water, not being able to have a shower, under the heat, smelling like a camel and seeing nothing but a horizon dirtied with dust you arrive to Damascus.You leave the caravan in a safe place and after having a bath in the Hamman you go for a walk to wind down. The alleys, with no choice, take you  to the Umayyad mosque, the exterior impresses you but once you go through one of the doors you have no breath. Khaled Ibn Al-Walid created it with one premise: “A mosque that has no equal and one which was never designed by anyone before me or after me”.

Imagine spending seven years of taxes from all the country, this is what the Caliphs(Islamic figure similar to the pope) did. He brought to Damascus thousands of artisans from Egypt, Byzantium, and Persia, chose the best Muslims or Christians, covered the walls with mosaics, hung 600 gold lamps, made antique columns and collected tons of lead to cover the roof. Ten years the work lasted and what rose up was a mosque that became the most espectacular. Isn´t seven years of tax it a bit too much? Couldn´t they have spent the money in the poor people? After all it is one of the five pilars of Islam:”giving of alms”.

There’s a head collection inside. Well, is small, but it’s like a small collection, they have Saint John Baptist that is a very well considered character for Muslims. They also have Saladin’s head. I imagine a shelf with the heads in small urns with the name under it kind of like heads in Futurama.

It has three minarets. The tradition says that in one of them is where Jesus will appear on the day of the Final Judgement. I can imaging him up there with his ultra white tunic, in the background a thunderous sky, violent wind whirlpools, grey clouds full of lightning never seen before, the hair all messy by the wind, a halo of light around his head, people down in the patio, most frightened for the sins they committed, waiting for their moment. The idea of the Judgment Day is a bit tragic, isn’t it?. Christianity has a benevolent good so I don’t really think it would be like this.

One of the things I like about mosques is that it is not only a praying place. It’s a place to retire, to rest in the hot hours of the middle east. The shade, the fountains, the silence make it an ideal place to rest.

Not all is rest, the mosque is like a recreational park for children, they play, slide, chase each other, there is no traffic. It makes the perfect place for them. The Christian churches are more of a distant place, silent, supreme respect, a place with no interaction with less relationship with the people.

Damascus is the place that has been inhabited non stop for the longest time. There is evidence from 5000 BC and has gone thought a lot of things during this time. Here has been the Mameluks, the Nabataeans, the Romans preferred to destroy it and built Bosra more to the south(I talked to you about it in the previous post). During the Umayyad with the caliphates it got to it’s zenith by becoming the capital of Muslim. It suffered crusaders attacks and with Saladin, Damascus re-emerged again. The merchant offered Chinese porcelains, spices, ivory… It silks were well known in all European courts. The French controlled Damascus and the country for 35 years, but it’s stay is anecdotic only some greetings are kept.

In the year 1400 Tamerlane(Turk-Mongol leader of the 14th century) set it on fire for three days bringing with him the surviving artisans to Samarkand, he also collected artisans from many other places, in two months I’ll see what Tamerlane achieved there. I have great expectations, it is one fo the most significant places of this trip.

If you come get lost into the Christian, the Muslim and Jewish neighbourhoods, each half open door will show you an amazing patio with fountains and plants. Some of the best houses have been converted into restaurants or hotels.

This is waht you see looking up in the old city, you always have shade so it´s a bit more fresh.

The locals call it “Cham” that means facial beauty, maybe this is why it’s in the UNESCO list.

Water melon getting cold in a fountain in a patio.

Christians have the life a bit difficult here as the law is run under Muslim rules and it is a conservative country. As an example, if a women is pregnant and not married she could end up in jail.

In the hotels you can knock on the door and take a look. they are old rehabilitated houses, some as this Talisman Hotel have many luxurious things that you can imagine, even a pool. It worth getting into all of them.

In a house in the Jewish area we saw the studio of the Syrian sculptor Mustafa Ali, it´s kind of his exibition place as well as a cultural center. That night there  was a Syrian-Brazilian band playing.

Since 2002 a lot of Spanish tourists are coming as the Spanish royalty came to visit and it was shown on the telly. I’m very surprised that an appearance like this can involve so many visitors. Seems that the Syrians like Spanish people, when I tell them where I’m from they always smile. Specially now after winning the world cup. They congratulate me, even though I did nothing.  I didn’t even see the final!

Damascus is strategically situated on the commercial route from Bagdad to the Mediterranean, also the routes from the Caspian see. In the museum of the city, ancient silks from China can be seen. If this wouldn’t be enough, Damascus(and Aleppo) is situated on the way to Mecca for the millions of Muslim Turks, this has brought a huge amount of people over the centuries. One of the people that came through here was Mahomet himself refusing to go into the city because he said “I want to get into paradise only once”.

The souq with the caravan stops. Time leave it’s mark.

A local sweet so my dad can try it. He nearly finished it all! I had to rush to try it.

The modern city with five million inhabitants The modern city extends for miles into the foothills of Jibal Lubnan Ash Sharqiyen mountains. These mountains are also full of history, here Cain and Abel are supposed to have fought and Abraham hid in a cave, the biblical presence is constant.

After Damascus there’s less of Syria to visit. The days with my father have been very busy as we had to use the time in the right way for the short visit. I’m writing this after he left. We are going to Palmira, one for those wonders that exist in the world and that is totally worth a visit. From Syria we only have good feelings. They told me in Turkey: “good people”, and it’s not normal from neighbours to talk well about the country next to you.

A stop on the way, a traditional house made of adobe. Many Bedouins are not nomadic any more and they settle for at least a few months. Some start cafes on the most common roads.

Syran desert has no sand as the one in Sahara. On the back a bedouine tent.

Palmira’s post is nearly ready I’ll tell you about very soon.
Fernando