19th May 2010

Palmyra to Damascus

Up early we drove to Palmyra to visit another set of impressive ruins. Palmyra was an important city located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus. It had long been a vital caravan stop for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert. Palmyra is the most easterly part of the Roman Empire. They never really wanted to go but Hadrian enjoyed travel and when Palmyra decided to challenge the authority of Rome he decided to head over and ransack the place. A lot of restoration work has been done since and it's in remarkably good condition. The site itself covers 12 square kms and there is a lot to see. We also visit the Temple of Bell, which is equally well preserved. There were friendly camels around the ruins who loved having their pictures taken. After our tour we started our 4 hour journey to Damascus. We were only 170kms from Iraq and there we passed a number of police with guns . Damascus was really dirty and our campsite was next to the local tip.