November 21st.
We left Palmyra this afternoon. Marcus had made a recovery so he was fit to travel. We
were heading to Hama. Hama is a lovely town in from the coast in the West of Syria. It is famous for its waterwheels, known as Norias, which were used to draw water from the ancient viaducts to provide sanitation and irrigation.
Before 1982, Hama, was a vibrant, antiquated, and beautiful town. One of Syria's gems. [In more modern times, Syria was occupied by the Ottoman Empire until the end of the 1st World War, and then by the French during the 1920's. During the 50's and 60's the country went through a period of great instability, as a series of military coups were staged against civil rule, and political factions fought to assume control. after Syria backed the Black September retaliations in 1970, a bloodless coup was executed (excuse the pun) by the then minister of defence - Hafiz al-Asad - and an authocratic state was introduced. This led to a new constitution being effected which did not sit well with many people, and led to a schism. In 1982 this cuminated with an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, who were Sunni Muslims, and a vicious and bloody struggle was fought in the city of Hama] The outcome of this violent altercation not only led to the loss of many lives but also left much of the old city razed to the ground.
We headed to the bus station expecting to get a luxury bus to Hama. It turned there was aonly a servise only - and quite expensive to boot. Katie, Marcus, and I, travelled together. Jules headed to Damascus, and the rest of the people were heading either home or to new countries. Per was also supposed to be travelling to Hama but he was absent when we left.
We had a great trip to Hama. The people on the servise were really happy that we had three rucksacks the size of ourselves with us. We spent the whole time playing cards [no mean feat on a minibus] during which time Katie kept our spirits up with a her PMA (positive mental attitude) using phrases like 'we are all going to die'. Re: Syrian drivers.
Nevertheless we got to Homs in one piece and transferred and got to Hama. We checked into the Riad hotel, where we encountered the larger than life, and very friendly, Abdulla. If you are ever in Hama check him out!
We checked in and found we had the best rooms we had since arriving in the country. Huge, warm, cheap, Sky TV, and a bathroom in which you could sit in the bath and watch your TV from. Katie had been raving about getting a single room all the way and doing just this - then ended up stuck in a dorm. We got the double. Result!
We had a chilled evening in. We also bumped into Per there and decided to go for a lovely meal
in a 5 star restaurant in the old town. Good God I ate four times my body weight. Your stomach is supposed to contain the size of your fist in volume. I ended up eating the size of my head - twice. After this we are decided to get a bottle of wine, which turned into several, and sit in and get drunk, it was a pretty chilled evening.
I must stop drinking several bottles of wine.
We left Palmyra this afternoon. Marcus had made a recovery so he was fit to travel. We
were heading to Hama. Hama is a lovely town in from the coast in the West of Syria. It is famous for its waterwheels, known as Norias, which were used to draw water from the ancient viaducts to provide sanitation and irrigation.Before 1982, Hama, was a vibrant, antiquated, and beautiful town. One of Syria's gems. [In more modern times, Syria was occupied by the Ottoman Empire until the end of the 1st World War, and then by the French during the 1920's. During the 50's and 60's the country went through a period of great instability, as a series of military coups were staged against civil rule, and political factions fought to assume control. after Syria backed the Black September retaliations in 1970, a bloodless coup was executed (excuse the pun) by the then minister of defence - Hafiz al-Asad - and an authocratic state was introduced. This led to a new constitution being effected which did not sit well with many people, and led to a schism. In 1982 this cuminated with an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, who were Sunni Muslims, and a vicious and bloody struggle was fought in the city of Hama] The outcome of this violent altercation not only led to the loss of many lives but also left much of the old city razed to the ground.
We headed to the bus station expecting to get a luxury bus to Hama. It turned there was aonly a servise only - and quite expensive to boot. Katie, Marcus, and I, travelled together. Jules headed to Damascus, and the rest of the people were heading either home or to new countries. Per was also supposed to be travelling to Hama but he was absent when we left.
We had a great trip to Hama. The people on the servise were really happy that we had three rucksacks the size of ourselves with us. We spent the whole time playing cards [no mean feat on a minibus] during which time Katie kept our spirits up with a her PMA (positive mental attitude) using phrases like 'we are all going to die'. Re: Syrian drivers.
Nevertheless we got to Homs in one piece and transferred and got to Hama. We checked into the Riad hotel, where we encountered the larger than life, and very friendly, Abdulla. If you are ever in Hama check him out!
We checked in and found we had the best rooms we had since arriving in the country. Huge, warm, cheap, Sky TV, and a bathroom in which you could sit in the bath and watch your TV from. Katie had been raving about getting a single room all the way and doing just this - then ended up stuck in a dorm. We got the double. Result!
We had a chilled evening in. We also bumped into Per there and decided to go for a lovely meal
in a 5 star restaurant in the old town. Good God I ate four times my body weight. Your stomach is supposed to contain the size of your fist in volume. I ended up eating the size of my head - twice. After this we are decided to get a bottle of wine, which turned into several, and sit in and get drunk, it was a pretty chilled evening.I must stop drinking several bottles of wine.
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