Palmyra

I was haflway through another post when I heard that Daesh (ISIS) was on the verge of entering Palmyra. And I have been able to think about little else.  In case you don't know, Palmyra's is a UNESCO world heritage site in Syria, and the Daesh barbarians want to bulldoze it just like they bulldozed the Iraqi site of Nimrod.  If I had not been to the Middle East,  I can't say I would have been as bothered as I am, because to be honest, I'm not that knowledgable about most of the ancient sites I've seen;  but believe me, some of the Middle Eastern sites are in a totally different league from anything you will find in the West.

So although I don't usually do long posts, forgive all these pictures. I want to show you what it was like when we went to Palmyra in February 2011, when many people thought the Syrian tourist industry was on the verge of opening up to more people.  As it was, there were few independent travellers, and we had Palmyra almost entirely to ourselves.

We stayed in an old colonial hotel dating from the 1930s,-  the only hotel which is actually in the midst of the ruins.  You could imagine it featuring in an Agatha Christie novel.   The idea was to see Palmyra as the sun rose, and so we got up before dawn and crept through the deserted entrance lobby and outside.

The darkness was lifting and before long the sky had turned a soft rose and violet colour as the moon dropped towards the horizon and the sky began to brighten..

 Very quickly, the first fierce light of the sun appeared, the Roman columns silhouetted against its vivid glow.

... lighting the buildings up in an orange glow and casting long shadows....

It is a true city, and stretches a long way, and a lot of it has survived the last couple of thousand years. 

The sun came up very fast, and the camels woke up

Everything seemed to glow. 

Very quickly, though, the light became bright and white.  There was complete silence.

It was extraordinary having the place almost to ourselves.

Above the city were strange towers.  The barren looking hills on which they stood were covered in tiny transparent flowers which almost glittered in the sun, but I found them impossible to photograph. As we slogged up the hills we were glad it was winter, and still quite cold in the early mornings. 

I did think of the people who built these great towers.

Down on the plain, the sun was getting brighter

You could go inside some of the buildings. This is the Temple of Bel, nearly two thousand years old. 

There were signs of repairs going on, although nobody was doing the work. 

There were a few places along the road to Palmyra offering refreshments. The owner of the one we chose spoke perfect English. He had lived in England for some years, but returned to Palmyra, his hometown, with the idea of creating an authentic desert restaurant for the tourist trade he hoped would materialise.  

In early 2011, life seemed to be improving in Syria.  Assad was becoming more liberal and, as in Libya, some of the extraordinary ancient ruins were becoming more accessible to individual travellers.  The owner didn't want to charge us for the tea because he wasn't yet officially open - typical of Syrian hospitality.

There's a small unpretentious settlement some way from the ruins with eating places and shops, catering for what tourists there were - nearly all groups.  This was the view from our cafe window. 

The camels I think were supposed to give tourists rides - although there were almost no tourists.  Horses are a good way of getting around the site, since there are no roads. 

By the late afternoon, a handful of other travellers had turned up, although the city was still almost empty. Many people like to climb the mountain to the east of  Palmyra as evening comes on, to view the sunset over the plain.

In the dusty light of evening, some parts of of the landscape looks almost unreal.   Here are those towers.

The sun drops quickly, the desert goes pink again. In the distance are the date plantations.

A telecom mast on the mountain adds a touch of modernity.  About a dozen people were on the mountain, plus many Bedouin, desperate to sell trinkets. The Bedouin, desert dwellers, were the only people who pestered us to buy during our stay in Palmyra.  They are very poor. 

And so the sun disappeared, and that rose glow entered the sky again as night came on

We had a car and drove away from Palmyra then, across the desert.

I spotted this single joker card tucked in among the rocks in Palmyra. For me it sums up the present situation, when anything could happen. Syrian forces are bombing IS to try and stop it from getting into the city.  I do hope that luck is on the side of Palmyra.



As for my political rantings last week, I am quite happy with the results of the election, because I am profoundly grateful to live in a true parliamentary democracy with a stable government.

Syria

We hear so much about Syria these days - usually in connection with evil hearted terrorists who have chosen to make it a sort of gathering point for themselves.  Yet over the years when I visited Syria the most striking thing was the dignified friendliness of the people and the sheer lack of fanaticism. It was a place where, as a non-Muslim woman, I was treated always with the greatest respect and kindness, and where I always felt entirely safe, even walking through dark alleyways at night, alone. 

