Day Six

May 20, 2007

We were on the road all day today through the desert going through Syria and into Jordan, where we will spend the night in Irbid, just over the Jordanian border. The border crossing took quite a long time. At the crossing I wanted to cash $100 in traveler’s checks. They said there would be a fee of 70% for the service; they were going to give me back $30. I told them “la shukron” (no thank you).

90 Kilometers to Iraq

Day Five

May 19, 2007

This morning we left Hama, Syria, the fourth largest city in Syria, which is some forty miles from the Mediterranean Sea. Hama is within the Fertile Crescent, an downward shaping arc goes around the northern edge of the Shamiyeh desert. The Fertile Crescent is basically located on or near the waterways in the region, the Mediterranean and the Euphrates River. It arcs from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq, then northward around the desert, then back to the south alone the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, and then into northern Egypt. It was obvious to us that outside the Fertile Crescent area is nothing but desert.
Palmyra is along the ancient trade route that crossed the desert, making a straight line from the Mediterranean to the Iraq. It was in its heyday at the time of Christ. The trade route changed when the town was devastated by the Mongols in the late 13th century, and then later abandoned under the Ottoman Empire. Some of the ruins at Palmyra are nearly 4,000 years old. The Palmyra area contains the largest ruin field in the world.
On the road to Palmyra we could see the dramatic shift in the environment, from lush vegetation, to sporadic vegetation, to rocky desert. It happens very quickly, within 45 minutes. In the desert we came within 90 miles of Baghdad. We stopped at the “Bagdad” Café, a small partially-tent structure in the middle of nowhere. It is owned and run by Bedouins, who hand-make beautiful jewelry. I was talking to one of the young Bedouin traders, and wanted to buy something, but had unfortunately not been able to cash a traveler’s check anywhere in Syria. They wouldn’t cash traveler’s checks even at the best hotels in Damascus. I said to him “My friend, you do not take traveler’s checks here, do you?” He gave me a puzzled look, and replied, “Sir, we Bedouins . . . we in desert! We both had a good laugh.
We had an amazing time walking through the ruins. When you see the size of the limestone and granite columns and ponder the construction techniques involved in raising the huge stone beams fifty feet into the air, you get a real appreciation for the magnitude of the efforts made by previous Syrians, especially when you imagine what the original structures looked like. It boggles the mind.
When the provincial governor heard of our visiting his territory, he offered us a private invitation to the Festival of Syrian History, expressed in dance, the final performance of which was to be given in the ancient Roman-style open theatre in the ruins, the evening we were there. We were delighted to attend. The performance was at night; it was the best dance troupes of the entire country of Syria. There were magnificent lighting effects on the ancient stone stage background. The costumes were unbelievable and the dancers were spectacular. It was an extraordinary event, one which I will never forget.
Before the show, we went up to the Arab Castle, on top of the mountain overlooking the Palmyran ruins. All-in-all, it was another extraordinary day.

The Palmyra ruin field
The world's largest ruin field
A BIG gravemarker
Just holding things together
Palmyra Ruins
Palmyra ruins and the Arab Castle
The Baghdad Cafe

Day Four

May 18, 2007

Last night we stayed at the Al Amad hotel overlooking the valley and opposite of the castle, Carc de Chevaliers. One energetic member of our group suggested that we might want to walk up to the castle in the morning, a four-mile walk uphill. Everyone agreed with his lively suggestion. I decided to put the matter before the Lord, ha. I prayed that if God wanted me to wake up early and walk up that mountain, for God to wake me up a half-hour before my alarm. I woke up many times last night, but never close to the time of my alarm. You could not have opened my eyelids with a pair of needlenose pliers when the time came. So I decided that God did not want me to walk up the mountain. For many the walk was horrible; Allen, Larry and I, on the other hand, had a refreshing ride up the mountain. Gee, weren’t we smart.
The castle was built in approximately 1000 AD. It was originally built by the Crusaders and was only taken by an enemy one time. A large Moslem army convinced the Christian occupiers that the Pope had made peace with the Moslems and that they should open the doors—they were no longer at war. Once the doors were open, the Moslems sent the Crusaders home telling them never to come back. Looking at the castle from the base, it is easy to see why it was never overtaken; it is truly a fortress.

