"Welcome back to Syria"

Beirut (Lebanon) --> Damascus (and daytrips to Bosra and Ma'aloula) --> Mar Mousa --> Palmyra --> Dier ez-Zur (and daytrips to Mari and Doura Europa) --> Damascus --> Amman (Jordan)

Time now to see the big city! Damascus is, unfortunately, mostly that although it has an excellent old town with a monsterous souk and some fine mosques and a palace all tucked in there. I did all these, of course, and met a very pleasant Swedish chap who was traveling the other way (heading north from Egypt) and got some good travel tips from him. And smoked some nargile with him too - it's a group activity.

I added in a daytrip to the highly recommended (by LP) Bosra with its Roman city (made of granite) and which includes a giant free-standing theatre (most theatres are built into the side of hills). Likewise the wee town of Ma'aloula was in my sights for the next day - it has several monasteries as well was the usual mosques all wedged into a little valley. Whilst there I bought some Ma'aloula wine (made by the kiosk owner) which wasn't far removed from vinegar, and some members of the Finnish diplomatic mission who were doing their own daytrip there.

There was one place I was very interested in seeing - recommended by LP and fellow travelers - the monastery at Mar Mousa. Basically you just turn up and they let you stay there for free, feed you and in return ask for your help doing the chores. I ate like a king but had to peel a lot of potatoes spend some hours washing up. Quid pro quo. It turned out to be a fascinating place partly because it was a fully functioning monastery (mass in Arabic twice a day with time for meditation) but also because Father Paolo, the Italian who runs the monsatery, had been to New Zealand for a world development conference. He had been a guest speaker and so traveled all that way for two days in Auckland and (perhaps to gratify me) said that he really liked it.

Desperate to see more ruins (I kid you) I headed to Palmyra - a tiny little town but beside an extensive Roman ruin site. I spent a day wandering around there before heading way out east to the desert town of Deir ez-Zur (which may be called Deir Ezzor on maps). What's there? It's a pleasing little agricultural town sitting on the Euphrates, not far from Iraq, and with some decent daytripping to do. I spent one day heading to Mari - a work still in progress as far as archaeologists are concerned but still something one is charged full price for - and the much more interesting Roman town of Doura Europa sitting atop a hill overlooking the Euphrates and the small farming town stretched out on the plain beside the river.

Unless I fancied hanging out in the desert and seeing more ruins then the only thing left to do was head to Jordan ... so I did.