It's time to leave this wonderful country today for Ankara.We were a little concerned that our flight would be cancelled as we'd heard that the volcano cloud from Iceland was heading in our direction and that flights had already been stopped in Istanbul.So much for our smugness earlier in the week as we laughed at the stranded passengers across the globe.'We're safe here we told ourselves'.A quick check online, though put any fears we had to rest so we looked f...

To thank us for helping him with the website description, Sameh made us a traditional Syrian breakfast this morning.Freshly bought bread, humus, an olive oil/sesame seed/coriander dip that was hot but delightful, incredibly spicy olives, traditional cheeses all made by his mum.It was delicious and just what we'd been trying to find throughout our stay in Syria. The morning was spent in the Souk taking pictures whilst trying not to offend the store keepers or...

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...