Jerusalem simultaneously confounds and amazes. In the list of “Cities Unlike Any Place Else,” it has to be right up near the top.

It has been a few months since I was there and I still really don’t know what to think. I spent two weeks there in Feburary and can only feel confident enough at this point to say that if it had been two months or two years, I’m not sure I’d understand it any more completely.

Though I was sick the whole time and didn’t get around as much as I wanted to, especially to the East Jerusalem side of things I was, and am still, intrigued by this place (and the food… the food!)

The obvious reason that Jerusalem is basically impossible to understand for those of us that don’t live there is the layers and layers of history, religion, culture, violence, hatred, reconciliation and more that have built up over literally thousands of years. As I sit here and write this, I am wondering just this:

Is Jerusalem the most historical city in the world?

If not here, what is?

Here are some free-form thoughts about Jerusalem:

• According to Wikipedia (so it has to be true), During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. That actually sounds about right.
• The city was originally settled sometime in the 4th millennium B.C. That is old. Really old. Bronze Age old.
• It is the holiest city in Judaism, the holiest city in Christianity and the third holiest city in Islam. Those are the three great monotheistic religions in the world — and Jerusalem is full-on, smack dab in the core of each of them.
• Entire kingdoms thousands of miles away rose and fell, based on the success or failure of conquering this one city.

Take just one of the many historical buildings/sites in Jerusalem for an example, Temple Mount.

Temple Mount is the single holiest place in Judaism. It was here that God gathered the dust to make Adam, the location of Abraham’s binding of Issac, the site of the first two Jewish temples, and the site where the Third Temple will be built with the coming of the Messiah.

Temple Mount is simultaneously the third holiest place in Islam. Muslims used to pray in this direction instead of towards Mecca. Muhammad rose to heaven from this location.

Combine those vitally important religion traditions with current political realities and the layers that fall over Jerusalem become even more complex. During the 1967 Six Day War, Israel routed the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria and occupied the West Bank, including all of Jerusalem. You would think, this being the holiest site in Judaism and the Jewish state of Israel in firm control over the area, that there would be Jewish control over the site.

You’d be wrong.

A few days after the end of the Six Day War, the Israeli government returned administrative control of Temple Mount back to the Muslim community of Jerusalem and their waqf. Access to the site is limited for all non-Muslims to certain hours on certain days. Also prohibited are all forms of non-Muslim worship in this area: you can’t wear a cross here, carry a Bible, or even pray, unless you are Muslim.

All this on the holiest site in Judaism, in a city that is completely and totally controlled by Israel. In fact, when you go through the security checkpoints to enter the site, the people enforcing these restrictions, in order to keep the site limited to Muslim worship, are Israeli soldiers and security personal — who can’t pray on the site themselves.

Look, I hope the comments on this post really don’t devolve into a back and forth about Israel and Palestine and which side is “right” or “wrong” on the sides of angels or history… all I am saying is…

This is one amazingly odd, interesting and strange place.

I want to go back again and again, just to try to absorb more of it. As a history buff, there might be no better place in the world for me to wander around again and again.

While I was there, I was very graciously hosted for my entire two week stay by the wonderfully helpful and knowledgeable people at Abraham Hostel. Given the fact that I was under the weather for the entire time I was there, the hospitality they showed me was something I will never forget.

In addition to recommending them about as highly as I could — I thought I’d take some of my time lapse and video that I shot in Jerusalem and do up a quick video about the city and the hostel. This is my first rough effort at doing full-blown video and time lapse, so I hope you like it.

But I also want your feedback. I am in the midst of doing a reader survey still via my $100 Amazon giveaway — if you haven’t done the survey or entered the giveaway — click through here and enter away.

And if you have already entered that and answered my reader survey — THANK YOU — and feel free to give me your blunt and honest feedback of the video down here in the comments. Its nice to get complements always, but some constructive feedback is also helpful. Thanks everyone. I have the best readers in the world and the response to my reader survey and giveaway just proves that even more to me.

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this is Jerusalem, the Most Historical City in the World? from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

I have been incredibly fortunate to have been to over 60 countries during my travels and one of my favorite countries is Jordan, which is something that surprises many… but not those that have been there.

On my RTW trip, I went through much too fast, but did get to enjoy the wonders of Petra. Then in 2010, while I was in the region visiting Lebanon and Syria, I was lucky enough to be asked by the Jordan Tourism Board to come through on a sponsored trip to see some of the amazing sites there with a little more time.

