Great start. I'd much rather read posts here than be directed to other sites. Looking forward to more.

What interesting trips you take, thursdaysd! I so admire your spunk. Thanks for writing.

You ARE brave!! I am going to this area in May...only tucked inside a nice safe tour!!!! Huzzahs to you! I look forward to more of your report! Thanks!

Great start, thursdaysd! My husband and I are planning a trip to Jordan in November for 10 days, so eagerly awaiting the details of the Jordan portion of your trip.

Thanks - it's always nice to know people are reading. Leanna - although I did Syria and Lebanon on my own, I did use a tour group for much of Jordan - I was just having too much trouble trying to get hotel reservations, and a night in the desert was ridiculously expensive for one person.

October 12-13 - Medina, Mosque, Mouhamara

It is no doubt true, as a security official at Istanbul airport said to me, that very few Americans go to Syria, but the Europeans more than make up for it. I had carelessly chosen to visit at the height of the tourist season, and the country was full of tour groups. As a result, although I tried over a dozen hotels (all the ones downtown), I found only three available rooms, one of which was a triple. While it was well over my usual budget, even after the manager came down on the price, I took the most expensive, at the Mirage Palace, partly because the other room depressed me (not as bad as the Dar Halabia room, and cheaper, but dark and tired) and partly because it was high enough to have a killer view of the Citadel.

After a not-very-informative visit to the T.I., I bought a SIM for my cell phone (which turned out to only work in Aleppo) and ate lunch at a Lonely Planet's recommendation, Al Andalib. If I had known before I ordered that the local cats walked around on the tables I would have gone elsewhere, but I ate without ill effects.

I spent the afternoon, after finally tracking down an ATM that would accept one of my cards (in the Sheraton’s upmarket shopping arcade), wandering through the medina and visiting the big Umayyad Mosque. I had to wear a hooded robe in the mosque, and then women were chased out of the prayer hall, so I have to say that I preferred the medina, with its stone floor and arched brick ceiling. I was particularly taken with the over-the-top wedding gowns and underwear - women who must appear in public in sober black clearly make up for it in private. I also took a look at the Al-Jdeida quarter, originally home to Christian refugees (the Armenian genocide in Turkey pushed many of the survivors into Syria), but found it rather full of tourists.

The Mirage Palace had an undistinguished cafe on the ground floor, a breakfast room on the second, and a serious restaurant on the top floor with 360-degree views over the city. I ate there two nights running, checking out the view to the west as my room looked east. I also enjoyed the food, especially the mouhamara appetizer – a delicious blend of walnuts, pomegranate molasses, toasted breadcrumbs, olive oil and roasted peppers (www.paula-wolfert.com/recipes/mouhamara.html ).

Although Syria is 90% Muslim today, once it was part of the Roman and then Byzantine Empires, and therefore Christian. And St. Paul’s famous revelation occurred on the road to Damascus, where he expected to find Christians. Perhaps the most famous sight near Aleppo is Qala’at Samaan, the formidable ruins of the basilica that grew up around St. Simeon’s pillar, the Christian "hermit" St. Simeon having spent 40 years living on top of the pillar. While I have little respect for someone who indulges in such theatrics, I did want to see the church and the countryside, and arranged for a car and driver for a day’s exploration.

I have to say that St. Simeon’s church came as a big surprise, clearly a lot of people thought more highly of him than I did. Although missing its roof and some of its walls, the building still impressed me with both its size and design – arches everywhere. Lonely Planet says that when the church was finished, in 491 C.E., it was the largest church in the Christian world. The pillar hadn’t fared as well as the building, though, and just a boulder remained. When we left for lunch I counted eight big tour buses parked outside, but I got lucky, and had the place pretty much to myself.

We visited a couple of other churches during the day, including Qalb Lozeh, but they couldn’t come close to comparing with St. Simeon's. I also visited Ain Dara, where basalt statues have been recovered from a Hittite temple where Ishtar was worshiped three thousand years ago.

I enjoyed the day’s drive, although, aside from pomegranates in the Kurdish area near the Turkish border, it looked to me that Syria mostly grew rocks. And kids. Large families – 8, 10, 11 children – were the rule. Given the existing shortage of jobs and water, I can’t imagine what will happen there in 10 or 20 years time. Tourism may help - my driver said business had been good the last five years.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the railway station and my driver helped me buy a ticket for the train to Hama. Although we bought a ticket at one window, we then needed to show the ticket plus my passport at a second window, and my passport, for once, was in a hotel safe. The copy I carried wasn’t enough. I’d have to sort that out the next morning.

Thank you so much for posting this and for posting the link to your blog - which is a treat. I am going to Lebanon over easter this year and so will be reading those parts carefully

October 14, 2009 - Harassed in Hama

Back at the station in the morning, my passport details were laboriously written down in Arabic. Now duly ticketed, I found a place to sit under the chandeliers in the main hall, and chatted with a young, fully-veiled woman with a two-month old baby. She had been visiting her family in Aleppo and was traveling to rejoin her husband in Damascus. Although she held a masters degree she had been unable to find a job. On the train I had a single seat on the shady side, in the first-class section. Free (Arabic) newspapers and cartons of juice were handed out, and although music played, it wasn’t too loud. The countryside between Aleppo and Hama was very flat, and stony, except where irrigation created patches of green.

I shared one of the two taxis meeting the train in Hama with a Swiss couple toting big backpacks who were just stopping briefly on the way to Palmyra. Once in town I had a little difficulty finding my hotel, the Noria (www.noria-hotel.com ). Once I spotted the right hotel sign, an elevator took me up to the fourth floor reception desk. The staff were friendly, and my room had a big bed, but no daylight, sheets that were too small for the mattress, and insufficient power to charge my Nokia n800.

Finding the new town a bit noisy and grimy, I walked through the old town to visit the Azem Palace. I would later visit another Azem Palace in Damascus, built by the same governor, Assad Pasha Al Azem, after his promotion. The Hama palace, while smaller, had a second story with a second courtyard to catch any available breeze. Both the courtyards and the interior rooms were elaborately decorated, with red, white and black banding on the exterior walls.

I had trouble finding somewhere to eat, as three places had closed and the T.I. claimed to have no-one who spoke English. I finally lunched at Al Atlal, on the river, on kebabs, fries and salad. Hama is known for its “norias”, huge wooden water wheels. Afterwards I followed the river towards the “Four Norias of Bechriyyat”, but restaurants blocked access all the way. I finally walked through an apparently closed restaurant to the river bank, but at a busier time this wouldn’t have been possible.

I had been thinking that after a month on the road I could use a Turkish bath, and when my hotel was unable to find the hamam’s phone number I set off to check on the “women’s hours” in person. I found the hamam deserted, and walked on into the old town down an almost empty street. Just one young, overweight boy, perhaps 11 or 12, walking towards me. Nothing to worry about, you would think, but, as I passed him, he suddenly reached for me! He seemed to be aiming for my breasts, but I struck his arm aside and as I yelled at him he ran away.

I could hardly believe what had happened. While I don’t look my age, especially in countries where women age fast, I certainly don’t look young, and although I wasn’t wearing a headscarf, I was modestly dressed and had not made eye contact. But I unquestionably looked western. Once I recovered from the shock, I started to to wonder about the education and upbringing that could produce such behavior.

Wow, never saw that coming...

Me either!

Wow!!! I am an older type matron.....and in Egypt I had a bit of a problem in a shop and it really set me back. It has been a lot of years and at first I wasn't sure I wasn't just imagining it....but I wasn't. I quickly got the heck out of there....but I sure felt uncomfortable. But this was a real out and out.....horror!!!!

The rumor is they are taught that Western women are free and easy.....and I also wonder if this is indeed taught. Their women are so covered that there is nothing to look at so we must be quite a sight to them. I remember watching a Britany Spears video on Tv while I was in Egypt and suddenly seeing it thru their eyes and it was rather erotic. So what can they think?

It is true that under the coverings most women use eye make up and dress beautifully......and w/ great glamour!

I just hope some day all this "DIFFERENCE" will be learned and respected from both sides!!! Too idealistic I think huh?

Anyway...keep going this is great stuff and I am really enjoying it. Thank you!!!

October 15 -17, 2009: Romans, Crusaders, P.D. James

The next day I set off with another car and driver to visit Apamea and Krak des Chevaliers. We started early enough that we arrived at Apamea well before any tour groups, and aside from a couple of other people, I had the whole 2km length of the main street, and its flanking columns, to myself. Once a city of 500,000, visited by Anthony and Cleopatra, it was largely flattened by an earthquake in 1157 C.E.

