37 days 8273 A kilometers
journey to the cradle of civilization.
Even a journey made to accompany a group of 16 campers organized by Adventure Size .
we disembarked from Ancona to Igoumenitsa and then crossing to Greece and Turkey on the comfortable motorway up to the Bab al Hawa Syrian border.
April 15. Customs operations, handled by our guide Nael Syrian lasted less than 5 hours in the afternoon we stop at a camp 28 km before Aleppo. The next morning starts, through Syria, our descent toward the Jordan. The first site we visit Ebla is here and we are really at the dawn of history, the third millennium BC.
Maarrat A very interesting visit the Mosaic Museum where they are collected from the mosaic floors of the most luxurious houses in the nearby town known as the Byzantine Dead Cities, one of which, Sergjilla, visiting on the continuation of our stage. Srgjilla has many buildings in excellent condition and walking through these you may decline in the life of 1500 years ago, a site to visit!
April 17. Visit the Castle of Saladin, the first of the great castles that we will see in Syria and Jordan. It was the Byzantine to start construction later the Crusaders conquered it and realized that the fortifications did not serve to stop the army of Saladin, who defeated the Crusaders, giving its name to the castle. Still
south to Apamea, a beautiful Roman town where we had the opportunity to stay for the night with a view of the colonnade of the cardo, the main street that goes from north to south.
A brief stop in Hama with its famous castle Norie and then another that is worth visiting: the Krak des Chevaliers. Built by the Crusaders on a previous settlement is still in excellent condition.
April 19. On the road to Damascus make a small detour to visit Mar Musa and Maalula and at night we are camping. Finally a camping worthy of the name, until now we have always made a stop at parking sites or restaurants. We do not stop in Damascus whose visit is planned on the way back and the next morning we depart towards the Jordanian border where we will meet the guide who will accompany us all the way to Jordan. Again, these customs operations are quite long (5 hours) so that the practice ended at 20.30 we stopped in the square just beyond the last check for dinner and the night, watched over by the tourist police, a man who will follow us throughout the journey, partly on cars that have alternate to escort us up to the Dead Sea, then to the edge of my camper.
The first leg takes us to Jordan to Umm Qais (Gadara) from the archaeological site where you can enjoy a spectacular view of the Golan Heights and Lake Tiberias and over until Jerash where we arrive in the afternoon and parked in the fenced parking near the ticket because the parking lot of the visitor center is closed for renovation. Since the site visit scheduled for the next morning to dedicate a few hours walking around the streets of the city and purchases.
Jerash, the ancient Jerash is one of the most important Roman sites in Jordan where we spent a whole morning and for its size and for the interest. In the afternoon a short transfer to Amman where we did stop at the parking lot of the 'Commodore Hotel, where a willing Local electrician extends a temporary power line to feed the campers.
April 23. Visit to Amman, the Citadel, the souk and the theater. Amman is a modern city, nice and clean with wide boulevards that intersect with underpasses, we made a good impression. Let's go to lunch at a local out of town, in Jordan, most restaurants adopt the self-service solution and we must say that there is a wide variety of courses. Since the restaurant is in the vicinity of Mount Nebo we decide to do this tour before returning to the parking lot. Mount Nebo, which offers an exceptional view over the Dead Sea, the Jordan River to Jerusalem and more than unfortunate that the complex monastery and the basilica are closed for roadworks.
April 24. Trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Early departure at 7 am and return at 23, one day very heavy. The excursion is organized by the agency that took care of our tour in Jordan in cooperation with the Israeli agency. A bus took us to the Jordanian border between Israel and through which we passed individually being very careful that the entry stamps on passports were not applied, it is impossible to return to Syria, but on a separate sheet. An Israeli bus with a guide we picked and taken to nearby Jerusalem for a panoramic visit to the Garden of Olives and then with the same bus, but without a guide we have entered into a Palestine where the Palestinian leadership (late appointment) took us to the Basilica of the Nativity. A quick snack and then return to Israel through (about 1 hour) made the checkpoint in the wall dividing Israel from Palestine. Returning to Jerusalem in the morning we find the guidance that accompanies us through the souk, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and to visit some of the Stations of the Cross. For the sake of "security" we have not visited the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall. To 17.30 over the same bus tour took us to the northern border, near the Sea of \u200b\u200bGalilee, because the border made the evening closes at 18, here made the Practical output through a transfer we reached the Jordanian border, some practice and then return to Amman.
A long and stressful trip in a country where tensions between different peoples are palpable and I recommend only to true believers.
April 25. After a stressful day as a stage of only 80 km takes us through the Dead Sea Madaba where we visit the church of San Giorgio, whose mosaic floor depicting a map that highlights the biblical sites of the Middle East. The Dead Sea welcomes us with a very hot day and we are hosted in a parking lot of a seaside resort with a beautiful swimming pool so that we allow ourselves swimming in the sea, where the salinity is so high that the only thing to do is stay afloat without effort, and the huge pool of fresh water baths.
along the Kings Highway to Wadi Musa we get the modern settlement was born near Petra. On the road we stop to visit the castle of Karak, unfortunately, served by a small (17 per camper) to enter and exit the parking lot where you must cross the narrow country roads along the stalls, animals, children and locals annoyed by our column , however, the castle is worth a quick visit that they had already visited other much more interesting. In Wadi Musa
we hosted in the courtyard of 'Al-Anbat Hotel that provides electricity, water supply the camper and use of toilets and showers.