Carc de Chevaliers
Castle entrance tunnel
Carc de Chevaliers
The top of the castle

Day Three

May 17, 2007

It did something truly unbelievable in Damascus today—IT RAINED AGAIN, but not enough to slow us down. We went first to the National Museum of Syria and saw among many other things, one of the major archeological finds of the last century, a small clay carving of the Ugaritic alphabet, giving archeologists and historians insight into the language and history of Syria, and thus, civilization.
We left Damascus and took a one-hour drive to the scenic mountain village of Maaloula. The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Sergis sits on top of the mountain overlooking the village. The church was constructed in the 4th century AD and is the oldest active Christian church. Maaloula is one of the few areas where Aramaic is still spoken. A woman from the St. Sergis church quietly said the Lord’s Prayer for our group. There was something very special about sitting in the oldest Christian church and hearing for the first time in my life the Lord’s Prayer spoken in the language of its first utterance.
The other important site in Maaloula is the Monastery of St. Thecla, who was a student of St. Paul’s and a female apostle according to the Coptic tradition. The monastery, which is carved into the side of the mountain, was constructed in the 1st century AD and is now the home of a Covenant of St Thecla (nuns).
The elevation of Maaloula is 4800 above sea level. The views are magnificent. There are caves in the side of every mountain and the houses seem to be extensions of the caves into the modern era.


Maaloula, Syria
Maaloula, Syria
Maaloula, Syria
Maaloula, Syria

View of Maaloula from St Sergis Church
The Shrine to St Thecla
The trail of St Tecla

Day Two

May 16, 2007

Today it did something in Damascus that it has never done in the 40+ years of our guide Nidal’s lifetime—it rained In May. And not just a few drops—a gully-washer, for the better part of an hour. Fortunately, it had little effect on our activities, we were in the bus when the hard rain hit.
Our day began with a walk through the Souq market, the largest in Damascus; it was not very busy when we went through in the morning, but near chaos when we passed through later in the afternoon.
We went to the Umayyed Mosque, the largest mosque in Syria. It contains, among many other things the Jesus Minaret, a tower that is thought to be the place where Jesus will return for the final judgment, and the tomb of John the Baptist, or rather what is believed to be the burial place for his head. Muslims consider both Jesus and John the Baptist to be true prophets of God, as are the New Testament evangelists.
We also drove by St. Paul’s Church, which is thought, I believe, to contain a replica of the window through which Paul was lowered in a basket. We also visited the Ananias Church, the traditional site where the Apostle Paul experienced his conversion. It was a very small, literally underground chapel containing large stone block walls. It was originally constructed on ground level, but is now one level down from the street level.
No time to write any more, check out photos.

St Paul's Church in Damascus
The House of Ananias
The Souq (market) in Damascus
The Tomb of John the Baptist

Day One

May 15, 2007

Today we flew to Damascus, Syria by way of Paris, France. Our stopover in Paris was after a night of flying which allowed for only a couple hours of restless sleep. We ran around the quite confusing Paris airport for two hours and then boarded the Air France jet for the five-hour flight to Damascus.
Looking out the window of the plane as we left Paris, I couldn’t help but notice the green flowing countryside, even close to the city. Everything was so logical and orderly; the farming plots were even and lush; the residential areas were carved very carefully around the farmland. The houses seemed charmingly close together. It was a beautiful sight.
As we proceeded westward from Paris we passed over the lovely semi-mountainous terrain of Greece and all at once directly above the abyss of the Mediterranean Sea. The water seemed bluer than the ocean in a Disney movie. The sun bounced off the water as if it were causing the water to simmer.
A few minutes later we left the Mediterranean Sea to fly over Turkey. The topography of Turkey looked much different than that of France or Greece. There were no green fields; there were no houses or roads. There were only deep, treacherous, snow-covered mountain ranges as far as I could see. The mountains were bronze in color, seemingly void of life, and they came in wave after wave from the horizon. It was a desolate place. It looked like the other side of the world from Greece and France.
It seemed like we traveled over Turkey for a long time. Finally we came to
a last mountain range which looked to contain sand pools on it, and not snow patches. There were the Anti-Lebanon Mountains that serve to a separate Lebanon and Syria. Once past the mountains, the land instantly flattened into desert. There was nothing but flat sand as far as can be seen. Once again, the change was dramatic. As we flew towards Damascus the sun settled into the horizon; in the shadows we could see the familiar twin towers of a nuclear power plant in the vicinity of Damascus. We landed at the Damascus airport, had to wait an hour and one-half at customs because of a typographical error on our list of trip participants. Finally we arrived at 10:00 pm (3:00 Atlanta time) at our hotel for the evening, the Cham Palace (Cham is the name the Syrian's use for Damascus). The hotel is a five-star hotel with gorgeous marble walls in the lobby, vines growing up the interior walls of the atrium, marble vanities in each room, and they provided a phenomenal Syrian meal, served buffet style, for our group. We had a feast and then walked around the city a little before going to bed. It was a long day!