I thought that nothing could better illustrate the power and reach of the Roman Empire, not to mention the importance it attached to the province of Syria, than Apamea. I have visited a number of imperial outposts, but this was easily the largest so far. In addition to sheer size, the elegance of the reconstructed columns suggested more than normal care in construction. I never pass up an opportunity to look at mosaics, and the museum just outside the site had some lovely ones, especially some of hunting animals. Unfortunately, they were in dire need of cleaning and proper display.

So far Syrian scenery had mostly featured flat, stony plains, but driving south via Musyaf to the Crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers, the countryside became both more mountainous, and greener. In addition, I was surprised to see unveiled women in some of the villages. My driver told me that they were Ismailis. When I remarked that wearing black burkhas, as many of the Sunni women did, must be very hot in the Syrian climate, he claimed that only one month would be really uncomfortable. I was sorely tempted to tell him to try it himself!

Our relationship deteriorated further when we reached Krak. I wanted to eat lunch in one of the restaurants listed in Lonely Planet as having views of the castle. He said that he didn’t know where they were and stopped instead at the Restaurant des Chevaliers right in front of the main gate. I should have made him keep looking, but I was hungry and instead I ate without views and with a large tour group.

T. E. Lawrence wrote of Krak that it was “the finest castle in the world”, and it was never taken by force. While the moat would look better with some clean water, the walls were still formidable and much of the inner fortress still intact. After visiting the castle I insisted on trying to find the Restaurant al-Qalaa, for coffee, and again my driver claimed not to know where it was. It turned out to be just across a valley from the castle, and seeing the castle as a whole, its stone walls rising above the steep, bare slopes of a hill, I finally appreciated Lawrence's assessment.

It was now obvious that my driver had a good relationship with the Restaurant des Chevaliers, leaving with a bottle tucked under his arm and a big smile on his face, and a bad relationship with the al-Qalaa, where he didn’t even go inside. I did not tip him, and later the Noria's manager said that the driver had been told not to take tourists to the Restaurant des Chevaliers. They tended to get sick...

I hardly ever get sick traveling. Foot problems, yes. The occasional cold, sure. But intestinal problems, no. So I was very annoyed when the manager proved prophetic and I did get sick. Sufficiently sick that I decided I couldn't face the side trip to Palmyra (an even larger, pink, version of Apamea), which would take at least three hours on two buses, plus another two hours on a bus the next day to Damascus. The Noria moved me to a nicer room, arranged for a train ticket to Damascus the next day, and delivered chicken noodle soup to my room for lunch. (Thank you, Noria!) I spent the whole of the day in bed, napping and listening to P. D. James' "Devices and Desires" on my n800.

I still felt fragile the morning of the 17th, and took a prophylactic Immodium along with an antibiotic (I don't expect to get sick, but I travel with antibiotics just in case) before taking a taxi to the station. I had the same seat on the same train as before. Now, I had been really careful on the streets in Aleppo and Hama, even when wearing sunglasses, to avoid eye contact with men. But I relaxed my guard on the train, and on my way to the bathroom I made fleeting eye contact with a youngish man seated behind me. A non-event, you would think, but five minutes after I returned to my seat he was standing beside me, trying to start a conversation! I froze him off, but was a little concerned, as I boarded a taxi outside Damascus station, to see him watching me. Creepy!

Very interesting report. Agree that you don't fully appreciate the power and extent of the Roman Empire until you visit some of the outposts, and hope to do that in Syria some day soon.

October 17-18, 2009: - To Beirut via Damasus, culture shock

Outside Damascus’ Khaddam train station, I rejected one taxi driver, who insisted on charging 300 SP for a 5km ride, and took the second, who settled for 100. He had some difficulty getting to my hotel, nestled in a web of short one-way streets near a busy flyover. When the directions had mentioned Victoria Bridge, I had not envisaged multi-lane roads below as well as above the span. Still, the City Hotel (aka Al-Madinah) was walking distance from both the Old City and the National Museum and had helpful staff who gave me a big room with a street view.

Despite Immodium and antibiotics, my digestive system still felt fragile, but I set off to explore regardless. A toasted cheese sandwich at the hole-in-the-wall Al-Santir, close to the hotel, went down successfully, so I carried on to explore the souk and the mosque. The souk felt almost formal: I strolled down a wide main street, with two story buildings supporting a metal roof, with few vendors calling out to me.

The biggest surprise, though, was in the open space in front of the Umayyad Mosque, where stalls selling Qur’ans were nonchalantly tucked under soaring Roman arches. I stopped off for a delicious mint lemonade at Leila’s, before donning the required hooded cloak (beige, to distinguish infidels from black-clad believers) and entering the mosque. Although similar to Aleppo’s Umayyad Mosque, Damascus’ was much more elaborate, and I had a lovely time admiring the detailed 8th century gold mosaics.

For dinner I walked a short distance north to Al-Kamal, noting that Sharia Bur Said was much livelier and better lit than Sharia an-Nasr, which I taken back from the Old City. I dined carefully on lentil soup and a rice and meat dish washed down with a yoghurt drink. I felt rather better the next morning but was surprised to find a head-high partition in the dining room separating the western tourists from a big Iranian group, with all the women swathed in black.

The hotel arranged a taxi to take me to the Al-Samariyeh bus terminal for 150 SP. The buses and shared taxis to Beirut left from the far rear corner, where I had to put my luggage through a security check. Although it's only 30 minutes to the Lebanese border, and another 30 minutes on to Beirut, it took us a full 90 minutes leaving Syria, and another 30 minutes getting into Lebanon. I had to buy an exit/entrance pass to get out of Syria, as well as a visa to get into Lebanon. I crossed more than a man-made border when I changed countries. The countryside became quite mountainous, and greener, as we headed towards the Mediterranean coast.

I expected the bus to terminate at the Charles Helou bus station in central Beirut, but for some reason most of the passengers were kicked out somewhere in the southeast. Fortunately, an equally surprised Japanese tourist shared a taxi into town with me. I had a reservation at the Casa d’Or (http://www.casadorhotel.com ) in the Hamra district, just south of the American University. I was surprised but pleased to be given a huge room, with couch, desk, and kitchenette, although no view.

Walking down Rue Hamra in search of lunch I started to feel culture shock set in. Instead of women draped in black, or at least fully covered from head to toe, I saw young women in short skirts and tank tops smoking the remarkably popular nargileh! I also saw the first western chains of the whole trip, with Starbucks, Costa, Subway and even McDonalds much in evidence. I ate one meal at Nandos, a South African chain I haven’t seen in the U.S., that sells delicious Portuguese style piri-piri chicken. But for my first, late, lunch I chose Laziz, which advertised "authentic Lebanese food" and served me chicken livers in a tangy sauce and perfectly cooked diced, fried potatoes.

Looking forward to more...

This is just fascinating. And I still think you are very brave!

Excellent trip report - very well written.

Thanks people - glad to know you're still reading.

October 19-22, 2009: - Beiteddine, Bcharre, Baalbek

The U.S. State Department, in its well-known nervous Nellie fashion, advised against ALL travel to Lebanon. The British Foreign Office only recommended staying north of the Litani river. Happily, I decided to follow the British advice. I found beautiful scenery, impressive sights, and a cosmopolitan capital city, plus I felt perfectly safe.

My first afternoon I headed north through Hamra to the Corniche and the coast. My view of the Mediterranean was somewhat obscured by haze, and my access to the water mostly blocked by private cafes. Aside from a few hopeful fishermen on the rocks, the views inland were more interesting, with lots of people strolling the promenade, and new glass and concrete buildings rising just beyond. In fact, on the Corniche you would hardly suspect that Beirut had ever been a war zone.

Next day I visited the American University, whose shining clean, honey-colored buildings were in stark contrast to much of the dirty grey stonework I had seen elsewhere on this trip. The site hovered just above the Corniche, with views out to sea. The university’s museum also impressed me, and I spent quite a long time with the well-lighted and well-labeled collections of Stone, Bronze and Iron age artifacts. The rest of the day I enjoyed my comfortable hotel room (with wi-fi) and caught on chores.

Rather than moving around, I had decided that Lebanon was small enough that I would stay put in Beirut and take day trips. I went with my hotel’s recommendation of Nakhal (http://www.nakhal.com.lb ), although this meant that I spent longer than I would have chosen being driven to and from their offices way over near the National Museum. Especially on the way back – in late afternoon Hamra became one big, mostly unmoving, traffic jam.

