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Many thanks to Julia Griffiths (1949) an intrepid traveller, for sharing details of one of her many holidays to weird and wonderful places!!
At the last OGA Committee meeting I was told, ‘You travel a lot, what about an article for the website’ Here is.......
SYRIAN CHRISTMAS 2010
London Heathrow: Flight cancelled, airport closed. I stared at the sign board in near disbelief; some 4 inches of snow, frozen aeroplanes and plans of getting to Syria were not going to happen.
The idea of trekking in the Palmyran desert with camels and sleeping Bedouin style under the stars had attracted me to this trip. However, three days later I was offered a seat on a plane in 5 hours. When you live in Gloucestershire that is not a lot of time!
Damascus at midnight was chilly. I met other English ‘refugees’. 6.00am start we were told, going to Latakia. ‘Oh no, there’s nothing in Latakia, let’s meet the party in Aleppo’ say we.
Via the great Crusader stronghold of Krak de Chevaliers we were driven north. Stopping at K de C we wandered the many passages and ramparts accompanied by an unofficial guide who insisted on singing in the chapel (he had a good voice) and then wanted paying!
Mist hung over the ancient Greek city of Apomea. All very atmospheric as we wandered along the cardo maximus between great Corinthian pillars. Our group leader was welcoming; he had come from The Lebanon with five, gradually acquiring a party of fourteen as text messages arrived from England, ‘expect....’ and again ‘expect....’
Accommodation in Aleppo was in a former merchant house, lovely. While sitting in a nearby restaurant, wine glasses filled, a very loud BANG came from the kitchen, no panic, staff hurries around a gaseous ? filled the air, we quaffed our wine quickly and got out. Rubber tubing from a gas cylinder had succumbed to old age!
Aleppo: the great Arab citadel, the very excellent National Museum and the Souk – why did I enter by the butchery department? Entrails and entrails!
The 5thC monastery of St Simeon Stylitis I found very lovely. Situated on top of a hill, surrounded by trees it was built round the supposed pillar on which St Simeon is reputed to have lived.
From Aleppo we drove south by the Euphrates. The day was misty and chilly as we stopped by the Lake Assad, a new reservoir altering the level of the river and denying water to towns and villages further south.
Resafe, a great walled city in the middle of nowhere and built of a sort of crystalline gypsum so it shines in the sunlight. There are cisterns, basilicas and beautiful walls.
On to Helibyah, Queen Zenobia’s city or one of them. Ruins stretch from a hilltop fort down to the banks of the Euphrates. It was here Zenobia did battle with the Romans under Marcus Aurelius in 273, she lost and was taken to Rome in chains of gold.
At Deir Ez-Zour we visited the Church and shrine of Armenian Martyrs, a very beautiful but very sad place. Man’s inhumanity to man exemplified. Later we crossed the Euphrates on a footbridge to stand in Mesopotamia...why not?!
Christmas Day and out on the Baghdad road to Duoro Europos, a great walled city dating to 303 BC, but ‘found’ in 1924 by a British army patrol. There are temples, a synagogue (removed to the museum in Damascus), Roman barracks, a Seleucid palace and much more. Across the river lie the fertile lands of Mesopotamia.
South again to Mari, a 3,000BC royal city. The Palace of Zimri is covered to protect the mud-bricks. There are wells, cisterns and funery urns and much more, time did not allow for visiting. Perhaps sitting eating my picnic lunch among the ruins was the special bit.
We turned from the Iraqi border (I’ll get there one day) and travelled through the desert to Palmyra. Palmyra – walk by floodlight among the ancient ruins or visit at 5.00am to watch the sun rise and see beautiful light on the stonework. The city needs time and more time. Now on the road to Damascus and a stop at the famous Baghdad Cafe; originally built for a film set it now serves refreshments and has accommodation.
Damascus; first to the great Umayyid Mosque, warm, friendly and welcoming. Then dinner at a recommended restaurant.
Prior to leaving England I had arranged to stay longer with a car and driver and travel south. The country changed from warm, gentle sandstone to dark basalt stone. All rather dour. This is now Druze territory; the men wear baggy trousers with the crotch at knee level and gathered in at the ankles.
I stopped at Shabba Philippopolis. 244AD and explored the forum, theatre, vast bath place and a small museum housing some beautiful mosaics. Next to Shaqqa, a palace, a temple to Zeus on the hilltop, a small theatre and the Helios Temple.
Bosra was my main raison d’etre for going south. The Roman theatre has a 15,000 capacity, larger than at Leptis Magna. Like many places it was all covered in sand for hundreds of years. I spent a happy afternoon wandering round the old Roman city.
Next day I visited the Byzantine Church of St Georgios at Izraa built on the site of an ancient temple. The architecture is unique; an octagon built within a square with a dome on top. St George’s tomb is said to be behind the altar. There is a lot more to see in this area.
On to Seydnaya up in the hill north of Damascus. The Convent of our Lady of Seydnaya is the second holiest pilgrimage site for the Greek Orthodox after Jerusalem. Continuing along the hillside, and there was snow on the hills, I came to Ma’loula where locals still speak Aramaic. From here a short walk down between steep limestone cliffs leads to St Thekla convent.
Back in Damascus I had time to visit the excellent museum, have a ‘rub and scrub’ in the ladies only Hamman and explore the miles of passages in the Souk. I stayed in a merchant house off ’The Street called Straight’.
Now late March, I hear of political unrest in so many places I have visited. Sad, but in some cases......... |
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