Palmyra

We got up around 7 and continued our journey to Palmyra. We were driving through desert and we could see few beduins with their tents and sheeps. We arrived to Palmyra at 10 and drove up to the castle. There was a very nice view of the city and the ancient site. Soon a man cam and invited us of a tee and few minutes latter brought 2 cups of tea. It was nice start of the day. He was working at the castle and so we dicidd to have a short visit. The caste was build in 12 century and has been reconstructed. There was nit much to see but we had a nice view. Our next stop was at the turist office where we were welcomed Palmyra. We find out that the last tour to the tombs is at 2 pm and that everything closes at 4 pm. It was already 12 and we started to panic what to see. First we went to the temple of ?? It was very nice site and very well preserved. It was not possible to make it for teh two a clock tombs tour so we stayed and enjoyed the sun. As we walked out of the temple we were offered a guide through the old city. Since we missed the tombs and museum we decided it will be good to get some information about this very nice historical place. The name of our guide was Mohammed and he told us that the city was build in oases between 1-3 century AD. It was an important cross road for the caravans and it gained its wealth by collecting taxes for passing caravans. There was also a very big market place and nice roman style theatre. It was ruled by queen Xenofobia ??? We stayed there until the sunset. Since in this period there are onyl few tourists we were attacked few times for buying things and having a camel rides. Finally after 30 mín of selecting and negotiating Agnieszka bought 3 necklaces. After the sunset it got cold and we were frozen by the time we reached our car. Agnieszka made nice dinner and we went for a short walk in the city. There were a lot of local people. We found a nice store were they sell local fiques. It was just after the season so we decided to by some. There was a young guy and he invited us for a tea. He learned English when he worked in the hotel. Hi is 20 years old has ?? His family grows olives and fikes. In half a year he will have to go for 2 years to the army. He told us that life in Palmyra is hard people do not make much money - 5000 SP ( 100 USD) is a good salary. After he finishes army he wants to go to work abroad. We stayed there more than 30 min and bought very good fiques. He invited us for the picnic to their house in the oases. Since we have last 2 days in Syria we decided to go to Damascus. We left Plamyra at 11 pm and drove 100 km and slept at the gas station about 160 km from Damascus.