I really love the Middle East and Jordan is right up on the top of reasons why.

So, when I was asked by Keith to participate in the iAmbassador effort to highlight Jordan, I jumped at the chance. The other participating bloggers in this effort are:

Keith of Velvet Escape
Melvin of Travel Dudes
Me… Go, See, Write
Dave and Deb of The Planet D
Janice of Solo Traveler Blog
Isabelle of Isabelle’s Travel Guide
Abby of Inside the Travel Lab
Nellie of Wild Junket

It is a great group of travel bloggers from all across the spectrum that I am quite proud of being a part of. And I will say that although the Jordan Tourism Board is sponsoring our efforts, from Keith’s lead, anything I have written about Jordan or will write or say about it are words from my mouth — no one else’s.

So join us for the next few days on various social media outlets, specifically Twitter, with the hashtag #GoJordan, and ask us any questions you have about Jordan.

what’s not to love??

I still have a few posts I want to write about Jordan, one of the benefits to writing non-chronological blog is that I can just write about whatever strikes my fancy, when it strikes my fancy. Though that likely does lead to some confusion from ya’ll reading out there as to where I am at certain times. But for the time being, here at my posts about Jordan for you to review and hopefully enjoy:

Bottom line — I am a huge fan of Jordan.

In an area of the world that holds a particular fascination for me, Jordan is one of the highlights of the highlights. From the Roman ruins of Jerash, to the already famous Petra, to scuba diving and the beaches of Aqaba, to the marvels of the Dead Sea, Jordan is a country that should be on everyone’s agenda at some point in their life.

* This campaign is brought to you in partnership by a sponsorship of  Visit Jordan and assisted by the organization of  iambassador by Velvet Escape.

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Interesting discussion lately on Twitter about a country that I truly love, Egypt, and am looking forward to visiting again and again. I had the chance to spend over a month in Dahab, one of my favorite beach towns in the world earlier this year on my second trip through and have loved a great bit about this bit of land that spawned one of the oldest and most interesting civilizations the world has ever seen.

Got it??  I love Egypt. I even wrote a few posts after the revolution earlier this year, encouraging people to come visit this great county. That being said….

The Arab Spring and Egypt

In case you have somehow missed it, Egypt this year has been in the midst of a huge bit of turmoil and a lot of change in the last year, though frankly I seriously doubt anything will politically change too much in the end. The Arab Spring has swept across the region, toppling tyrannical regimes in Tunisia, Libya, and most notably, Egypt.

In recent weeks, what looked promising in Egypt has turned sour. The Egyptian military was amazingly restrained in the uprising at the beginning of the year that toppled the horrific Mubarak government. They then took control over the government during a “transitional period” and have promised democratic elections.

from the NYT web story today

Recently, protesters took back to the streets wanting a quicker end to military rule and establishment of true civilian rule (which I frankly doubt ever happens) in recent days.

Unlike the big set of protests earlier this year, the military replied with ferocity, killing over 20 and wounding over 1,500.

The protesters have not backed down and it looks like the violent repression on the part of the military is likely to continue — from today’s NY Times, Chaos Builds As Truce Fails.

Why this world political update?

Recently there have been a fair number of tweets advocating the message to “come to Egypt now, because the people need your tourist dollars.”

It seems, not too shockingly, that people are loath to visit countries in the midst of turmoil, especially the kind where people are getting shot down in the streets.

My personal side of this debate, which is a discussion that can occur whether you want to visit Burma with its repressive (though perhaps lately getting better) government, Uganda with its anti-gay government crusade, or even some cities in the United States with how they have brutalized some of the Occupy Wall Street protesters (really appalling story and video of that here) is this…

Personally, I draw the line on governments killing peaceful protestors. 

You either have a line regarding your social conscience and travel or you don’t. If you don’t, that’s fine. If you do have a line, draw it where you like, but personally, I am not really going to be happy supporting a country’s tourism income when they are shooting down peaceful protesters in the streets.

from www.aljazeera.com today

And don’t think for a minute that going to countries, especially still-developing countries like Egypt, doesn’t serve to help support the ruling government. Aside from money they get from visa fees, sales taxes and other tourist-based taxes, a good number of these countries are so corrupt that businesses (local and international) have to pay the government nicely for the right to do business there.

Tourism income, no doubt, does help prop up these regimes.

