Next morning we changed hotel - the Baron's faded grandeur had got to us and we moved to a cheaper place. We then tried to get our visas renewed. We had been told we needed to go to the immigration police, so after getting photos done, a taxi ride and spending 10 minutes trying to finding which counter to go, we found an official who said no problem - you can stay in the country for 30 days with this visa (even though we had a form which said go to police after 1...

We left Hama this morning to go to Aleppo. This is the furthest point north of our trip. We had an easy start by catching the 10:00 am train. This turned out to be the 10:45 train! We arrived early and found a deserted station but when the train eventually arrived it was very comfortable. We took a taxi to our hotel - the Baron. This is the oldest hotel in Aleppo, and is famous as it was a major stopping off point on the overland route to Iraq and Egypt. You had...