April 27. Full day excursion to Petra. This visit is worth the trip. The emotions aroused by the sight of the Treasury, although seen hundreds of times in documentaries or photographs, are indescribable. But Petra is not only the Siq and the Treasury, but the whole complex of buildings, theater, the fine tombs of the Kings and the yellow grains from rocks, ocher, red and white. The collection of photographs for which the link is at the bottom of these lines you can see some of the photos I made on this day. We have seen a lot but still the regret of not having had access to a 'another day to learn more visit the site and to try the thrill of seeing through the spectacle of the cliffs of the Siq Treasury sunshine.
Aqaba holds for us a couple of days of uncertain weather, the afternoon the day of arrival we were able to swim in the Red Sea while the next morning we had to abandon the planned boat trip to see the coral reef due to strong wind and rough seas.
April 29. Wadi Rum. The weather continues to be uncertain even if it allows us to see a beautiful sunset from the cliffs above the Jabal Rum Camp which we are guests. The next day, in the morning we take a long walk in the desert and at lunchtime it started to rain, at 17 o'clock we do the planned tour off-road even if the temperature is not what we expected but fitted jackets and sweatshirts we do not discourage and also participated in the tea ceremony in the desert.
May 1. With the fast highway to Amman and then go back to the desert castles we visit. Qasr Kharana, a stone fortress rose; Qasr Amra, a pretty little castle with a significant series of frescoes, Qasr al-Azrak, an austere black basalt castle where he stayed Lawrence of Arabia in 1917-18. Later we went up to the black desert, made of pebbles of basalt and volcanic rock, which extends to the border with Iraq, about 350 km to the east.
For the night we stopped in the courtyard of 'Azrak Palace Restaurant which has provided us with electricity and water and where we dined well.
follows a boring day spent in customs to return Syria to wait for the leadership that would carry out such practices, however we are in the 22 parking Bosra.
May 3. In the morning we go in with the campers Suwaidi to visit the museum which is home to beautiful mosaics and a rich display of statues of black basalt. Back in Bosra we undertook a visit to the archaeological site with columns, lintels, and anything else made of black basalt, a peculiarity that strikes because we usually see the remains of Roman towns in stone. We were struck particularly the imposing citadel of basalt within which is the perfectly preserved Roman theater and anchesso made of black basalt. The theater has survived virtually intact because the Arabs after the Romans surrounded it with walls of fortification that protects it from attack, among other things, the Crusaders.
The next day ... Damascus. Once in the morning we spent the afternoon for individual activities, while the next day we visited the city aboard a bus.
The visit of the interesting National Museum, the Suk, the magnificent Umayyad Mosque, Azem Palace, the Chapel of Ananias, a pleasant walk in the neighborhood Christian and not a last snack in a typical restaurant where the use of cutlery is unknown, were the day's program.
Particular attention was paid to the Mosque, the third in order of importance in the Islamic world, visited by non Muslims, rich in mosaics, chandeliers and precious which is the stately tomb of St. John the Baptist.
May 6. A day spent wandering through the souk, to make contact with local life and the inevitable souvenir shop.
May 7. Palmira, the most interesting historical site in Syria. Noteworthy is the temple of Bel before Roman times, an imposing building built in honor of Bel, the chief god of the people who lived here before the Roman conquest. Equally beautiful and interesting the way the Colonnade, the tetrapilo, spas, theater, triumphal arch through which we pass to enter the site.
Outside the Roman site on small hills are arranged many square towers that are in fact multi-storey graves, which contained many sarcophagi.
On to the site on a hill stands the Qalat'at ibn Maan castle from which you can see the panorama of Palmyra.
The next day, a beautiful road in the desert brings us to Rasafa where we visit the historic site surrounded by fortification walls and within which is the basilica of St. Sergius partially restored. In the evening we
Aleppo. RV camping, away from the city, where water is scarce.
May 9. Visit of Aleppo. The citadel is very interesting, is located on a hill overlooking the city and is full of palaces and offers spectacular views of the city at his feet. We then walked through the souk with the inevitable purchase of the characteristic products of Aleppo: pistachios and soap. In the evening we attended a dinner for the closure of the journey in an elegant restaurant in the old city center.
May 10. Before going to the border where we visited San Simeon site includes a baptistery and a church whose remains are well preserved and the center is a stone, the remains of the column on which Simon spent most of his life as a hermit.
Four Syrian border and two hours of the day ending the Turkish border, we stop for the night just in turkish territory. Five days of
convenient stop between Turkey and Greece Igoumenitsa lead us to where we board on May 14 in the direction of Ancona.
PHOTOS
SYRIA
JORDAN
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