We stayed one night in Palmyra then drove a further 300 kilometers north East to Deir Ez-zor, where we were truly the only westerners in town and had the hotel to ourselves. Deir is not so far from where the US sent helicopters just a month or so ago, when they did their cross broader incursion into Syria, killing a number of civilians. I was surprised how far into Syria they had come and understandably we did pick up a sense of distrust from some of the locals. However, more importantly, we walked across the Euphrates river ...well on a suspension bridge that is) which runs right through Deir Ez-Zor. It is very blue and very large! So that was one of the great rivers to tick off the list!

We stayed just one night in Deir then drove North West, following the Euphrates for a full day, arriving in Aleppo late in the afternoon.