More Allepo

We left Palmyra early yesterday morning at 8:30 a.m. The bus was scheduled to leave at 8:00 a.m. However, the buses wait until they are full before leaving. They did not charge us extra for our backpacks taking up an extra seat -- which was nice. Everyone is always kind, accommodating and helpful on the bus. One fellow gave up his seat in the front so that we could sit together. We are also aware that women are not to sit beside strange men, if at all possible.



It took us two hours to get to Homs, where we took a taxi to another bus station. Our first deluxe bus on this trip. What a difference -- more space, air conditioning. They also served us a candy and a bottle of water for the two and half hour trip. Bus to Homs. Please note the plastic chairs in the middle for additional passengers. There were four chairs.




Aleppo is a city of 1.5 million. Arriving in Aleppo all we could see was a 'sea' of yellow taxi cabs going in every direction and much too close to each other. The traffic has a rhythm of its own, as does crossing the streets, given the traffic. Everyone 'jay walks'. It's the only way you can cross the street. 'Jay walking' requires that you find a small space in the line of cars and begin weaving your way across the street. It takes practice in perfecting this strategy, as a one-second pause can cause another five-minute wait to find the perfect space to begin the crossing.

This picture is a sample of Allepo architecture. Notice cedar from Lebanon.



When we arrive in Aleppo we initially went to a hotel recommended in the Lonely Planet. They only had a room for a night and then we would have to share a bathroom the next night. Last night's hotel had a television on which were were able to get some news from in English. Clinton and Obama are still at it, it seems??? We stayed one night here and this morning, Gerald found another room in another hotel that is very lovely. It has, yet another, huge bathroom -- complete with a bathtub-- which is very, very, unusual. The room has two beds in it and it quite large. It also has french doors opening up to a beautiful balcony with a garden table and chairs (in purple, I might add), complete with various plants the owner grows.

Juice Bar on the corner near our hotel. Any combination of juice you wish. Tonight we had banana and grapefruit. Last night, we had banana, strawberry, orange. The combination juice has fruit, plus carrot. Neither one of us was that brave.



Allepo at night, near our hotel and near the Sheraton Hotel.


Entrance to Mosque. The Mosques here are huge with an outdoor courtyard made of marble flooring.


Yesterday, we began exploring the souks in Aleppo and found streets of butchers, gold and soaps. Aleppo's labyrinth-like souks are magical. One of the entrances to the souks. It is close to the hotel we are staying in. Characteristic architecture, i.e., basalt (black) and limestone (white).



Today, we discovered that many places to see were closed because it is TUESDAY? We are not certain about the significance. However, the people attending to the places we attempted to visit were quite startled that we did not know that they would be closed.

Shawna's note:

The week dated 21-27 of April 2008 is the so called Long Week (Megali
Evdomada), the Great Week, which is Easter Week for all Greek Orthodox
people. It is also in the middle of Jewish Passover.

As the National Museum and other sites were closed in the city. We decided to see a couple of sites out of town:

Picture of tall shoes in museum. These tall shoes were used by brides (in the past). It was explained to us that because the brides were so young they needed these shoes to make them appear taller. One woman (from Lebanon) commented that the shoes stopped the young girls from running away.


We saw the Basilica of Saint Simeon, which is some 40 km. away from Allepo. In 423 A.D., Simeon climbed to the top of a three metre pillar and went on to spend the next 36 years on top of this pillar and other taller pillars. It seems that he ended his days on a pillar 18 metres high. After his death, an enormous church was built around the most famous pillar. The ruins of the church were quite spectacular.

St. Simeon Church


We also saw some Byzantine tombs carved in rock, just outside of a small town on the way to the Church.


We are thinking that a heat wave must be following us. Today was approximately 32-33 degrees. It was very, very, hot, yet again. However, in the night the temperature cools down for sleeping, which is lovely. It rained around 3:00/4:00 a.m. Given the heat wave we have been experiencing, we were most pleased to hear the rain, thinking that it would cool the temperature. It did somewhat, as it did not get hot at 9:00 a.m. the next day. However, by 11:00 a.m. we were back to the heat wave. We will leave this post with a picture of a Pastry shop. We tried some of these last night and they were truly amazing.