The first trip featured Beiteddine Palace, an early 19th century complex built for the Emir Bashir, which I chose because of the promise of a “magnificent collection of mosaics”. So, while both the interior and exterior decoration (carefully restored after destruction by the Israelis in the 1980s) impressed me, and I found the tour interesting, I was not pleased when our guide announced that we would have only 15 minutes to visit the mosaics. I was able to negotiate an extension, but still felt rushed. I would have chosen to spend longer admiring the beautifully maintained Byzantine mosaics and less time on lunch, although I have to say that Nakhal fed us well, with a full spread of meze and barbecue. I could also have done without the after-lunch visit to the Marie Baz Wax Museum in the Palace of Fakhreddine in Deir Al-Qamar.

The next day I went north in search of Lebanese cedars, now clinging to life in only two locations. Even Lonely Planet recommended driving yourself or taking a taxi to reach the Chouf Cedar Reserve, and getting to The Cedars involved a bus to Tripoli, a shared taxi to Bcharre and a private taxi to the reserve. Driving north out of Beirut we passed a lengthy traffic jam of inbound commuters, and a fully built up coastline at least as far as Byblos. I got a glimpse of the castle at Byblos as we went past, but the real interest lay inland, with views of the coastal mountain range.

The scenery only got better as we turned inland, past vertical cliffs, deep gorges and tortured strata lines. But Bcharre was a disappointment: neither the scenery nor the town were particularly attractive. We stopped there to visit the Khalil Gibran museum, which contained a large collection of his art. I have to confess that after a few rooms I began to find the pictures repetitive, and turned my attention to the contents of his bookcases instead. It was only a short drive to The Cedars, where, sadly, the grove was much smaller than I had imagined, and the guide told us that climate change threatened even those trees that were left. Cracks in the hard-packed earth demonstrated the on-going lack of rain. Walking under these ancient giants on a cool, grey, misty day I felt that I was attending a funeral.

After another lengthy lunch we drove on through increasing mist to the Maronite monastery of St.Anthony at Qozhara. Originally a site for hermits, here the church was partially built inside a cave, and another cave nearby was a pilgrimage site, containing a bizarre collection of pots and pans, left by those who had had children after visiting.

My last day trip started with a wine tasting (yes, in Lebanon – Muslims are only around 60% of the population) at the Ksara winery. I found the Chardonnay, not a wine I would normally choose, surprisingly good, although I didn’t care for the rosé and thought the red too dry (and I do like my wines dry).

We left for the day's main attraction, Baalbek, driving north up the Bekaa valley, notoriously a Hezbollah stronghold, on a good divided highway. Hezbollah flags decorated the lampposts in the median, but I couldn’t draw our guide out on the organization. On the other hand, she gave us lots of information, in French and English, on Baalbek. Although known now for the remarkably well-preserved Temple of Bacchus, and the massive columns remaining from the largely-destroyed Temple of Jupiter, originally this was a Phoenician site, with a temple to Baal. (Remember all those unflattering references to Baal in the Bible?) While the site is large, most of the buildings have suffered badly over the years, but what remains standing is indeed worth seeing.

Lunch, in Zahle at the south end of the valley, seemed to take even longer than on the preceding two days, and eventually our guide announced that our coach had a “small problem”. We never got an explanation of the “small problem”, but I had heard a distinct “bang” as we backed into a parking spot before lunch. We took off for our final stop in a different coach, with assurances that the original one would catch up with us. I certainly hoped so, as I had left several items on it that I didn’t want to lose, and viewed the Umayyad ruins in Aanjar with less than complete attention. Dating from the 700s, very early in the ascendancy of Islam, Romano-Hellenistic decorations had been married to an Islamic layout.

I rather wished I had allowed more time for Lebanon, although I was spending somewhat more money than in the other countries on the trip. I slept well, I ate well (although not in any of the gourmet places you might read about in the New York Times), and I very much enjoyed the sights and the scenery. Recommended!

Great! Thanks, thursdaysd.

October 23-26, 2009: - Back to Damascus

I chose to take a shared taxi back to Damascus. Think of it as a very small bus that leaves when full. It cost me only 10,000 Lebanese pounds (about $6.60) more than the bus and I figured the time saved would be more than worth it. Although we wound up stopping for ages for one of the other passengers to buy some elaborate sweets (which you would think he could have bought in Beirut) and to exchange money (ditto) it was faster over all.

Remember it had cost 150 SP for a taxi from the City Hotel to the Al-Samariyeh bus station? Now I needed to go in the other direction, and the taxi driver at the bus station quoted 400 SP and claimed the trip was 20km! He found my refusal to go along with this scam quite amusing, and eventually agreed to take me for 200 SP. But I might as well have ridden the bus - I arrived in Damascus to find almost everywhere shut down for Friday prayers.

I got rather lost wandering around the not-very-prepossessing section of town north of the Old City, before eventually returning to the souk and visiting Damascus’ version of Azem Palace. Like the souq, it was larger and more elaborate than the one in Aleppo, and rather full of visitors – not all of them tourists. In contrast, the National Museum, which I visited the next morning, was packed with foreign tour groups. The museum occupied me for most of the morning – I was especially taken by the Mari statues (3rd century B.C.E.),with their black-rimmed eyes and feathery robes (http://tinyurl.com/yjbqf8m ). Another surprise was a completely reassembled 2nd century C.E. synagogue, the oldest ever discovered, with walls completely covered with paintings.

While the sights in Damascus impressed me, I hadn’t been doing as well with food. I had gone back to Al Kamal, but now that I wasn’t pandering to a weak stomach, I found the food not very good and the service poor. Lunch at Abu El Aziz, with a view of the dome at the Umayyad Mosque tasted better, but I was getting rather tired of kebabs. Then I stopped at Beit Jabri, overfull of both people and clouds of nargileh smoke. While the courtyard of the old building was indeed beautiful, and my pomegranate juice tasted good, the service was dreadful, and, given my dislike of being photographed, I could have done without the busy TV crew that showed up after I had been served.

So, for my second night, I took a taxi to Al Khawali, deep in the souk – it was fun to be driven through the market, not completely shut down even on a Saturday night. But again, the food disappointed, with indifferent vegetable soup, canned rather than fresh mushrooms and so-so green beans. Even worse, I found that I wasn’t very hungry – because for the second time in Syria, I got sick! I’m inclined to blame the pomegranate juice rather than lunch, but either way it seems Syria didn’t agree with me.

Not only was this exceptionally annoying, it meant that I missed out on the Roman ruins at Bosra. Instead of getting up early to catch a south-bound bus, I got up early and headed for the nearest pharmacy. I have to say that the incredibly cheap drug I bought not only worked, but worked faster than the antibiotic I had brought with me. Or, possibly, my immune system did a better job.

For the rest of my time in Syria I played it very safe and ate Western food. I found a branch of the French chain La Brioche Dorée in the quiet, leafy embassy district, and enjoyed lunch there twice: delicious rolls and butter, chicken crepes, tartine, raspberry tart… Then, a perfectly made macchiato in their lovely atrium convinced me to eat dinner at the elegant and expensive Cham Palace, easy walking distance from my hotel, where I ate a good escalope al limone with potatoes and a nice red wine at Carpaccio. But my last meal, at Pattacrepe in the not-quite-finished arcade next to the new Four Seasons was a mistake – the crepe was unmemorable and the service, not to mention my table, poor. Plus they didn’t serve alcohol or take credit cards, which complicated my end-of-country finances.

Besides checking out the embassy district, I followed Lonely Planet's tour of "Old Damascene Houses". I should have paid more attention to the note that many were in "a sad state of disrepair". Visiting the houses that had been converted to cafes and restaurants and carefully restored gave me a better appreciation of how they had looked in their hey-day.

All-in-all I was more than ready to leave Syria and move on to Jordan. I had gotten sick twice. I was harassed in Hama. My hotel in room in Aleppo was so bad I left. A lot of the time I felt like a target. I don’t plan to go back. But I have to say that Syria is definitely worth visiting. The sights are excellent, and the Old City in Damascus is an interesting place to wander. I would recommend going, but, much as I like independent travel, if you’re a solo woman traveler you might consider taking a tour.

Thursdaysd -

Have enjoyed your report. I'm so very disappointed you didn't enjoy Syria as much as I did (to each their own, I know, so I'm certainly not being critical). I've backpacked many places alone (as single female) and found Syria to be, hands down, the easiest place to be traveling as a lone female. (I was also bothered once in Hama, but it wasn't anything different than creepy propositions I've gotten elsewhere, including Europe.)

I loved Beit Jabri - it became something of a hangout for me in Damascus, so I'm sorry you didn't have such a great experience there either.

