So, bright and early, Abu Saleh greeted us in his Chinese SUV and we headed east out of Damascus. Once we were out of the city for about 30 minutes, the terrain became EXTREMELY arid and desert like and pretty isolated. We had reached al Badieh, the Syrian desert. (FYI: If we were to have continued on the highway we were on and gone beyond Palmyra, we would have found that "nuclear reactor" that Israel annihilated last year.) Occasionally we would see Bedouin tents and a few semi-oases; however, most of the land was pretty devoid of human traces. At one point, Abu Saleh mentioned that he'd just seen a falcon perched on a telephone wire. He informed us that people come out to this area to capture these birds because the Emirati sheikhs will pay up to $20,000 for one of them for their hunting ability! After about an hour's drive, we stopped at the Baghdad Cafe:
No, we didn't stop at that motel from the movie, Baghdad Cafe, we came to a resting spot named because it is located close to one of the main passages from the Mediterranean coast to Baghdad in Central Mesopotamia. The Bedouins who run the cafe, the Sherfaldine family, offer a place to sleep over night (for those brave enough to be hiking around) or just a place to stop for coffee and souvenirs, like us! We shared sweet, hot Arabic coffee with the owner and then looked around to see what they had to offer: Bedouin-made bags, handmade tiles and lots of fossils of fish that are found in the area (proof that the Mediterranean once covered much of what is now Syria). Here are some photos from our stop:
These beehive buildings are typical of the Syrian desert and keep the Bedouins warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Having fortified ourselves, stretched our legs and otherwise availed ourselves of the Baghdad Cafe's facilities, we headed on another hour to Palmyra or Tadmur (its Semitic name meaning "the indomitable town"). Apparently the earliest reference to the area appeared on Babylonian tablets, and the city of "Tamur" was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. So, we're talking a LONG time ago....Anyway, because of its strategic location halfway between Damascus and the Euphrates, it became a very important city as the Silk Road developed and thrived between China and Rome.
I've entered new photos taken at Palymra on my Flickr account, so I won't upload many here. Abu Saleh has acted as a guide to Palymra quite a few times and knew exactly where to take us to begin with in order to get a perspective of how large the ruins really are and, therefore, how extensive Tadmur was in its heyday. None of my shots turned out very well; however, this photo gives you some idea of its size. Particularly from the high point where Abu Saleh first brought us, it was quite impressive that such an extensive city developed so FAR from civilization.
We drove down to where the majority of the ruins lay and walked around, most of the time pestered by the Bedouins who had trinkets to sell or who had camels (one named Bob Marley that Dania did ride when she was there earlier....)for "rent." One place I did find of personal interest was the amphitheater that is located among quite a lot of fallen columns. It's in good repair and is used for concerts occasionally. Dania informed me as I wandered there that a well-known Aleppan singer, Sabah Fakhri, performed there not too long ago. I've posted this here, more as a joke than anything else, because I have sat through one of his performances and almost fell asleep. Syrians LOVE this guy because he sings old Syrian songs that must bring back memories. Go figure....he does have lasting power that's for sure! Actually, as I look at this video in which he's singing about "Sham" or Damascus, I can imagine westerners are shocked to see the dancing. I'm sure this was a private party of well-to-do families enjoying the "old times." There are many, many sides to the Middle East! Cannot resist inserting the photo now of the amphitheater:
After awhile we headed toward the Temple of Ba'al, originally a Helenistic temple that was apparently built on top of the original temple that many claim Solomon built! When Palmyra became a part of the Roman empire (in the reign of Tiberius in the 1st century AD), the temple and city became important stops on the Silk Road. Hadrian visited it in 129 and, liking it so much, granted it free city status and renamed it Palmyra Hadriana. During the mid to late 200's, with the advent of the Sassinids (Persians), Palmyra lost its importance to the Romans, as the Persians wrecked havoc in the area. Thanks to that period of chaos, Queen Zenobia took control of the city, rebelled against the Romans and went on to take over Bosra (in southern Syria) and lands as far to the west as Egypt, military feats that established the short-lived Palmyrene Empire. Queen Zenobia, the Warrior Queen, is really what intrigued me about Palmyra! She claimed to be related to both Dido of Carthage and Cleopatra and she must have had some nerve/charisma/charm to claim land from Bosra all the way to Egypt!
