Qala'at a Saladin, Latakia, and Tartus

November 23rd - 24th

Katie left this morning, heading for Aleppo. Per had left for Tartus to check out an apartment. Marcus and I decided to take a trip to Saladin's castle in the North and then to be dropped in the town of Latakia where we planned to spend the night.

We headed off early and had a pleasant drive up through the Jebel Assyria in the morning sunshine. We got to Qala'at A Saladin late in the morning. We could not have asked for a better day to travel and to explore. It was a warm, hazy day; T-shirt weather but not overly hot.

Qala'at Salah ad-Din as it is now know used to be called 'Saône' during the crusaders times (named after Robert de Saône). It was later called Sayhun in Arabic.

There is not a great deal of information pertaining to it for reference. It sits on a wedge-shaped ridge between two valleys. 25km from the coastal town of Latakia. The side of the wedge leading to the valley was seperated by a 28metre man made ditch - cut into the sheer rock. It is pretty impressive to see. The castle itself sprawls along the top of the ridge, sitting amidst the range of trees covering the valley; taking up some 12 acres. In Saladin's time it was thought to be able to house 10,000 men. It was a perfect strategic setinel between Latakia and Aleppo's trade route.

There was a fortification here going back to Alexander's time and further through the Byzantine period; although not that much is known of it. In the 10th century an impressive citadel was built. The crusaders nabbed it in the 12th Century and added their own modifications. Saladin laid siege to it and finally took it in 1188 after a month battle.

the journey up to the castle was pretty fun as it consisted of a series of hairpin turns over stomach-churning drops. Once we got there, we spent a good two hours exploring every bit of it. I absolutely loved it. Just as much, if not more, as Krak. There were so many hidden areas and towers to climb and battlements to wander around. We even found a passageway that led through the outer walls on to the glacis itself on the castle's east-side. There was no angle-grinding cuts anywhere to be seen and I think this must have been part of the original design. It was amazingly good fun.

As for the views through the valley to Latakia. They were breathtaking. We tried to capture as many as possible with our cameras; but they just did not - could not - do it justice. I really enjoyed this castle and its surrounding countryside.

From here we headed down into the town of Latakia. We checked into a nice, cheap hotel and went out on the town.

Laodicea, Laodikeia or Laodiceia, (Turkish: Lazkiye; Latin: Laodicea ad Mare) is Syria's principle port. It played a very prominent part in the history of Syria, but now its main attraction is it's beaches - mmmmm - can't comment on that one; its money - everyone is loaded; and its affilation to western style culture. We did not know this at the time but Latakia is very similar to many cities in Lebanon. The first thing you notice upon arrival here is the difference in the way women dress and socialise. Gone are the burkhas and hajeebs; long black hair is freely flowing and tight denim and knee-length boots are the norm. It makes a refreshing change to see womens' ability to express themselves so liberally. Syrian women are equisitively beautiful and I don't blame them for wanting to no longer be stuck sweltering under the equivalent of a balaclave and full length trench-coat each and every day. I don't think the battle for sexually equality is by any means close to winning but you get the feeling there are clouds on the horizon; it is coming and it is going to change the face of the Middle East. I wish them the best of luck. Hanging out in Latakia was great fun and we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. We had a good room and even manged to catch American Beauty on the TV, however because of the censorship of films in Syria - particularly those of a sexual nature, most of the film was cut to buggery. I think Syrian people must have found it a bit odd, especially the scene at the end where the army general comes into the garage and tries it on with Kevin Spacey. In this version he just walks and in walks out; then takes a gun and shoots Kev in the back of the head. hmmmm... you can see how the continuity, not to mention plot, might get a little disjointed.

We crashed out and I woke up around 2am and went to take a leak. I couldn't be arsed to get dress so I nipped across to the toilet naked. As I finished I realised someone had checked into the other set of rooms and was in the kitchen making tea: note to oneself - If you don't fancy spending 20mins naked in a toilet - put some clothes on if you have to get up in the night.