Thanks for the report --
Linda

maxwell -

Interesting that we had such different experiences! Really shows that you should get multiple opinions before making a decision about a place. I, too, have backpacked in a number of countries, and I'd rate Syria the worst... Still glad I went though, and I don't want to turn anyone off the idea. Just be prepared.

Jordan coming up.

T, do you know the name of the drug you took for your tummy etc? I ALWAYS have problems.....so along w/ what I bring I might stock up on my first day...so Im prepared!!!

I know the local stuff in Egypt worked fantastically and much better than the stuff I brought from home!

Thanks...

Leanna - the package name is Mediofuryl. The active ingredient is Nifuroxazide (I have 2/3 of it left). But if you just walk into a pharmacy and ask for something for diarrhea you'll get whatever works best locally.

October 27-28, 2009: - Dolmens, Mosaics, Hamam

I like to travel independently. Sure, I’ve taken tours. I’ve even enjoyed them, and enjoyed the people I’ve met on them. In fact, on a long trip, mixing things up with a tour in the middle can be a welcome break from solo travel. But in general I prefer to go it alone: no-one but me to blame when things go wrong, no reason to stay in a boring museum, no-one to distract me from the view out the train window, and no hanging around waiting for the shoppers. So, I saw no reason to take a tour for Jordan.

Until I ran into even more difficulty with hotel reservations than I had in Syria. Nothing I tried got me a hotel reservation in the north, and a night in the desert for one person proved exceedingly expensive. Realizing that I was running out of time, I started checking into tours, and was surprised and pleased to find that Explore! had an itinerary and dates that seemed almost perfect. (See http://tinyurl.com/y9qark9 for the 2010 version.) I hadn’t traveled with Explore!, a UK company, before, but it seemed similar to Intrepid, the Australian outfit I had used five times. I expected a small group of moderately adventurous travelers, budget-level but acceptable hotels, and local transport.

I added a day each to Beirut and Damascus, and planned two nights in Madaba before the tour, and three days in Amman afterwards. Although Jordan’s capital did not sound like a particularly enticing destination, my ex-stepdaughter’s not-quite-ex in-laws lived in Amman, maybe I would see them.

So, back to the Al-Samariyeh bus station. With the going rate for a taxi seat to Amman only 200 SP more than for a bus, I arranged to take a taxi. I waited a long time for it to fill up – Beirut was more popular than Amman. We eventually left at 8:50, but since one of the passengers, a young businessman, had an appointment to keep, he persuaded the driver to speed and we reached the border at 10:00, going 140-150 kph much of the way.

It took the driver a lot longer to deal with the Syrian formalities than it did the passengers. I was amused to find that I wasn’t allowed to use the “women-only” line, and instead had to use the one for “diplomats”. Getting into Jordan was quite a performance: besides completely emptying the car and the trunk, and searching under the hood, one of the guards lay down on the ground and the car drove slowly over him! Once again it took the driver longer to deal with the paperwork – he took about half an hour for each side of the border. I paid 10 JD for my visa, and didn’t even have to fill in a form.

At the largely deserted Abdali bus station the taxi driver replied "Mariam Hotel?" to my request for ride to Madaba. He was right. We agreed the price, I got into his car, and then he carefully stowed the pail of water he’d been using to wash it in the back. Turned out, he was only driving me a few yards, after which I was turned over to the real taxi. This driver had been written up in a book by a British journalist – he gave me a very dilapidated copy to read. He also told me that he had 11 children – Jordan’s birth rate is a bit lower than Syria’s, but still high.

The Mariam Hotel (http://www.mariamhotel.com/ ) lived up to its advertising, although I hadn’t noticed that it didn’t have AC (but it did have a powerful oscillating fan). I ate a quick lunch by the pool, and then arranged a taxi to take me to see the Bronze Age (5,000 to 3,000 B.C.E.) dolmens that had been discovered by the owner of the hotel. You have to trek a good ways to see them, and I don’t think I trekked far enough to see the best. I did get a thorough education in the meaning of “stony waste”.

I was in Madaba to indulge my love of mosaics. I spent the next morning mostly following Lonely Planet’s walking tour, although I saved the pièce de resistance, the 6th century C.E. mosaic map of Palestine in St. George’s church, for last. This meant that all the tour groups had left town, and I had the church almost to myself. The map was both impressive and fun, with fish swimming in the River Jordan, and trees and ordered rows of houses occupying the land. Many early maps are hard to decipher, but this was surprisingly clear, after I reviewed the well-labeled replica outside, and located Jerusalem – the center of the world at the time. (For an excellent discourse on early maps, I highly recommend “The Fourth Part of the World”.) What most tour groups miss, however, are the equally good mosaics in the Archaeological Park. There are a lot more of them, too.

I took advantage of a free afternoon to visit the Madaba Turkish Bath – I figured that after six weeks of travel, I could use some deep cleaning. My hotel made me an appointment, and I had the place to myself – the hot tub, the steam room, and the marble slab where the female attendant scrubbed off the dirt. Although I got clean, I wouldn't put this in the same class as the hamams in Turkey.

The Mariam did meals, but it looked like dinner was a buffet, and I prefer my food cooked fresh (or at least the illusion that it’s cooked fresh!). I ate a couple of meals at the Ayola Coffee Shop and Bar – a good hangout with comfortable seating indoors and dirt-cheap falafel sandwiches – and ate my last dinner in town at the Bowabit Restaurant next door, with a good view of the main street below. At the Bowabit I enjoyed some good humus followed by chicken in a cream sauce and a large glass of red wine.

Have been following along and really enjoying your report. Very well written. I know that you know you're brave but you downplay it --- let me tell you, I would rather stick needles in my eyes than try any of that alone. I am in awe of someone that has no fear. Bravo!

Well, Leslie, I figure it's only bravery if you're afraid and do whatever it is anyway. And I don't get all that afraid all that often.

I once thought of putting together a class for worried would-be independent travelers that would start with establishing what they were afraid of, and then having them plan and execute a short trip to address it - if it was that they only spoke English, then they could go to Montreal for a weekend, for instance.

I never thought about the language barrier till you mentioned it. I'm one of those who has decided to not travel solo if I don't speak the language. It was simply too difficult and I found that it really diminished my enjoyment of the trip (and this was Paris!). Do you speak/understand Arabic?

Femi - I speak English and American, and can manage some French (which came in handy in Morocco). I can transliterate Cyrillic. That's it. And I've traveled to a number of places where I can't even "read" the script - everywhere on this trip except Istanbul, as Georgia and Armenia each have their own alphabets, plus lots of places in Asia.

There have been times when I really wished I could speak the language so I could have an actual conversation with someone who didn't speak English - although sometimes there was someone else around to translate. But you can go a long way with gestures and a smile (and a guidebook/phrasebook). Especially if you speak English... (I know it's unfair, but it's a fact.)

What did you find especially difficult in Paris? It used to be that people in Paris refused to speak any English, but that was some time ago.

The people I met all around Paris were extremely gracious (well, except for the public workers), and many times they went well out of their way to help me. Pretty much the only person I met who was fluent in English was the receptionist at my hotel, but I felt like had to limit how much of her time I used.

For the first time, I realised what it must be like to be functionally illiterate. I had my guidebooks of course, but I really missed being able to interact with people.

I have stumbled around places on my own and enjoyed it. I always find people are very friendly and helpful and often amused by my state of being! I like being on my own for all the same reasons....mostly I can do what I want and when.

But I would think twice about traveling in many parts of the world....so for those I do tours.

In France when they get "cute" about how I don't speak French, I just start speaking Spanish to them and once they see I speak another language they get calmer!!! I'm far from fluent but can rattle enough to show Im not a complete idiot!

Maybe bravery & fear aren't the exact right words. It's not a fear of being messed with or anything like that but just the stress of dealing with all the logistics by oneself and the language barrier and how every little element of every day can end up a challenge. And the loneliness that some feel and others don't when traveling alone. That's probably the bigger part of it for me since I'd go to an off the beaten path destination with my husband & not a group tour and we would still encounter the logistical hassles but by being with a partner it would not be as problematic or unenjoyable, I think, as doing the same trip alone-alone. If that makes sense.

Anyway, didn't mean to derail the report!

Interesting piece along these lines - http://www.vagabondish.com/travel-lessons-outside-comfort-zone/

Report will resume shortly.

Good article!

That is a REALLY good article. I think I get what you mean Leslie......it does get exhausting being on my own sometimes esp. when I want to find a very particular site! But, like Thursday I think a combination is always a good balance.

Oh and Thursday...thank you for the medicine reply...I have copied it into my trip notes so I remember what to do!!

