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...

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...

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...

Our driver said we were heading straight to Palmyra this morning but we pointed out that we thought we should be going to Ebla en route.He was of the view that Ebla was dull and not interesting so we should just get on the road and save some time.However, bearing in mind that Ebla was an important city-state in two periods, first in the late third millennium BC, then again between 1800 and 1650 BC we said no, we have to go there.'No problem, no problem, it's cl...