'There it is', I pointed out to Maria as we were nearing the Church of St Simeon this morning.'Where', came the reply.'There, on the hill at 2 o'clock', I answered, pleased with myself that the military jargon was still there, 'Where you can see all those white coaches'.'Oh, she said somewhat flatly'.And, true to form, we arrived and struggled to find parking space amongst the throng of brightly liveried tourist coaches signalling the new crusade of European vi...

We were tired on our second night so didn't want to stray far from the hotel, deciding instead to maybe find a shop and buy some food to eat back in our room. So, more confident in knowing where we were going we started walking...and walking...and walking.Shoe shops yes, clothes shops yes, machinery part shops yes...food shops or restaurants...no.We decided to head back to the hotel and Maria muttered those immortal words 'Allah will guide us, you'll see'.Anywa...

We made our own way to the Great Mosque or Omayyad Mosque via the Souk, which although massive with 12km of covered roads, wasn't as impressive as those in Damascus.So having lost our way within 5-minutes of entering the sprawl of shops we ended up asking the locals for directions again...and again a neighbourly soul walked us to our destination which is actually in the middle of the market. Little remains of the original mosque structure and what we saw today...

A little later we reached Aleppo to begin the Citadel/ Mosque tour.Alas, we could not park as it was national holiday weekend and all the prime parking spots had already been taken by eager Syrians, Japanese, Italians...you get the picture.Fortunately, Ahmad, the driver, bunged the local transport policeman a few 'quid' and, hey presto, we can now park for as long as we like.With more vehicles in Aleppo than in a Toyota storage depot, Maria and I have now concl...

Aleppo is a busy busy city of 6 million people and we reckon there are about 12 million cars, 90% of which are yellow taxis that you can't hale for love nor money as they're all busy...wow the air is so polluted!On our first night in this city that ranks up there with Bangkok and Lima for chaotic mayhem and pollution, we ventured out alone to find somewhere to eat, still desperate to experience the real Syrian dining experience...tent, carpets, cushions, shisha...