October 29-30, 2009: - On My Own in Amman

I treated myself to a taxi ride back to Amman and the tour hotel, the Toledo (http://www.toledohotel.jo/ ), overlooking the Abdali bus station. The front desk staff were very nice, and the sheets and towels were clean, but the hotel seemed tired: worn carpet, a bath tub that needed replacing and a toilet that had to be babied to stop it from running. I cared most about the lack of soundproofing. I learned, as expected, that I would have a roommate, so I made sure to only mess up half of the room.

Amman sprawls across at least seven hills, and is still growing. Although the first inhabitants in the area arrived around 1800 B.C.E., the present city only dates to the early 20th century, its growth fueled by several waves of Palestinian refugees, and, more recently, an influx of Iraqis. Aside from the small and gritty downtown, it's not a walking town. Taxis are plentiful, and cheap - provided you remember that the meters count in fractions of dinars, not whole dinars. I started downtown, at the dirt-cheap Hashem, popular with locals and backpackers, where I lunched on excellent hummus and falafel, before taking a taxi up to the Citadel.

I took a look at the remains of a Roman temple and of a Umayyad palace, but I spent most of my time in the National Archaeological Museum, which contained some of the earliest statues of humans ever found, and some of the Dead Sea scrolls. I had seen Dead Sea scrolls, dimly lit, in a special exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, under heavy security, but here there was no security at all, and no effort at controlling the lighting. Then I made the mistake of setting out on foot for the Darat al-Funun, or House of Arts, on the next hill to the west. The downhill stretch was fine, but the shortcut shown on the Lonely Planet map didn’t exist, and I did not enjoy the trek uphill. Nor was the House of Arts worth visiting for the art, although I had a nice chat over coffee with a couple of other travelers.

When I returned to the hotel I expected to find a notice from the tour company – information on when and where to meet, and helpful hints on Jordan in general and Amman in particular - but I found nothing. No notice in the lobby, no note under my door, no message at the front desk, and no roommate. I might as well not have been on tour. Then, even with help from the hotel staff, I couldn’t find a taxi that would take me to my choice for dinner, the Wild Jordan cafe, run by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and said to have a fine view. The taxi that did agree to take me, instead, to the Abu Ahmad Orient Restaurant turned out to have no idea where it was.

After I gave up on the taxi driver, I asked him to drop me at 3rd Circle – in central Amman you navigate by reference to a string of roundabouts – only to discover (thanks to some nice guys sitting outside a barber’s shop) that he had actually dropped me at 2nd Circle. I eventually found the restaurant, although I had to cross a busy divided highway on the way, and felt I had earned the delicious cheese pie appetizers (buraik), spicy tomato salad, and lamb.

Back at the hotel, still no word from Explore! and still no roommate. I finally remembered that the people using the group air would not arrive until late. I went to sleep in the expectation of being woken up, but in the morning I was still alone. And there there were STILL no notices posted. The front desk told me the group would meet at 11:00 to go to Jerash. Since the “optional city tour” scheduled for Day 2 apparently didn’t exist, I set off on my own to visit the mosque, the two churches, and the Friday market which were the only sights in walking distance.

The Mosque of the Martyr King Abdullah bin Al-Hussein (assassinated in 1951), almost deserted, impressed me with its tremendous sense of peace, despite its newness. It would no doubt fill up later for the obligatory Friday prayers, but I was surprised to find that both of the nearby churches were already full. It seemed that Sunday services were being held on Friday, in recognition of a differing day of rest. The Coptic Church, with men lined up to receive the Eucharist and their headscarved women seated, was more popular than the Greek Orthodox. The market was a disappointment, stall after stall selling clothes and shoes.

I returned to the hotel with plenty of time for some internet (not free) before 11:00.

Waiting to see what's happened to the rest of the group!

I've really enjoyed this so far; Syria and Jordan were definitely on the to-do list, and now Lebanon as well! (That list just keeps getting longer...)

Funny how the "must-see" list does that, isn't? LOL And visiting places doesn't always help, as I also have a "should revisit" list.

October 30-31, 2009: - A wet day, a very busy day

At 10:45 on my watch I left the business center to go get ready for the visit to Jerash. On my way through the lobby I noticed a young local man standing around. After a little hesitation I asked him if he was with Explore! and discovered that he was the ground agent. The ground agent who had made absolutely no, nada, zilch attempt to contact me. Did he welcome me to the tour? Apologize for not contacting me? Hope I enjoyed the tour? No, he did not. Instead he lit into me for being late!!!

True, on his watch it was 10:55, but that still gave me five minutes, and what effort had he made to see that I even knew to be there at 11:00? This tour wasn’t starting well, and went down hill some more when I discovered that there were 21 people in the group and that we would travel around on a big tour bus. I had expected a maximum of 16, but when I reread the Explore! brochure later I discovered that it said 16-22. I was used to Intrepid tours that maxed out at 12, and had never, in my experience, used a big tour bus.

Aside from a couple of people and the group leader, who had been touring Syria and met us at Jerash, and my roommate, who arrived overland from Damascus shortly before the bus left, everyone else had flown in from Britain the night before, getting to the hotel at 1:00 am. They were all on the bus when I boarded. We had some time to start sorting people out over lunch, before we were supposed to start touring the extensive Roman ruins at Jerash.

However, while we ate our way through a good selection of mezes, it started to rain. Hard. It doesn't do that very often in Jordan. I know they could use the rain, but the timing was unfortunate. It also turned cold, and although (unlike most of the group) I had hiking boots and an umbrella, I wasn’t wearing warm clothes and I knew from experience that if I got really chilled I’d get sick. So I chose not to follow the guide round the site. I spent some time in the very overcrowded cafe drinking bad coffee, and then took a quick look on my own. Enough of a look to appreciate just how impressive a site this was, but I'm afraid I may have seen too many Roman ruins recently.

Back in Amman I tried to get a restaurant recommendation for dinner, but neither the ground agent nor the tour leader were willing to suggest anything other than eating at the hotel. So far the only good thing about this tour was my roommate, an Australian headed home after several years in Edinburgh – as usual I lucked out with an assigned roommate and we got on well. The next morning we set out on the bus with a crowded schedule of sights to see on the way to Petra.

We started at Bethany Beyond the Jordan – recently validated as the site of Jesus’ baptism. While I was glad to actually see the Jordan River, it had been reduced to a sad, not-very-wide, distinctly muddy, stream. One devout group with its minister was having a service around a nice clean pool of filtered water. Across the river on the West Bank side we could see a more developed but deserted site.

Next stop was Mount Nebo – where Moses looked out over Canaan. I thought the Promised Land was supposed to be the land of milk and honey: it certainly didn’t look it that day, but much of the view was obscured by haze. I did enjoy some quite nice mosaics, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit this site unless you have an especial interest in Moses, or are lucky with the weather.

We reached Madaba around lunchtime, and, as I had expected, the group was only taken to see the map in St. George's. I was very glad I had visited on my own before the tour. I listened to the guide’s lecture, and then ate falafel at Ayola again before visiting the map with just my roommate instead of the whole group.

The best part of the day for me, given I had already been to Madaba, was the drive down the King's Highway and through Wadi Mujib. I had boarded the bus early so I could grab the front seat for this ride, and enjoyed seeing the wadi, an impressive gash in the earth's surface, with the road inching its way down and then up in a series of switchbacks. Calling it the "Grand Canyon of Jordan" is clearly hyperbole, though.

Our last stop was at Karak, with the light fading. Perhaps I had seen enough for one day, but I found the castle not very interesting. Our national guide gave us a lot of boring facts and no insight, and we only got a close-up view, while you need to see a castle from a distance to really appreciate the site. I would have been happier if the guide had lectured us on the bus, while we were sitting down, instead of standing in front of the castle, but very few guides seem willing to do that.

We finally made it into Petra, or more precisely Wadi Musa, well after dark. I’m not sure whether our hotel was the Al-Anbat II or the Al-Anbat III but I certainly can’t recommend it. After a favorable first impression – big bedroom, clean bathroom – my opinion kept going down. Clearly, the designer hadn't tried to stay in the room. There was quite literally nowhere in the bathroom to hang anything - not even a rod for a shower curtain. Then the TV didn't work, the heat/AC unit only did AC, and the lone power outlet was too feeble to charge my n800. Finally, the sheets were an even worse match for the mattress than usual. Remaking my bed with the top sheet on the bottom helped some, but I still needed my silk sleep sack. And then I was too hot with the coverlet on and too cold without it.

But even a bad hotel couldn’t spoil my visit to Petra.

Can you feel me patting your shoulder in sympathy!!!! Wow!! I think I would have picked up that tour guide by the collar and sent him flying!!! You have great control!!

