Despite the heat, we walked to the Beit Chamese (House of the Sun), where we'd be spending the next 2 nights.Thank goodness we had some help as the 5-minute walk turned into 15 minutes and we were sopping by the time we arrived.The Beit Chamese is a guest house that is not yet fully open and was booked by Maria only after she sent the owner out to take photos and email them to her so we could see if we liked it.Remember, that we only booked this place as the Be...

We got back to Damacus in the early afternoon and had bit of a faff sorting out some admin for the trip but after buying a chap 3 packets of cigarettes for his help we finally got it sorted.Then off to our next stop, the Beit Rose, where we said goodbye to Ahmad and gave him a generous trip; he'd been pretty darn god throughout.The hotel was very pleasant with a lovely receptionist, Dana, and a wonderful relaxing courtyard complete with obligatory fountain.Now ...

We finished with a tour of the magnificent Palmyra ruins.We really do need a hefty history book for Syria as the country is steeped in so much history that we could never remember it all but I'll do my best.The Palmyra ruins, dating from 130 AD are centred on a main street colonnaded by 200 Corinthian columns on each side.The street is entered from the temple and leads to the rest of the ancient city.The street was fabulous and we were shown what must have been...

An oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences. Our fantastic guide made sure that we had an early start (0830) for the first s...

A little further en-route, Ahmad, stopped by a local Bedouin family so that we could see a typical clay house.It also gave us the opportunity to traipse our muddy tourist shoes through the poor family's home.We have to say that the place was spotless and very cosy, even if it was two rooms for a family of 10+.And, judging from the number of children following us around, I wonder if dad had more than one wife?Anyway, out of respect we refrained from being the to...