Third Day Tour of Syria

Hi from Clare. Photo 1 Fertile Valleys Photo 2 Citadel at Aleppo Photo 3 Water Wheels We set off this morning and headed north through vastly different countryside from yesterday's dessert area. We traveled through rolling hills and fertile valleys which were heavily cultivated, producing food for the 21 million Syrians. The people once again were waving and happy to see us. Some of the yachty's were wearing shorts which caused a few giggles from the local Moslem ladies, can't say I blame them! Families travel by motor bike with as many as four people on one bike. They drive at high speed along the highway without helmets or protective clothing. We saw many children hanging off the back of tray trucks or sitting with legs swinging. The best one though was a couple of kids sitting on plastic chairs on the back of tray truck. Although we were horrified, nobody seemed to take any notice and that includes the local police.

We visited the old city of Aleppo which has a history of over 4000 years. It has a huge Citadel built around the 10th century. It was home to 3000 people and 500 horses and it is so big I couldn't fit it in a photo. The Mosque within contains the tomb of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist(looks like we can't get away from this guy).

We had lunch at an Albanian restaurant. The food was good but I am longing for something simple like a peanut butter sandwich. We have many Americans on the tour who constantly complain about the spicy food, guess they just want to see a Mac Donald's!

We also saw an ancient water wheel that dates back 2000 years. There are only 17 left now but originally there were hundreds delivering water for irrigation via a aqueduct.

We arrived back to the boat around 6.30pm for dinner on board and a few drinks.

Tomorrow we have another half day of touring before leaving around 4pm for Lebanon.

love CANDY

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