Hate to make generalizations...but it just seems every single Ozzie I meet is just the greatest traveler. They manage to move about for weeks on 2 lbs of luggage, can hold their beer, and are always great fun!!! I'm sure there are stinkers out there but I sure have not encountered them. They are my travel role models!

Sorry you didn't get to enjoy the full effect of Jerash but maybe ruins do start to get repetitive after a while.
We had it to ourselves & in sunshine - a big difference.

Thanks! I was tempted to beat up the ground agent, but I settled for some sharp words and a bad review.

November 1 – 2, 2009: - Petra, Petra, Petra

I had expected Petra to be the high point of my trip to Jordan, and it was. I can't stress too strongly that this is a must-see site. I also can't stress too strongly that you need at least two full days - if I had only seen the Siq and the Treasury and the Royal Tombs I wouldn't have loved the place so much. You need plenty of time, and you need to climb some steps. Even with two full days I didn't make it to Little Petra, about which I've heard conflicting reports.

The first morning we started off from the entrance gate with the same national guide who had bored me the day before, and once we reached the Siq, the 1.2 km long rock passage that ends in front of the Treasury, I abandoned the group and went ahead on my own. This meant that at times I was completely alone beneath the soaring rock walls. While I really enjoyed experiencing the Siq that way, I suppose it wasn’t very authentic – one theory is that when the Nabataeans who built Petra were at the height of their power and influence this route was used for religious processions. I could also imagine it, more prosaically, impressing visiting ambassadors and potential trading partners.

I met up with my group again near the Roman theater (where access to the seats was blocked off) and the toilets. (Don't pay the toilet lady more than .10 JD.) Most of the group kept going to the Monastery at the far end of the site, but my roommate turned aside with me to climb up to the High Place of Sacrifice. As she was half my age, and my lung capacity not what it should be, she made better time than I did, but we met up at the top.

The guide had tried to convince me that we weren't allowed to take our own food in, and that we had to eat at one of the two restaurants near the museum. Since our hotel was quite willing to put up a box lunch I chose to disbelieve him, and of course, we had no problem taking food in. Presumably he got a commission from the restaurants. The two of us ate lunch all alone, high up, facing the altar. Magical.

It got even better after lunch, when we took the back way down. The colors of the veined rocks were breathtaking (and hopelessly photogenic) - beautiful multicolored swirls that seemed almost too regular to be natural. We also passed several tombs – the Nabataean tombs featured a carved facade and a large central room where the mourners could gather for funeral and commemorative feasts, the dead being actually buried in small chambers carved out of the walls. We celebrated our descent with red wine and coffee at the Basin Restaurant – it was getting ready to close for the day, otherwise you can only get in if you take the buffet.

The second morning three of us got up really, really early so that we could have not just the Siq but the Treasury to ourselves. We reached the Treasury around 6:15, and although it wasn’t completely deserted, we shared it with only a couple of couples. Then we walked right through the site and up to the Monastery, pausing only for a cup of coffee at the Tent Restaurant, as the Basin wouldn’t let us in. Up at the Monastery the wind was so fierce I bought a Bedouin headscarf to keep from getting sandblasted. The wind stayed strong all day, and I wound up well-powdered.

Then we visited the Royal Tombs before heading up again, climbing (and scrambling at one point - I think we missed the proper path) behind the tombs to a perch where we could overlook the Treasury. Again, we ate lunch alone in a magical setting. After that, visits to the museum and the Byzantine church were anticlimactic, and I was tired enough to be almost tempted to take a ride in a horse cart on the way out, except that they bounced and swayed so much.

I still had more walking to do, as I had signed up for the optional Night Tour. For this the Siq is lined with candles, and the area in front of the Treasury used for a concert. I didn’t care about the concert, but I did want to walk the Siq by candlelight. By hanging back enough for the crowd to get ahead of me, but walking fast enough to leave the serious photographers (and their annoying flashes) behind, I got the full effect – or almost the full effect, I think it would have been even better if the moon hadn’t been full.

I didn't realise there was a night tour of Petra. I would love to see that.

LALeslie your description of Australians on the go is exactly what I have experienced too. I vote for them as the best travel companions.

Ooops, I was referring to Leanna's description of the Aussies.

Femi - the night tour isn't every night(I think Mon, Wed, Thu), so you need to check ahead of time to make sure you're there on the right day. I've read some reports from people who didn't like it, but I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if I hadn't been able to lose the crowd, but then I'm an introvert. There are carpets to sit on in front of the Treasury, and I think it was tea to drink. Since I'm virtually tone deaf the music was wasted on me.

Thurs: I hope you know I have copied & pasted most of your comments into my own notes that will go w/ me. So you are going to get to go again in May!! xoxo

I fell and broke my foot in 3 places last year in Mexico....the Gods at Palenque did not care for me. So I am a little nervous about climbing up to the Monastery. I do have a cane I could use for balance but if I slip and fall again I could do damage. What is your opinion about my trying that climb?? It's the coming down I worry more about and slipping in the loose dirt! Whadda think?

Ouch, ouch, ouch!!! So sorry to hear that. I have a TR on the Europe board titled "The Sore Foot Tour" from my first trip after a broken ankle, so I really sympathize. Plus I have a tendency to get UP to places from which I then have trouble getting DOWN. I take a collapsible hiking stick with me, which really helps with balance.

I think you'll be OK doing the Monastery path. I wouldn't try the path behind the Royal Tombs, and although I think you could tackle most of the path up to the High Place of Sacrifice I don't think you should try the very last part (I wouldn't have done it myself without help). I haven't culled my Petra pix yet, and when I do the numbers will change, but right now if you go to http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/Caucasus-and-Middle-East-2009 , use "petra" as the password for the Petra gallery, photo 174 is my roommate on the path up to the Monastery, which may give you an idea.

Where were the pictures of the mosaics in that Petra bunch taken? The one next to the camel/giraffe creature looks like an ice cream soda. Are those new or old?

I clearly need to get back to Petra. My mom & I did as much as we could in one day (she was slow moving) -- I can tell from your pix that I missed a lot.

Yes, I thought ice cream cone too! (Couldn't resist the picture.) The mosaics are in the church, which is near the museum. They are Byzantine, probably mid 6th century C.E.

Oh wow what great pics. Thank you for your words about the climbing....I too have a love of getting where I shouldnt!! I'll paste these into the notes, then when I get there and get my bearings I can sort it out even better.

Im also checking out your pics of Aleppo, and Damascus etc as we are going there as well.

So glad you came on to give us your report, you have given me a direction and conversation and a place to put some of my excitement! Thank you!!

Thanks for the kind words, LEANNA! When are you going? Is your itinerary on line?

November 3, 2009: - Sand, Rocks, Camel

The Explore! tour was called “Lawrence’s Arabia”. So I expected that we would visit at least some sites associated with Lawrence while we were in Wadi Rum. I also expected that with a full day at our disposal we would do the trek/camel ride when the light was at its best. So much for expectations. What we mostly did in the desert was hang around.

We set off from Petra with the group split between four 4WDs, and after a relatively sedate drive down the highway, turned off into the desert, where some of the drivers amused themselves with a few mildly adventurous manoeuvers which upset at least one of the women in my vehicle. We stopped at a natural bridge for photos, and rather a lot of waiting around. Then we drove a bit further and stopped again, by an undistinguished rock outcrop. And waited again. For lunch to arrive. A very disappointing lunch with those nasty plastic cheese triangles the only protein.

Then, guess what? We waited again, this time for the camels to show up. The camel ride to the camp site was one of the optional extras – you could trek or ride in the jeep instead. My roommate and I were sharing a camel – she would ride while I walked and then we’d switch. She’d never ridden a camel before, while I had ridden short distances in both China and Morocco. Camel riding wasn’t something I had particularly enjoyed, but I didn’t think trekking through sand would be a whole lot of fun, either. (It wasn't.)

With all the waiting around we had done, we didn’t start the trek/ride until 2:30: the middle of the afternoon with the worst possible light and the greatest possible heat. Who on earth planned this? The head Bedouin had tied my head scarf correctly for me, so I had some protection from the sun, and I tried to walk in the shade of the camels, but I was actually glad when we stopped for another rest, and it was my turn to ride. Until my camel threw me.

Maybe it didn't like people any more than I liked camels? (Love their expressions, but prefer to keep a prudent distance.) It could have been worse – the camel decided it didn’t want a rider on its way up. It got its front legs up, and then, halfway through getting its back legs up, it fell sideways. Fortunately I was able to swing my legs clear, so the camel didn’t fall on top of me, but the sand wasn’t as soft as you might think to fall on. I guess the handlers gave the camel an effective talking to, because it behaved itself for the rest of the day, but after a whole hour on camelback I was more than ready to get off. Give me a horse any day.

