Palmyra

Tuesday 4th
Today we left Damascus bound for the desert city of Palmyra. Palmyra is a city on the edge of the ruins of an ancient city called... Palmyra. The new city is quite a dive really, but we found a nice restaurant that served Bedouin food. The food was delicious and we met a guidebook author researching Syria who gave us some helpful tips for our trip.

Palmyra looking beautiful in the sunset. Apparently Palmyra was ruled by Queen Zenobia who made it a prosperous city. These days your lucky to see a woman with a job in Syria!
Ruins in the fading light

Nick hanging out next to... something! we didn't get a guide :)

Just before sunset we headed up to the massive citadel which looks over the whole ruined city of Palmyra and the surrounding desert. The view was amazing. After that we went down to the ruins themself to catch the remaining light. It was pretty impressive.

Massive columns....

(I said to Nick- why don't they make buildings this big anymore? He said- they do)

a massive arch, and a tour bus
Doesn't pass for an archeologist does he? the tight jeans give it away
Sunset
At the Citadel- doing our best to ignore the people trying to sell us stuff...
The view from the citadel- you can double click on the images to make them bigger :)
The Citadel.
Desert scenes
Palmyra from above....

Wednesday 5th...... bus to Tartus