On the other hand, I also have quite some sympathy with the argument that you should go to countries like this and do your best to put your dollars to work helping the local economy. If tourism drops for whatever reason, the people in that country suffer from a lack of income.

I get it. I do see both sides of this and have really no problems with people making either choice that they wish.

While that part of it is a discussion I feel has two very valid sides to it, here is what came out of that discussion that I think has almost zero validity.

The Third World Guilt Trip

As part of this particular Twitter chat, the blogger that was currently in Egypt said they were sitting next to someone who owned a tour company of there. At one point she tweeted this:

These are his words, not mine: “You don’t get it. You are murdering us, not the govt. You are not helping us.”

To use Travels of Adam’s words, which he immediately tweeted in reply — “I’m not killing anyone.” Period. And to make that argument is assinine.

And trying to guilt trip me into going there is not only counter-productive, its pathetic.

I have occasionally heard variations of this guilt trip in a variety of places. The cabbie in Namibia that wanted to overcharge us, after agreeing to a fare at the beginning of the route, screaming at us “you are all rich white people — what does a few dollars matter to you?” The kids begging in a variety of places with variations of “but you are rich, just a dollar.” The restaurants with different menus with different prices, foreign or local, where they just shrug at you when you mention it. The people asking me to help them move to America, because “everyone is rich there.” The variations are endless.

I appreciate that the geography, and good fortune, of one’s birth is completely and totally random. I have written about it on this website more that a few times. There are amazingly difficult questions you confront when traveling in the underdeveloped world and the inequality of opportunity based solely on where you are born is high on that list.

But, there are a LOT of places far, far worse off then Egypt right now.

If “helping the people” was the primary reason for travel, then we all better hitch up our wagons and get ready to spend our money in Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Haiti, because their people are doing far worse than Egyptians are.

Hell, just in the Middle East, if “helping people” were the criteria, then its time to hit Yemen, Libya and Tunisia before Egypt. I dare say there might be some people reading this post in Michigan or Ohio saying, “hey — we aren’t exactly doing great here also.”

Egypt is about middle of the pack in terms of per capita GDP at 137th out of 227 countries. Certainly not rich, but far from dragging along the bottom. In fact, in non-per capita terms, Egypt is the 27th richest county in the world — they have a fair bit of monetary backing to be doing some good things to their own economy.

And to the Egyptian tourism operator, who I bet has probably made a pretty good living over the years, let me ask, have you been spending your tourism dollars in downtrodden countries like Chad or Niger or Mali, so as to help those people with your spending?

Because if you have been vacationing in Europe instead… let me say, pathetic argument and you are a hypocrite.

Here are the two groups of people that I have a duty to support with my spending: my government, to which I pay taxes and to which protects me and provides various basic necessities for my fellow citizens, and my children, of which I don’t have any right now…. that I am aware of.

Other than that, I’m free to do whatever the hell I want with my money. As are you.

Speaking of my tax dollars, let me also remind you that Egypt has been sucking off the U.S. taxpayers teat strongly since 1979. Egypt is the 2nd largest recipient of the entire U.S. foreign aid budget. We have given your country an average of $2 billion per year, every year, since 1979.

And I, along with the rest of my fellow citizens, have been the one’s ponying up that cash transfer to your great country all this time.

So hop up off my ass and stop accusing me of somehow being worse and more culpable than your current military government… who is literally shooting its own citizens in cold blood. 

There is somewhat a sense of entitlement in some of the developing world that, as hyper-liberal as I am in my politics, I found quite on my travels. When I was in Ethiopia, the President was on the front page of the paper saying they needed to become more self-sufficient — somewhere between a quarter and a third of their entire annual government budget is from foreign aid. When I was Nicaragua, the locals in San Juan del Sur complained long and hard about the poor state of the road from Managua — the entire amount that was sent to them by the World Bank to pave the road was stolen by the President at the time, who ended up serving a little easy time under house arrest for it later. When in Saigon, I heard a story about a western company that lost out on a contract to build a bridge, because their engineering specifications would have made the bridge last for 30 years.

“But then there won’t be any jobs for people to repair the bridge when it breaks,” was the local reply.

There have been numerous books written on the topic of how long-term foreign aid just makes countries dependent on… more foreign aid, and really doesn’t end up doing much for the people of the country. Leaders steal the money. There is corruption all down the line from the top to the bottom. On the whole, it is just money thrown away for the most part, never to do any real people any good in the end.