I know that murderous fanatics have been smashing up the amazing heritage of this country - not to mention elsewhere in the Middle East. Until I went there I had no idea of how much history there was in the deserts, in the stones and streets and houses.  I have been looking through my hundreds of images of Syria lately, and picked out a few, almost at random.  I'm offering them to you now.  Just so you know. 

Above - some of the buses were works of art. This driver was rightly proud of his. Because Syria wasn't really a tourist destination, few people knew about the splendid buses that were to be found, many of them decidedly vintage but very reliable. 

  Below, a Syrian Orthodox church

There are very, very ancient Christian churches at Ma'loula, some of which were converted from Roman era temples, and don't have electricity; such a powerful atmosphere. Ma'loula is one of the few places where people still pray in Aramaic, the language of Jesus.   I believe many of these amazing places have been destroyed by the  bigots and vandals.

We had one very memorable trip to Palmyra, a great abandoned Roman city in the desert.   Our hotel was right in the silent remains of the city, surrounded by the ruins, and so we were able to get up and wander around before dawn, all by ourselves.  Here is the moon setting just before dawn.

 This picture below was taken just after sunrise.  We climbed some of those hills, and found them covered in tiny translucent flowers which looked almost like glass.

This is Beit Jabri, one of the best places to eat in Damascus, popular with just about everyone. It was hidden away in a tiny alleyway. Once a courtyard of an old mansion, it was roofed in with glass, with flowers growing inside and out - and great food at very low prices. You could come almost any time of day or night and find it busy with people meeting their friends and having fun. 

A fountain at Al-Azem palace.

Below is a little corner of a souq.  Nobody ever pestered you to buy in Syria. Nor was there the tiresome business of haggling.  You could wander around and please yourself whether you bought anything or not.   Souqs in Aleppo and Damascus were both vast, full of life and with countless things to see (and buy), and they rambled on for miles.   It certainly makes going to a supermarket seem dull and bland.

This is part of the exterior of the Ummayyad mosque in Damascus, built on the ruins of a very early Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist - and John the Baptist's shrine was on display inside the mosque.    There was a large archway left over from the Roman Temple of Jupiter in the square, which was one of the entrances to the souq, so there were always people around until late at night.  The tomb of Saladin is to the North of the mosque; it is where the Prophet Muhammed is said to have recited verses from the Quran.  

Inside the souq were all kinds of travelling salesmen including coffee sellers and candy sellers.  Somewhere I have a picture of a coffee seller with a great curved coffee pot on his back. But I'm just offering you a selection of pictures here.

Anyway these lurid sweets caught the little boy's eye.  I don't think his granddad was going to buy him any though.

Some of the buses were very striking, both inside (see top picture) and out.

Some of the best Middle Eastern pastries come from Damascus. This was a small, old but high class shop in a dark square in the centre of Damascus which sold elaborate boxes of sweetmeats.

The courtyard of the al-Mamlouka hotel, hidden in the maze of streets that made up Damascus's Christian Quarter. Most large Arab houses present a blank face to the street but have these hidden courtyards; this one had huge mirrors in the niches around it to reflect the light.

Some very splendid ancient cars on the streets. OK - who can name this one? I feel as if I should know what it is.

A staging post in the desert, with shop and café.  Imagine total silence all around... it made a huge impression on me.   The domed building is in a traditional architectural style. 

Bosra, in the south of the country, dates from Roman times and was capital of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea.  When we went the entire huge site was almost deserted but this amphitheatre was quite spectacular and gave an eerily convincing impression of how it must have felt to come along to see a show in Roman times. Backstage it was dark and massive. 

I've never been a huge fan of the Romans -too tough and brutal - but I always admire their extraordinary building and engineering skills.

Local needlework

This dear little boy was full of happiness and mischief. He was having a picnic with his large extended family inside the mosque, which has a great marble floor and courtyard.  Families seemed to hang out there for hours, chatting with friends, using the mosque almost as a park - and his family was settled down for the whole afternoon. This is the only picture I took of him where he was not pulling funny faces.

We last went there in 2011. The country had been a dictatorship for many years but things were gradually liberalising.  Life was far from perfect - to put it mildly - but people coped with problems with grace and humour.  It is painful to think of the bad times there now and I very much hope that peace will return sooner rather than later... and visitors from the outside world will also be able to return, to admire this most varied and appealing country.