While we did visit some mildly interesting petroglyphs, we didn’t see anything that anyone said had associations with Lawrence, and in fact, I found most of the rock formations disappointing – perhaps if you see them before Petra they look better. Or perhaps they look better in morning or evening light. After we visited the petroglyphs we saw a village not far away, and then came around some rocks to see a covey of 4WDs and a flock of tourists trying climb up a sand dune. Our camp was round the next rock corner.

The Bedouins lit a large camp fire, and served a surprisingly good dinner, with plenty of food including both chicken and lamb. I had worried that the night in the desert would be cold, and we did need the fire, but once I settled into my silk sleep sack and the provided sleeping bag I was plenty warm. Several people chose to sleep out. Even when I got up in the middle of the night to trek through the sand to the toilet block, I didn't bother to wrap up. Or take a flashlight - just as the moon had overpowered the candles at Petra, here it overpowered the stars – I would suggest doing a desert overnight during the dark of the moon. (Note - both western and squat toilets, with TP.)

I've been thinking about how this part of the itinerary could be improved, and I think we should have started from Petra after lunch instead of breakfast, and saved the jeep ride through the desert for the next morning. As it was we arrived at our next hotel well before they were ready for us. That way we could have enjoyed both evening and morning light on the rocks, and perhaps have visited Little Petra as well.

Quick question - I cut the Petra pix down from 200+ to 75 (whew!) - would it be better to leave them in chronological order, or to put all the Treasury shots together, etc.?

Thursday....if you go to www.barakajourneys.com you can see my itinerary. Its the Syria, Jordan & Lebanon trip! You can then tell me what you think.

I bought my air tix today....so its really going to happen...Inshallah!!!!

I was a bit confused w/ the pics as to where I was and when but I think its mostly cause Ive not been there. I'll be ever so much smarter when I return!!!

I took a quick look at the Baraka itinerary. First impression is that's it's really a Syrian trip with a little bit of Lebanon and Jordan. You only see Baalbek and Aanjar in Lebanon, which hardly counts, and don't get to Wadi Rum in Jordan, although you spend two days in Amman. I didn't check all the hotels, but for Petra and Hama you'll be out of town, but the Damascus hotel looks good. Seems to be a thorough visit to Syria.

I would leave them in chronological order, just my opinion.

Boy, I'm really hoping my camel ride in Morocco is more enjoyable than yours! At least ours should be at dusk and just after sunrise so not the same baking effect.

Your sleep sack - do you have the standard size or the larger? I'm going to order one and remember hating the claustrophobic feeling of a a sleeping bag but maybe a bigger sleep sack would have excess fabric to get twisted around?

I have the standard Dreamsack. I can get that one twisted... I don't find it especially claustrophobic, though, it's very light.

Thanks for the feedback. I've left them photos chronological, but added a few more captions.

Aqaba and Dead Sea coming up soon.

I am aware of the route we will take.....I won't see all you saw but I will see what I will see and Im happy.

I have traveled w/ this company before and have always been very pleased with them.

Long ago I decided I won't see it all in this lifetime which is why I'm coming back......richer....so I can travel more!

November 4-6, 2009: Too Much Pool

When we left the Wadi Rum camp after breakfast (no-one seemed inclined to linger) it turned out that we were very close to the highway. We weren't far from Aqaba either and arrived by 10:00. Unfortunately, our hotel didn’t have our rooms ready, and I was dying for a shower. While I waited I went out to look for coffee, and found a little place on the lower level of a shopping complex. I chatted with a local who said he was a lawyer, but also owned a concrete company. And a taxi company…

I got one of the first rooms available, so I was able to shower and change before we set off for the beach. I hadn’t slept well, and decided not to bother with renting equipment and getting wet-suited up to go snorkeling – the guidebooks said the best Red Sea snorkeling was further south. The tour took us to one of the beach hotels, which offered not-bad food, and a swimming pool. After taking a look at the state of the beach I was just as happy to chill out by the pool.

Aqaba itself, full of tourists, hotels and restaurants, could have been almost anywhere. Not a place I would chose to linger. After dinner a small group of us did find the local market, still lively even at night, but also surrounded by souvenir shops. On the way back to the hotel my Birkenstocks betrayed me again, although this time I fell forward, badly bruising my left knee. I raided the mini-bar in my room for cold drink cars in lieu of ice.

The last full day of the tour featured the Dead Sea. We visited the public beach, rather than one of the hotels, where we found changing rooms, freshwater showers, a buffet and swimming pools – but no spa or massages. Of course, I floated in the salty waters, although I held an umbrella doing duty as a sunshade rather than a newspaper. (No, I did not have anyone take a photo.) And yes, it really is that salty and it really is that easy to float. But you can only do that for so long.

After an indifferent buffet lunch I spent another afternoon by the pool. Now, for some people, especially those escaping a northern winter, sunning by the pool might have been a welcome break. But I live in North Carolina, where I get more than enough sun, and where I have miles of sandy beaches just two to three hours drive away. I visit the beach maybe once every couple of years just to check that things haven't changed. So I could have done without back-to-back beach afternoons. My original plan, to spend time in one of the posh hotels, might have worked better.

I was glad to get back to Amman. The tour leader didn’t organize a farewell dinner, and once again seemed to have no knowledge of the restaurant scene. He sent one group off in a taxi to the Shmeisani district, but I learned later that it's no longer a good place to look for food and they eventually gave up and ate at the hotel. I went off with a younger crowd to a restaurant that a couple of them had found downtown.

Since I didn’t have a plane to catch I ate a leisurely breakfast at the Toledo next morning, before saying farewell to my roommate, and taking a taxi to the Hisham hotel, near the embassy district. The Hisham sounded nice, but I wasn’t actually staying there. They were renovating, and were putting me up in the Canyon Boutique, next to the Jordan Hospital, instead.

Bottom line on the Explore! tour? It provided the hotels and transport I had had trouble arranging myself. I enjoyed the company. But, besides the infuriating behavior of the ground agent, I hadn't been impressed by the itinerary or the hotels, and I especially didn't like traveling around with so many people in a tour bus when I expected a "small group tour".

I had intended to fill in the tour survey when I got home (Explore! wants you to fill in a paper survey and hand it in to your tour leader!) but Adventure Center, their US agent, sent me an on-line questionnaire first. When Adventure Center saw my answers they asked for follow-up, which they forwarded to Explore!. Explore! did send an apology and a discount on another tour, but I don't plan to travel with them again. One less brochure to keep around!

November 6 – 8, 2009: - Back to Amman

The Colony Boutique turned out to be a new, sleek, glass-clad building. Very elegant, but perhaps not very practical in Jordan. I started in Room 401, and even with drapes drawn over the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling windows, and the AC going full strength, I roasted. The front desk suggested opening the windows, but I couldn’t see a hinge, never mind a handle, and I figured a hotel in this class ought to be able to maintain comfortable temperatures without letting in a lot of dust and noise. I finally got them to move me to the other side of the building, where it was cooler but also darker: The only light in the main room came from a reading light over one of the beds – the other bed was lost in gloom.

I didn’t find a whole lot to do in Amman, having already visited the Citadel. I did check out the Roman theater and its associated museums, but wasn’t impressed. I spent quite a long time walking the Shmeisani section, which Lonely Planet thought well of. Some of the houses were interesting, but the small park I found had ducks and geese unhappily housed by dry ponds. Then I had trouble finding somewhere to eat lunch, eventually winding up at a Turkish restaurant. I sympathized with the group from the tour who had been sent to Shmeisani to look for somewhere to eat after dark.

The best sight I found the second time around was the National Gallery of Fine Arts (http://www.nationalgallery.org/ ), housed in two buildings separated by a small sculpture garden near Abdali bus station. I’m not a fan of “modern” art, but the works in this collection were not especially abstract. I was particularly interested to see art from all over the Muslim world, from Africa to Indonesia, and I wondered how much national origin influenced the artists . Pakistani paintings reminiscent of Persian miniatures shared space with a Palestinian sculpture of a boat holding keys titled “To What Exiled Country Are You Returning?” and a piece from the UAE on the intifada. I had to cross the garden to the newest building to find many Jordanian artists. This building, also contained more abstract works, with a number featuring calligraphy.