Personally, even as a bleeding heart liberal, after even my little bit of travels in the developing world, I am a little sick of the sense of entitlement that I see, from governments down to some of the people on the street. There is an argument that dependence on foreign aid at the government level seeps into the consciousness of the people and leads to a sense of entitlement at that level also.

Frankly, I think that’s more than possible.

I don’t OWE you anything. If I choose to spend my money in your country, that is my choice. Just as it is your choice whether you or not you want to visit my country, or buy Coca-Cola or go to McDonald’s.

What Am I Going to Do to Help

So I am going to turn my annoyance at this misguided, but I am sure lovely and caring, Egyptian chap and do what I can for people in need in Egypt. Hopefully in a thoughtful and meaningful way, although I wish I could do more.

For each person that posts a comment on this thread that is a constructive and productive discussion of this difficult issue, I am going to donate $3 to the Egyptian Red Crescent organization, unless someone can suggest a better charity to get to the people in need in Egypt.

And if you make a donation to them also, I will match the first $20 of any donation you make. Here is the link to the Egyptian Red Crescent donate page.

Edit: If you want to donate by credit card, it appears the Egyptian Red Crescent page doesn’t accept online payments (though you can send a check). The link for the International Red Crescent is here.

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this is Travel, Change, and Social Conscience — Why I Currently Wouldn’t be Traveling to Egypt from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

The wines of the Middle East are a relatively untold story that I am happy to spread the word about. I was fortunate enough to have a few winery tours in Lebanon and when I got to Jordan for my week-long tour sponsored by the Jordan Tourism Board, I asked if there were any spots for wine I should hit while I was there. They said Zumot Wines and set it up for me.

As usual, their advice was spot on.

Omar Zumot is a legend in the wine community in the Middle East and rightfully so. His father, who was a wine trader in the region for decades, once told him “this land can make great wine.”

His father was right. And everyone knows how much I like great wine.

In 1996, Omar planted his first grapes at Madaba, southwest of Amman. He has ended up planting 34 different grape varieties over time as an experiment to see which varietals work in the region, since there hasn’t been much wine history here in recent years. He is still harvesting from all those different varieties because, as he says, “we are still sorting out what will work. It might take ten more years, or twenty, or fifty.”

I was given the chance to join in on a previously scheduled wine tasting that Omar was doing for a French NGO raising money to expand the Arab Episcopal School. Before the tasting began, Omar sat with me and discussed his winery, the history of the region and his plans for the future.

the pre-tasting room

Simply put, he is an impressive guy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera with me, so you will have to subsist on my written words, with no photographic support.

The one photo that I would have inserted here was a picture of the plates of food that were provided to accompany the wines we were tasting. Five varieties of excellent cheese, fresh French bread perfectly baked, salami, ham, and a couple varieties of Prosciutto. Heaven. So here are my tasting notes on some of the wines we tasted. Note, I said some, because we must have tasted almost a dozen.

Pinot Grigo (2009) — One of my favorite whites. Non-acidic and quite mellow. A bit young and immature, but far from overpowering.

Fiano (2009) – This is a southern Italian grape that I don’t believe I have tried before. This was the first wine Omar had made from this grape in seven years, as it is difficult to deal with. Best thing about this wine was Omar’s comment: “A subtle wine. If you want a wine to drink at 11 a.m., this is the one.”

Shiraz (2009) – as Omar poured this he said, “a bit young and tannic” and he was right. But here the tannins showed the fruit that is going to burst forth in a few years from this currently tight wine. Full of blackberry flavor. This is a wine that I will love in four to five years when it mellows a bit, some of the tannins drop out, and it opens up.

San Genovese (unknown year… I was drinking a bit now) — Deep and full flavors of chocolate, cassis and blackberry. If this was sold with an Italian label on it in the United States, it would go for $100 a bottle or so. It was visionary.

Cabernet Sauvignon (ummmm) — If you would tell someone this was a $60 Cab from Napa Valley, they would never know the difference. Personally, I didn’t think it was as good as the San Genovese, but then again, I don’t think I’ve had a dozen wines as good as that one.

Pinot Noir (somewhere lost in time) — This wine was the first ever gold metal winner for a Jordanian wine, this metal being won at a competition in Germany. It was extremely well balanced. As Omar handed it to me, he said smiling “try it with the goat cheese.” Not surprisingly, he was right again. Although there was very little acidic taste to the wine to start with, the goat cheese erased even that small amount and left an even more delicate wine on my tongue.

