Lattakia to AleppoThe road from Lattakia to Aleppo begins as a dangerous, single-lane highway with trucks trying to overtake each other on the downhill bends of windy roads! The road is incredibly picturesque with farms, orchards, forests and hills and you could easily forget that this country has a desert in the east. Lots of the fruit and vegetables available in Qatar came from Syria and here you can see it all growing. Lorries pass carrying all manner of watermelons, tomatoes, cucumbers and grapes. Eventually, the road becomes a brand new dual carriageway. We have no GPS for Syria and the map I bought in Qatar is ten years old so we were pleasantly surprised to find the best road in Syria. However, the road itself was not quite finished so traffic drove both left and right on both sides of the dual carriageway! We arrived in Aleppo, again chaotic streets and erratic driving surrounded us. Aleppo has a one-way system which adds to the confusion when you are trying to find your hotel. And we thought Qatari roads were difficult, you haven’t seen anything until you come here to Syria! We parked our car at the hotel and walked into the ancient city of Aleppo ( one of the world’s oldest). The old city is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and when you walk around the streets it really does feel like you have stepped back in time. There was even a shop selling buckets of coal! We had a little wander around and then decided to get a taxi back to save the kids legs. Our friendly taxi driver didn’t quite know where our hotel was so located so he read the map whilst driving along, negotiating the road and conversing with us in broken English all at the same time. I am glad to report that we all got back in one piece, just!
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