So, enough history......the temple still stands relatively intact and shows signs of its use by so many different religions! While we were at the temple, we hired a very pushy and opinionated guide to fill us in on its history. He pretty much ignored me, once he established the fact that Dania's father was from Aleppo and a Muslim and that I was neither. He firmly informed Dania that she should follow her father's religion, the superior one. It's amazing how many of the people we met throughout our trip pointedly asked her religion once they knew her father is a Syrian Arab! Anyway, Mr. Proselytizer then proceeded to give us a very good idea of the area out and inside the temple, to include showing us where the "non-people of the book" worshiped by sacrificing MANY animals. There were elaborate drainage pipes to allow the blood to run away from the altar! Plus, he pointed out the interesting grinder mechanism that was off to the side of the temple that was used to grind either grapes or olives. The area where they are sitting is the base (or mortar) that has a column in the center where those big round discs fit. Somehow someone moved the discs (the pestle?) around inside the mortar to crush whatever was inside!
Having completed our tour through Temple Ba'al and biding Mr. Superior a fond mah salamah, Abu Saleh suggested that, rather than have lunch at Palmyra or in the town of Tadmur, we should get on the rode toward Crac des Chaveliers in western Syria, close to the city of Homs that everyone in the country makes fun of - sort of how we make fun of Poles. He thought we could stop on the way at a Bedouin encampment and have lunch with them. Or, at least, that was what I thought I understood.... The distance between Palmyra and Crac (as I will now refer to it) is only 155 kilometers and supposedly we would arrive in the village down below Crac, Wadi Al Nadara, in about 2 and 1/2 hours....However, apparently Abu Salieh thought we were up for an adventure and took us way off the typical highway that goes straight to Homs. From the map that I've found, we went way north into an area that actually was pretty interesting looking (sort of more of the same arid steppe lands), but this area must be geologically valuable, because we kept seeing signs and then eventually buildings of a Canadian oil or gas concern. We also saw lots of Bedouin tents and he kept stopping telling us that he was looking for a specific family. However, he must not ever have found the people he typically "broke bread" with because we eventually just pulled off the side of the road, and he set up a picnic.
Now, I would have thought this was great if it were spring or even summer time. But it was a pretty windy and chilly late afternoon when he pulled out big pillows for us to sit on the rocky ground. Anyway, he started a fire, heated up water for tea, and "toasted" hot dog buns for each of us. Then he pulled out what looked to me like Kraft cheese singles to put in the warmed buns. After "lunch" he offered us some tasty preserved candied orange peels which reminded me of past Christmases at home!!! For mood music, he must have asked one of his adult sons to create an English language music CD which he played at full blast from his car. The CD consisted of the corniest songs from my teenage years! He regaled us also with stories of his failed marriage, among other topics, all of which Dania took in and had questions about. While it wasn't exactly what I had expected, it was pleasant enough and Abu Salieh certainly typifies the image so many tourists have when they visit Syria. He was so thoughtful and kind that it was hard to criticize his simple version of a hospitable afternoon! Of course, just today, Dania informed me that she's recently had tea with him at his home to meet his children and AS told her that he was "packing" on that day......he actually had a revolver stuck in his boot, "just in case we ran into problems out there in the desert"!!!!
So, we trudged on the highway and eventually reached Wadi Al Nadara and the Al Wadi hotel where he dropped us off, after he made sure we had a room and all was kosher. To his credit, he even called the next morning to make sure we were OK! I've included this one photo of the hotel, because it was a pretty impressive structure, obviously constructed to "blend in" with the fortress that loomed above it. As we checked in, my first impression was how deserted the place was and later realized that December is NOT high tourist season! Plus, the lobby area was downright COLD, something that made me remember our first hotel at Petra. Fortunately, though, we were shown to a really nice "suite" that was toasty and comfy. It also had a TV to which we immediately turned in order to get updates on what was happening in Gaza. We both had kept hearing mention of Gaza on the radio that Abu S. had on, but didn't know what was happening.
So, after having updated ourselves and warming up, we headed downstairs to see what the hotel restaurant was like. It was enormous and completely deserted except for us and two other English-speaking groups. We both figured our day-long adventure warranted a STIFF drink and, knowing that the wine would probably be Syrian (i.e., red wine sweet variety), I went straight to something HARD: vodka tonic. Well, our waiter had no clue what I meant, until Dania pulled out her Arabic words and charm....He returned with a highball glass that half full of what I assumed was room temperature vodka and a cold can with the English word "tonic" written on it. So, that looked promising, right? I poured as much of the "tonic" into my glass as I could and toasted Dania on another amazing Arabic adventure only to discover that the "tonic" tasted like bubble gum.....but whatever, it certainly tasted strong too. So, bottoms up with a tasty mezza-type (appetizer/tapas sort of)dinner. It actually turned out that the tonic was not the only culprit. The vodka was flavored too!!!! Anyway, it was a great sedative for a good night's sleep before tackling the crusader castle.
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