But easily the best part of my time in Amman was meeting up with my ex-step-daughter’s in-laws. This presented a few unexpected difficulties, as the “universal” SIM in my cell phone wasn’t working in Jordan, and the Canyon Boutique didn’t allow phone calls from its rooms, but we worked it out, and I spent an interesting afternoon in the western suburbs. I had only met her in-laws once, a number of years back, but they welcomed me into their home, and later her mother-in-law took me on a driving tour of their part of Amman.

We drove past walled estates where you might wonder whether the house qualified as a castle or a palace – some even had guards at the gates. Previous waves of refugees have arrived in Amman from Palestine (in fact, my hosts were originally Palestinian), but the current wave is Iraqi, and at least some clearly left with plenty of money. We stopped for a look at a very glitzy new mall, full of western chains, where fashionable young women covered their hair, but also wore make-up.

I ate my last meal in Jordan at my hotel, up on the top floor, but I also went back to both Hashim and Abu Ahmad. Once again my taxi driver couldn’t find Abu Ahmad, but this time I made sure that he dropped me at 3rd Circle. If you stand on the eastern side of 3rd Circle, with your back to Jacob’s Pharmacy, and then keep turning left, you will find Abu Ahmad quite easily.

All-in-all, I was more than ready to leave for Istanbul.

i'm loving the pics, thanks

Glad you like them. Interesting trip, but I really fell for Petra.

thursdaysd, I am so glad I stumbled upon your report! I'm in the midst of reading your blog now but I wanted to say great job! I personally have a lot of interest in Armenia and Georgia. I've traveled quite a bit in Europe and so I am now more interested in some of the lesser-traveled countries or regions. I think it's wonderful that you made the trip and I am looking forward to finishing the rest of your blog.

Tracy

Why thanks, tcreath. BTW, you can also hear me talking about Georgia on this week's Amateur Traveler podcast: http://bit.ly/cO5KJK

Great report with much detail and you are an intrepid traveler! I definitely want to see Petra and Syria plus Oman but not sure in what fashion. Am not a backpacker and don't want a big tour so it could be expensive to arrange a private trip of some sort.

"it could be expensive to arrange a private trip of some sort." - that's one reason I went with the Explore! tour in Jordan. I think you could avoid my hotel problems by going at a less popular time of year though. I hadn't realized that Syria was so firmly on the tourist circuit. You might using a car and driver for day trips rather than for a whole tour within reason.

bookmarking

I just discovered this mesmerizing report! Good work! You are one terrific traveler, Thursday!

And for next time (!!)here is an article that mentions Hashem, and other eating spots, in Amman:


http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/travel/13choicetables.html?scp=2&sq=amman+restaurant&st=nyt

Why, thank you, eks! (Nice bit of alliteration, there, too.) I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, sometimes when maybe I shouldn't....

Thanks for the link - I wasn't offered raw onion at Hashem, which was fine since I certainly wouldn't have wanted it! Sorry I missed out on the Iraqi food, though, it sounds good.

Wow, what a great report. I was in Petra in 1965 and so much more has been unearthed now. As has been stated many times youth is wasted on the young. 1964 and 1965 I spent some time in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and saw some of the things you experienced, but missed many more. It makes me want to return especially since I love mosaics.

Thanks Nywoman! I'm so glad I got to spend two days at Petra. And there were indeed plenty of mosaics on this trip - I would especially recommend the ones in the Damascus mosque, along with the Archaeological Park in Madaba (it's such a pity the tour groups just visit the map).

Well Thursdaysd, your trip reports have effectively kept me from going to work this morning. Appreciate your smooth writing style and attention to details. Quick substantive "insider" comments (I live in Jordan, grew-up in Beirut, and my mother is from Aleppo):
1- Unlike Syria which houses the two oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world, Jordan's main attractions are further out in the country. We have the odd millenium old ruins in Amman and Jerash but really Jordanian cities were pretty much deserted till the turn of the twentieth century (the "anti-renaissance" hit this area hardest as Ottoman administration started dissipiating here in the 1700's and nomadic tribes went on to dominate all lands to the east of the Jordan at the expense of sedentary population). The real beauty here lies in the hidden canyons and oasis' (Petra being the most famous, but obviously the water has long since evaporated), but also canyons like Feynan (managed by the RSCN where you had your lunch on the 1st circle) and Ghuweyr (with the in-let right around the Crussader castle of Shobak - smaller but to me more impressive than Kerak) offer a fantastic anti-thesis to all things modern. This part of the great rift valley is by far the the most impressive due the sheer incline from 1000 m. above sea level to 430 m. below it, allowing narrow streams to rush through narrow and steep gorges and canyons with the occasional collecting overcast with vegetation and... life where the desert used to be. (check-out walking Jordan or Explore Jordan or my personal facebook page for private images / samer badaro).

2- For a touch of history + natural beauty, consider Umm Qais (arabella?? Roman Decapolis) in the north whith breath taking view of lake Tyberias (where Jesus once fished), a descent restaurant and deserted Turkish-era village still intact. Another item of choice is Pella, overlooking the verdant northern patch of the Jordan Valley, with Roman ruins (and for history buffs, site of a pivotal battle which ended Byzantium's rule over greater Syria).

3- If you're stuck in Amman, the places to eat & hang-around are Rainbow Street / 1st Circle Jebel Amman area; Abdoun Circle; and of course Amman Downtown... But again I live in Amman and first chance I get, I take the kids and go out of the city.

4- Syria is gorgeous, particularly if you escape the tourist traps (if you are a true adventurer and manage a local chapparon... try the unvisited surroundings of Lattekai, frollok mountains, Kasab, Turkmen mountain overlooking the Mediterranean). Sorry about your brush with "danger" in Hama, but this kind of thing happens in North Carolina... Fault of the purpotrater not the culture my friend... This area is very ethnically mixed and a good portion of Syrians and Jordanians (like my mother, me & my kids for example) have fair skin & colored eyes ("caucasian" looking)... Don't let it detract from enjoying the area if you're ever back in this neck of the woods (whenever things settle back to normal in Syria... sad what has happened to this beautiful land in the past year).

Hope this "local perspective" adds value & thx again for your input on my "train to Montenegro" summer plans.

sbadaro - thanks for reading, and for your comments!

1. I knew of at least one of the canyons that had places to stay, but I couldn't figure out a good way to get there by public transport, and of course, once I signed up for the tour, that was pretty much it. My ex-step-daughter's in-laws drive everywhere, so they couldn't help. But maybe now I know someone who can?

2. Um Qais and Pella sound lovely. Again, I shortchanged the north because I couldn't find anywhere to stay.

3. Yes, Amman didn't make my favorite places list. The "palaces' in the suburbs were interesting though. And a real contrast to downtown.

4. I am so sick over what is happening in Syria. I am very glad I got to visit Aleppo and Damascus before this madness.

While I certainly agree that sexual harassment unfortunately happens everywhere, I don't agree that that's true of 10-11 year old boys assaulting older women. I've now visited 70 countries, and Syria and Jordan (there was also an incident in Madaba) are the only countries where I've encountered that. And while you may look "Caucasian" you probably also look like you fit in.

Good luck with your plans for Montenegro. I'm glad to help, and can't resist putting in a good word for Sarajevo.

Hey Thursdays' I'll be more than happy to help organize or put you through to hiking / canyoning trip organizers anytime you're back in Jordan (afraid I can only spare fridays... work, baby sitting, elderly care... hence my need for a vacation)...

Noted your comment on harassment and you're absolutely right in being offended... but again, it is a deplorable but nonetheless individual act... We're a fairly tolerant society compared to say Saudi or many places in Europe, if you consider how many Christians and how many churches have survived through Crussades, colonialism, civil war etc... compared to how many moslems have survived the Spanish inquisitions, the Balkan civil wars etc...

Having said that, I must confess that Syria was indeed thrown into a time-warp over the past five decades by design... politics... almost cocooned from the outside world (the joke in the eighties was that a journalist toured the streets of Damascus with a picture of a lone "banana" and no child under the age of 10 could recognize what it was!!)... whereas Lebanon and,to a lesser extent, Jordan stayed open to the outside world.

Finally, Sarajevo / Mustar sound interesting... Schedule is still fluid but there's only so much you can do in a week... I'll keep you posted my friend.

thursdaysd, I so enjoyed reading your entertaining and informative trip report! Thank you for posting it!

Thanks lucy! Are you headed that way yourself?

Just found this Fab report. Am hoping to visit this region at some point ( maybe starting with a weekend in Beruit) so all the above is very useful.

I can also highly recommend both Feynan and Dana for hiking, views and eco-tourism. Syria is the most interesting of all these countries(IMHO only) but now I've been spending a lot of time in Jordan and there are wonderful places to visit here too if you have the time.