Desert City under water

Trip Start Feb 15, 2006

Trip End May 19, 2006

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Flag of Syria Palmyra, Syria
Sunday, April 2, 2006

As Syria's' premier attraction, I'd been planning when and how to fit in my excursion to Palmyra for a bit. Not that the weather has ever really been part of the equation during much of this holiday, as I planned it to chase spring into summer as I travel north from Egypt. At this time of year the sky's famously clear and the temperature pleasant. And for the most part (p\bar a sand storm in the Sahara) it has worked out well.

Now to put this into context, Palmyra is in a pretty dry spot. Over 150km East of the lush Orontes valley (where "every one" in Syria lives) and over 200 km West of the fertile land by the Euphrates. You will have to trust me when I say there is even less when you look up or down on the map, the Afqa spring is the ONLY REASON this place existed. So I didn't think about checking the weather before hopping on a bus from Damascus, well I should have

again1

. (By the way leaving on highway no. 2, running to Bagdad is an odd feeling, the sign says "234 km to Iraq" and "198 km to Palmyra"!!!! Fortunately it's not that close to the border as we take a left turn 100kms down the road).

Back to the story, had I told you about the bus 'aqua-planing' on the flooded roads? The horizontal rain thumping down all after noon? Or best of all the fact that with my main bag stored in Damascus, I don't have any wet weather gear or even a change of T-shirt!! Great. The following day was cold, windy (by that I mean gale force at times) and overcast, but not "as" wet.

The ruins at this famous caravan cross road for both the silk and spice routes were very nice however. Tadmor (the oasis) was an important cross roads, mentioned as far back as the 19th century BC, but the real grander of the place is owed to Palmyra's' (the palm city) independence from both Rome and Persia, firstly as a merchant republic, protected by its isolation but then as its own kingdom controlling much of Arabia.

sorry I just can't upload the photos on this slow pc

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