Look, I am no wine expert. My palate is not that developed and I am hindered in a fairly significant way in that my sense of smell is quite poor. That being said, I know what I like and I have tasted a fair bit of wine in my life so far. So take this for what it is worth.

You need to fine some of Omar Zumot’s wines, if you can. These are well worth your tasting efforts.

They will be tasted again by me, as soon as I have the chance.

Another interview with Omar Zumot.

Right there in Amman, my friend Abbi took some amazing sunset shots in Amman. Really shows another side to this city. Keith didn’t manage to make the winery, but I did get a little jealous reading about his luxury hotel stay in Amman.

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this is Excellent Middle Eastern Wine: Zumot Wines in Jordan from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

A week ago, I did my post of the photographs I took from the Damascus souk — at least the spice and food ones. Here are some more shots from this really wonderful spot.

one of the smaller alleyways in the Damascus souk

raw fabrics for sale

bike in hallway

one of the interesting sights is... no women salespeople

knife sharpener in the souk

just liked the juxtoposition

main street of the Damascus souk

another shot of the main street

you can buy anything here... including any stuffed animal you want

anyone want a rug??

after a long day's work.... ya got to get some rest

The Damascus souk, perhaps the largest of its kind in the world. Well worth a visit, when things finally start settling down in this great country. Although I am a huge fan of Palmyra, in the western part of this country, you obviously need to start your Syrian visit in Damascus.

Now if we can just get a change of government and some stability over there. It is painful for me to read the many stories about the horrors going on there, given how many wonderful Syrians I have met in my short time there.

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this is Damascus Souk (Al-Hamidiyah Souq) in Photographs, The Rest from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

Quick preface: I am currently in Europe on the crazy Ultimate Train Challenge, but scheduled up a few non-train posts before I left on it, in case I was short of internet. So enjoy this post and others, but…. come over to the train challenge site also and root us all on in our quest to get from Lisbon to Saigon in 30 days!

The Damascus souk, also know as Al-Hamidiyah Souq, just inside the walled city is massive. Until you spend three or four hours walking around, you have no idea really how massive it is.

wishing this was Smell 'O Vision....

The Damascus souk stretches over what seems like miles and miles of streets and alleyways in the walled city. Normally tourists only get to see a small bit of it when they enter through one of the main gates, walk down the main, wide street towards Umayyad Mosque, and perhaps down the other main street of the souk that passes by the gold and spice merchants.

But if you wander around the tiny side alleyways and streets of the Damascus souk, you then start to understand not only its size, but also how many things are actually for sale inside. Here is the link to some of my short videos from walking around at night.

I took hundreds of pictures when I was there, so I’ve divided them out into two photo journal posts. This one consists of the spice and food shots I took, the other one is going to be of the rest. Enjoy and if you like it, I’d love if you shared it around on Facebook or Twitter or Google+ or any of the other little buttons I have strewn around here. Thanks.

all kinds of food stuffs for sale --- here, various nuts

candies, anyone??

freshly squeezed orange juice, with a huge smile

more spices and smell-good stuff

dried fruits for sale in the Damascus Souk

cannot get enough of the spice shots here

even the non-colorful spices look cool

we interrupt the spices to bring you.... potato chips

and now back to our regularly scheduled programming

ok, enough of this... you get the point

x

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this is Damascus Souk (Al-Hamidiyah Souq) in Photographs, The Spices from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

King Hussein and Queen Noor

The Royal Automobile Museum in Amman, Jordan is the kind of place that you are unlikely to have on your list of places to visit, but ends up as one of the most treasured memories once you luck your way across it.

At one point during my sponsored trip to Jordan by the great people at the Jordan Tourism Board I had an afternoon free in Amman after getting back from a day trip. My guide and driver suggested I check out the Royal Automotive Museum in the hours I had before dinner. I think they really just half-wanted to get rid of me for a bit, which is understandable after hanging out with me almost constantly for a week.

Heck, I get sick of myself after that much time with me also.

The reason for the existence of the Royal Automotive Museum in the first place is simple. King Hussein, who was king of Jordan from 1956 until his death in 1999, was a complete and total car lover. Cars and motorcycles were his passion. I think it would be safe to call him a car nut.

part of the motorcycle collection at the Royal Automobile Museum

His son, Abdullah II, the current King of Jordan, built the museum in his father’s honor. The collection consists of dozens upon dozens of autos and motorcycles from Jordanian history. The various official cars that the kings of Jordan have driven around and been driven around in, are on display going back to the turn of the 20th century.

