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 concluded that the cops here must be the wealthiest chaps in town second only to those pesky fellas at Goldman Sachs!!Again no guide, so we had a very pleasant wait at the local cafe tourist retreat, slap bang next to the Citadel, drinking our now favourite drink, mint and lemon whilst chatting with the driver and his mates.Every five minutes the same kid came round asking if we wanted to buy pistachios...and every five minutes he was provided with the same answer...no, no, no.

The Citadel is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo and is considered, by experts I guess, to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world.The natural hill upon which it stands even served as a place of worship in the 10th century BC.Fortifications were probably erected around 364-333 BC but most of what we saw was built much later when it was under Mamluk rule between 1250-1517 AD.

After hanging around a little while longer our guide, the manager of the Citadel summoned us and off we went to his office for introductions.A serious older gentlemen attired in jacket and tie, despite the blazing sun, and a wit drier than the Atacama Desert, he instantly forgot my name (it's difficult for Syrians to pronounce 'Stuart' apparently) so we were collectively called Maria throughout our tour.If he wanted my attention he just grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me along the route.

So the tour started by passing through the enormous Entrance Block to the fortress, crossing the huge stone bridge, constructed by Sultan Ghazi, over the moat to an imposing keep entrance complex.We were told that would-be assailants to the castle would have to take over six turns up a vaulted entrance ramp, over which were machicolations (a projecting parapet supported by corbels) through which stones or boiling water could be dropped on an enemy.Secret passageways wind through the complex, and the main passages are decorated with figurative reliefs. The main, Ayyubid Block, is topped by the Mamluk 'Throne Hall,' a hall where Mamluk sultans entertained large audiences and held official functions.The Hall has been renovated by President Bashar Al-Assad who routinely uses it as an official function room.It's very impressive and ornately decorated.

The 'Management' gave us the super-duper premium economy tour which lasted just long enough for him to offer to take us to his shop to buy carpets and to tell off a young couple in the hammam who were a little more friendly than we think he would have liked.Due to their somewhat nonchalant response we guess they essentially gave him the finger.The palace hammam with the amorous couple in it is laid out in traditional medieval Islamic style having three sections. The first was used for dressing, undressing, and resting. The second was an unheated but warmer room, and this was followed by a hot room and a steam room equipped with alcoves. Hot and cold water was piped through to the hammam with earthenware pipes.A few meanderings later we were all done and headed back to the cafe for the next leg of our Aleppo adventure.