Walking to Syria

I can't tell you much about yesterday because I have no idea where we were. We drove for a few hours from the town in Cappadocia where were had spent the last few days and ended up in an industrial city on the Mediterranean coast. It wasn't on our itinerary and I never caught the name of the city - I rather enjoyed not knowing where I was. The city was choked under a blanket of smog and despite its beautiful surroundings, it was really quite ugly. They tried to beautify the shoreline with a lovely walkway, parks and tea houses but they were lost in the pollution. It was a perfectly cloudless day but the sky and the sea were both gun-metal grey due to the smog. We didn't do much here and despite its claims of fabulous cuisine, the city didn't even offer us a decent meal.

This morning we visited a great museum in a nearby town called Harbiye. It had a lot of beautiful mosaics dating from the 1st to 6th century as well as some statues from a few hundred BCE. The mosaics were absolutely huge and very intricate. There were also some Hittite pottery pieces and other artifacts that went back to the 14-16th century BCE. It just boggles the mind.

We arrived at the Turkish border just before noon and bid farewell to our Turkish guide and driver. We passed through Turkish passport control and then walked the 2.5 kilometers to the Syrian border through "no man's land". There was an option to take the bus but most of us chose to walk as it was just such a cool thing to do - it felt very Middle Eastern to be walking between countries in a very barren landscape. We were met on the Syrian side by a very friendly soldier who scooted down the hill, rifle at the ready to meet us. A couple of hundred feet later we came upon a tent housing three military looking gentlemen who introduced themselves and offered us some tea in the shade of their awning. A few feet further on we finally arrived at the customs building and all passed through with little difficulty (except for the one American in our midst who was questioned quite thoroughly before getting her passport stamped).

A few hundred more meters down the road we met up with our Syrian guide who we all immediately took a great liking to. We had about an hour's drive to Aleppo, got checked into our hotel and were taken to a bank and then a cheap lunch. We had the best felafel wrap that I ever could dream of tasting and a coke for under a dollar. It's so nice to be back in a country that is affordable after the wallet-drain of Turkey. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring this very cool city, and especially its souq which seems to go on forever. At first glance, Syria is a paradise. It is inexpensive, the food is great, there is so much to see here, and best of all the people are absolutely wonderful. I am very much looking forward to the next week.