Cafe Baghdad in the middle of the vast desert was inviting for a "cuppa" made for us by a Bedouin family that manages to subsist literally in the middle of nowhere. The ruling Assad family accompanied us the whole trip - their faces even appear in the desert, as well as everywhere else. The (probably Hellenistic) tower tombs were our first glimpse of Palmyra. The nearby ruins of the oasis city of the famous woman called Zenobia, the Arab ruler of Palmyra and conqueror of the Romans towards the end of the 3rd century, AD, resemble the ruins of Rome and are indeed a wonder of the world (even if not officially). There was a Syria vintage car rally in town when we arrived - French and other Europeans in their marvellous old-timers formed a striking contrast to the Beduin camels and the ruins of the Temple of Baal, the colonnade, the amphitheatre, agora and citadel on a nearby mountain. Interestingly, most people in Palmyra (Tadmur) at the time of Zenobia spoke Aramaic, although the majority were Arabs.