Palmyra, Syria. 14.7.2010

Today we took a long drive east towards the desert of central Syria (if you continue along the road you will eventually end up in Iraq). In the middle of the desert stands Palmyra an ancient roman city similar to that in Jerash (Jordan) Ephesus(Turkey) and Baalbek (Lebanon).An expansive oasis is nearby. Known as Tadmor in Arabic the Romans made it their own after the Assyrians, Persians, and Seleucids. The site is impressive just like Jerash. The difference here is that Palmyra is not in the middle of the city, it stands alone so you can drive around the site to see it from all angles. The site is enormous with towers, colonnades, funerary temples, a theatre and an agora. Most impressive was the Temple of Bel which is the most complete structure left in Palmyra. Our guide, a former English professor, was enthusiastic to show off his English and the many words he had learned in Dutch. He did a very clever trick with his mirror to show us the many interesting features on the temple. He told us lots about Roman history, Thomas and Amber thought it was very interesting. The coolest thing was when the kids had to climb under some monolith blocks and even the underside had some spectacular engravings. A lovely site,though it felt like we were back in Qatar as it was 47 degrees!