Venus & Ulysses 2004

Journal Home
Archives
Itinerary

May 2004
SMTWTFS
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
Home » Archives » May 2004 » Aleppo

[Previous entry: "Where It's At"] [Next entry: "Ruins"]

05/18/2004: "Aleppo"


We made it to Aleppo yesterday morning. We were asked several times after we got off the plane "are you sure you're not going to Damascus"? We slept from about 5 am to noon, and by the time we'd walked around and dealt with the essentials of money, orange juice, and coffee, it was already 4 and we realized we had to go see the Citadel right then since it closed at 6 and is closed on Tuesdays.

The Citadel is a big hill surrounded by a moat in the middle of Aleppo. It's going through lots of restoration, but there was still lots to see. Great views of Aleppo from the edges. We wandered around aimlessly and found lots of interesting rooms but probably should have had a guide to find the best places.

Several nice young guys independently struck up conversations with us, which all ended with an invitation to check out their carpet shop. All of them were from the same carpet shop, in fact -- we looked at some of them today but there wasn't anything that we had to get. One of them gave us a tour this morning of the market district.

There's not very much Internet in Aleppo, but warnings that yahoo.com was blocked seem not to have happened. There is a lot of Middle Eastern food, from shwarmas on the street to a nice restaurant with six pages of appetizers and one of main dishes. It also had a fascinating cave-like bar downstairs which we were told was connected by tunnels to the Citadel a mile away or so.

Tomorrow we get a car and start driving around Syria, probably seeing the ruins of the Crac des Chevaliers, Apamea, Palmyra, and Bosra. It wasn't easy to find the Internet in Aleppo, and it will probably be even harder in these other places. But we'll write when we can.