Bagdad...?

We left Damascus, heading south, passing many signs pointing out turns to Iraq and Bagdad - at the closest point, we were less than an hours drive from Iraq.  A rest stop at a beduin establishment called the "Bagdad Cafe" reminded us of this.

We continued along the road and made it to the ancient city of Palmyra, arriving around lunchtime. Palmyra’s ‘golden age’ was during the first two centuries A.D, first as a Greek city and then as part of the Roman Empire. In the afternoon we visited the Temple of Bel, Palmyra’s principal deity, identified with Roman Jupiter and Greek Zeus. We walk along parts of the ceremonial colonnade (once the main street) flanked by pillars, the amphitheatre, shops, public toilets (apparently invented by the romans), palace and eventually, a massive temple dedicate to Ba'al. Hoping for peace in Egypt, I was sacrificed on the offering slab....

Me on the offering slab

Damascus by foot

After breakfast we took to the streets of Damascus by foot - strolling about 10 minutes to the National Museum, which lays out artifacts and information on the various periods of Syrian history in an orderly and easy to follow fashion.

We then walked back in the other direction to the old city.  Arriving at the Ommayad Mosque we saw a large group of people outside chanting at a religious leader in the centre. We had arrived on the anniversary day  when the grandson of Muhammed, Husain (the Islamic leader at the time) was killed and his head left on display at this mosque.  This was at beginning of the split between Sunni and Shi'ite islamic groups. Many Shi'ite pilgrims had come from all over the Middle East especially from Iran.  

The women in our group were directed to the ‘Putting On Special Clothes’ room where they were inpected and if they did not pass the test, dressed appropriately.  As you can see, mum did not pass the test!


The Omayyad Mosque is very large and impressive with much to take in.  It claims to have the head of John the Baptist in one section which we visited.

Chandelier with energy saver bulbs

We had to take our shoes off so we are all standing on the carpet because it was so cold!

Afterwards we made our way through many old alleys and bazaars to explore the old city.  At one point, a large procession of pilrims passed by hitting and beating themselves to similate the murder of Husain.  Some of these were bleeding badly as they continued to make cuts on themselves.

The Road to Damascus

Leaving our hotel at 6.00 am, we went to the bus terminal to catch a local bus to Damascus. Once we got to the boarder of Jordan and Syria we had to get on and off the bus several times at different points of the border for exit stamps, entrance visas, etc and we went through many security checks. This was a big difference to what we had become accustomed to through Egypt and Jordan. Going through security zones with many armed military guards and walking through metal detectors which beeped most times.  In Egypt and Jordan, no one was checked or pulled up and the guards seemed only interested in chatting with each other.  On numerous times in Egypt, we had had to put our bags and personal items through x-ray machines where the guard that was meant to be monitoring it was reading the paper. Often the only attention given was by the guard helping to put the items into the x-ray machine - he would asked for a tip!  The entire time in Egypt we would have walked through at least 50 metal detectors (no exaggeration)! It was more about the illusion of security rather than actual security. Someone could make a fortune manufacturing mock "metal detectors" that just beeped when someone walked through.  We had asked an Egyptian tour guide at one stage and were told that it was to give people employment.  Certainly alot of the Egyptian military around tourist sites were there to make money - they frequently came up to us offering to help us take photos or show us some special spot or carvings, just around the corner.  They then wanted payment despite their official employment status.  On  principle, my mum absolutely refused to make any payment no matter how much pressure was applied (and this could be considerable!)

We passed through the Jordanian and Syrian border and after about 90 minutes we could see from the surroundings and road signs that we had entered the outskirts of Damascus.

Our hotel was in the main downtown area and only a 10 minute walk to the big bazaar and old city so after settling in and getting some cash from the ATM, we took off to explore.

P.S. Sorry only a few photos today I wasn't really keen on getting arrested at the border for taking photos in military security zones.