Palmyra Ruins
We just got back from Palmyra, which had a lot of interesting ruins and bored locals. Supposedly the best site in Syria, this trip overall was a let down for us because of the people in the city.
On the second day, we awoke at 5:30 am to the sandstorm in the left picture. I took both shots from our balcony, but the right one is of the gloomy weather before the storm.
Even though the ruins are worth the visit, we reluctantly decided to spend another night in Palmyra because if we left, we would not return for my sunrise pictures. Compared to the rest of Syria where the locals have treated us like guests, here we were nothing more than tourists to them. Like every other tourism dependant economy in the world, Palmyra has kids begging for money, relentless hotel touts, restaurants charging double for bad food, deceitful taxi drivers, and shopkeepers that chase you down the street (beware of the date man on the corner).
Amazingly, about 30 minutes before sunset, the storm broke and the skies cleared. I made Rasa run to the ruins for pictures before the lighting changed. It made for a spectacular sunset because of all the dust still in the air. This picture is for Pat, thanks for motivating Rasa to use her camera.
This is the completely restored amphitheater. The inside is well worth paying the $1.50 admission to see.
Since the sandstorm kept us cooped up in our room all day (watching BBC!), we decided to explore the ruins by moonlight. The floodlights helped a bit also. This is the Monumental Arch, designed to hide a 30° turn in the colonnade.
The next morning, I finally got my sunrise pictures. This is the Funerary Temple at the opposite end of the colonnade.
This is the entrance to Valley of the Tombs and in the distance you can see the Qala’at ibn Maan Citadel. The Towers of Yemliko in the foreground are burial chambers stacked with coffins. Of course, to see any of the actual artifacts from these tombs you need to visit the museum in Damascus.
This oasis once supported the ancient city. Near the mountain base, a hot spring runs down the hillside in a channel irrigating all the date palms, olives, pomegranates, apricots and nut trees. Walking through this labyrinth of paths it is easy to imagine how it looked in 200 AD. I do not think anyone has rebuilt these mud brick walls for hundreds of years.