It is a very impressive collection and the detailed history of each car added to my fascination. The car that King Hussein rode around in upon his return from his first successful cancer treatment session in the U.S. was on display, along with some photos of the throngs of crowds that greeted him as he drove through the streets of Amman.

The combination of history and cool cars had me enthralled from the moment I walked in until I left.

A winged door Mercedes

At the hotel I was staying over on the Dead Sea there were riders in town for the annual Jordan Rally, which is one of the biggest off-road automobile races in the world.

Yes, yet another thing I would have never known about Jordan if I hadn’t run smack dab into it while I was there.

King Hussein actually raced in the rally a number of times and won it on at least one occasion. There is a great picture of him in the car he won the race in at the museum, right next to the car, but my photo of it didn’t turn out well enough to include here.

I think I really would have enjoyed meeting him.

WWI-era armored car, with King Hussein on the monitor

open top classic roadster

Fast.... very fast. (Ferrari)

WWII-era motorcycle

one of King Hussein's favorite motorcycles

just a cool old car

For a great guide for Walking Amman, check out that post by my friends at thePlanetD. If you want some advice on shopping in Jordan, don’t miss my friend Janice’s post.

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this is Royal Automobile Museum: An Homage to King Hussein in Jordan from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

Currently of course, Syria is a travel no-go, but when things clear up (hopefully with a new democratically elected ruler), I can’t recommend a place any higher. One of the many things to see there are the Roman ruins of Palmyra, which are completely different than those at Baalbek and Jerash.

Palmyra is of a scope that is much more vast than the other two locations. It stretches out over hundreds of acres and will impress you most on that basis — its vastness. While Baalbek and Jerash gave me a better sense of what it was like to live in those places at that time, Palmyra just gives off the impression of…. “wow, tens of thousands of people really did live here a couple thousand years ago.”

Step through the gates and back in time....

Just a quick reflection on the current events in Syria.

Syria is a country currently going through horrible turmoil in an effort by its people to overthrow decades of totalitarian government. It is an effort that is long overdue and I wish that the West, including my country, would get more forcibly behind the hundreds of thousands of brave Syrians that are clamoring for democracy in a completely and totally peaceful way.

I am in awe of the restraint and courage the protesters are showing.

My trip through Syria was a few weeks before everything really started blowing up. It was my second time in this wonderful country and all I can say is that the Syrian people’s hospitality, friendship and general kindness rivals any other country on the planet, including New Zealand.

I was humbled in my two trips through Syria, first in 2009 on my RTW trip and then again this spring, with the unadulterated kindness of its people. Just one story to help highlight how welcoming they are.

As I left Palmyra in the late afternoon, I met a Syrian guy that appeared to be in his early 30s. He spoke excellent English and started up a conversation with me as we waited for the little mini-bus that was going to take us half-way across the country, to Homs. After a little while, in typical Syrian fashion, he offered to open his home to me, allow me to have dinner with his family, and spend the night there. I had to decline because I only had one day left in Syria and wanted to see the Noriahs of Hama again (and also take the Syrian train down to Damascus the next day, since I am a sucker for trains).

When we got dropped off at the bus station in Homs, it turned out that it wasn’t the same bus station I needed to be at to get the next short bus to Hama. No problem, my new friend hailed me a cab and jumped in, in order to make sure I made it to the right location. When we got there, he not only refused to let me pay for the whole cab fare, he also refused to let me pay my share, saying “you are in my country now, of course you must let me pay.” Then he wandered around the bus station with me for a while, making sure that I got on the right bus in the end.

And didn’t want anything for his troubles at all. Just being an ambassador for his country. Which made me think:

Would I do the same for a complete stranger visiting my country?

I know the answer would have been “no” a few years ago, but I certainly hope I’d be a better ambassador for my country now that I have been exposed to incredible kindness of strangers from around the world.

Now back to photos of Palmyra.

main street in Palmyra

Temple of Bel -- the largest building on site

Palmyra Monumental Arch and Entrance from Temple of Bel viewpoint

Palmrya theatre.... all the world's a stage

you know I had to try ONE photo tweeked out, so tried color on the camels' blanket and B&W on the rest

the intricate stonework amazes me at these various sites

Palmyra Monumental Entrance Arch

Palmyra Entrance Arch with Crusader Castle in background

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this is Palmyra, Syria: Fabulous Roman Ruins from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel