Vic's Pics

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Over night the temperature dropped considerably and though the day dawned bright and clear, it was markedly colder. Palmyra is an Aramaic city and was an important trade route between the Mediterranean and India and it was under the prosperity of this trade that Palmyra grew.


Pic 1. A view of some of the ruins of the huge city.


Pic 2. The four columns in this picture are made of pink granite. The granite was imported in four single lumps from the granite quarries of upper Egypt. How the hell did they do it? In Egypt they built huge barges and floated it down the Nile when in flood, but here we are in the middle of almost nowhere.


Pic 3. This guy apart from riding without due care and attention, is also on his mobile.


Pic 4. This is the Monumental Arch east gate of the city and is a double gate, the second joined to the first but at an angle of about 20o and leads to the Temple of Bel.


Pic 5. Yet another amphitheatre stage, this one being probably the most elaborate we have visited.


Pic 6. It was late afternoon and time for our law abiding camel rider to head home.


Pic 7. A last look at the city ruins for that day, note the citadel in the background on the mountain top.
 
The next day at Palmyra dawned crisp and cold and though we were heading back to Damascus today, we still had the Temple of Bel to visit.



Pic 1. Our guide explaining to me the layout of this huge temple



Pic 2. This is the north west corner of the temple and all the little pockmarks in the wall are where metal (I believe bronze) pegs fitted between the blocks. On the columns you may also have noted the small shelves half way up some of them, these were to hold statues of the person or persons, as some had two, who sponsored the building of that particular column. Believe it or not, much of Palmyra was built by sponsorship from the rich merchants who lived there, the fortunes coming from taxes imposed on the caravans passing through the city.



Pic 3. More of the temple with a view of the mountains in the background.



Pic 4. One of the rituals of this temple was the sacrificing of animals which were brought into the temple through this arch which is the remains of a tunnel. The idea was that the animals came through the tunnel into the temple out of sight of the worshipers.



Pic 5 to 8. We have left Palmyra and are on the way back to Damascus and at about 100k into the journey we stopped for a very welcome cuppa. This is the 'Bagdad Cafe' that I had already seen featured in many a travel article.









Pic 9. There was no way we were turning left at this junction. Damascus next stop.

 
Thank you gentleman , now for a quick run round Damascus where we spent a couple of days, the second unfortunately was a Friday which is the Muslim Sabbath. Little did we realise that on Fridays, Damascus shuts down completely, nothing is open, shops, cafes or market. Only the mosque. So on the Thursday we did all our touring.


Pic 1 2. This is the house of St. Ananias where there is also a chapel that is supposed to be the first ever place of Christian worship. The chapel is actually some 5 metres below the current street level and is believed to be at the level of the street in the time of Roman occupation in the 1st century AD.



Pic 3. In the courtyard of the house leading to the chapel stands this statue of St. Ananias baptising Saul of Tarsus who was John the Baptist.


Pic 4 5. One of the many shops we visited in Straight Street, Damascus. The street running within the old city walls from the West to East Gate and is anything but straight, it is narrow with twists and turns, bending in all directions between the two gates.



Pic 6 to 9. This is a classic old Damascus home, each built around an internal courtyard with fountains, plants, and intricate and artistic decoration in the style of typical Islamic culture.






Pic 10. Just a little bit of sculpture in the courtyard that took my fancy.
 
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