Sick Bay in Antalya

Helma suddenly suffered of lower back pain, Ed had a strained shoulder, Evert had a sore tummy and we were stuck in Antalya. We have to admit there are worse places to recuperate. Antalya has a wonderful old city, with lots of historic things to see and to do. So it was time for a time out!!

We are staying in a nice pension with a swimming pool in the middle of the old town. But tomorrow everyone is ready to move on because we still have a long way to travel.

The Mediterranean Sea

Camping again, sunbathing, swimming.The water was crystal clear, fish everywhere. After 2 days we had to continue to ...Antalya. Only 400 km, but it took us a full day. We camped at Side with sea view. But otherwise it is filled up with package tours. So there are nicer places, although without sandy beaches. But something came up..

Uchisar rock citadel

Castle at UchisarLunchtime!

Again we climbed a rock citadel, but it was well worth it. We had a beautiful over the whole area. the next day we visited the underground city. it was very impressive, very deep underground there was a church cut in the form of a cross. the boys thought it was great, but for Ed was it a little bit too much so he climbed out of the city as soon as possible.

Hard work on the field

We visited the Ihlara Valley, which is a beautiful canyon full of rock- cut churches. The road to the valley was wonderful. But Ed and the boys will the Valley always remember as the place where they all got stung by wasps. Helma was lucky this time. And in the background we saw the Mount Erciyes, a huge volcano like mountain with snow!But it was time for relaxation again so we headed for the coast.

Fresh apricots for sale.

Kapadokya

Deep in the heart of the country lies a fairy tale world. There are ancient churches, cave dwellings and all kind of geological wonders. And suddenly you are in the middle of it. It consists of a soft volcanic tuff that has been sculpted over thousands of years into fantastic shapes by water and erosion.. There are huge stone mushrooms, deep valley, pigeon holes, caves. It was a wonderful place to explore and just look and walk around. we slept in a cave. most pensions are built in caves. Although it was hot outside we needed our duvet in the night because it was chilly.

We slept in the middle of a town called Goreme. In the area are so many things to see. It was a good thing we had our own car and visited some lovely villages like Urgup, the Zelve Valley and Mustafapasa.

Adana

The lake at Adana

Along the road fruit stalls with veggies and fruits

Finally, we are in Turkey. Jordan is not big, the distance we have to cover in Syria is also limited, but who ever thought we would be home once we reached Turkey is wrong! it is a huge country and there are so many historical things to see and to do. But our party notices that we are a little bit tired. Thus we have to be realistic and only do and see some things in Turkey and skip the rest for another time perhaps.

Turkey is modern, good roads, nice people and for the first time Helma can walk in shorts without problems. Turkey is great!

The Adana Mosque
Our first stop after the border is Adana where we tried to camp, but the campsite had ceased to exist, so it was a room again with a very nice swimming pool. The swimming teacher used the boys as guinae pigs to demonstrate all the strokes for their pupils. we noticed that is was humid hot, but nice. Our lights of the breaks were not working so we stopped at a Nissan dealer where we treated, with lunch, watermelon etc. What a service and they fixed the car as well! After all that it was time to move on to Kappadokya.

What can you buy in the souq?

You can buy everything at the souq. here is an impression, but mind you, it is only an impression. You don't smell the odours, hear the noise and feel the heat. They make soap from olives, they have lovely spices, silk and brains.... just enjoy.

Lattakia and Aleppo

After the castle we headed to the Mediterranean Sea. It was a highway so we arrived there very fast. We couldn’t find a hotel that was at a beach because in town it was all harbour, so we went into an apartment. We went to the public beach. You could go to a hotel but then you had to pay 10 euro per person. Well, it is unlike Jordan, high season. It was very crowded and the water was in the beginning very dirty and not refreshing, it was warm. At the beach you could also smoke a sheesha (water pipe) and no one lay on the beach they sat on a chair. Helma bought some tomatoes, onions and cucumbers to make our dinner. After a delicious home made macaroni meal we went to bed. But it took a long time to sleep because the Syrian people enjoyed their holiday with disco’s everywhere. The good thing was that they stopped at 11 pm.
The next day we left to Aleppo. It was a beautiful trip in the mountains with some fantastic views according to my parents. Bart and I were reading (!). Halfway we tanked at a petrol station where a man was smoking while tanking as if there was nothing wrong, rather scarry, but luckily no accidents occurred.

When we arrived in Aleppo we could not find the hotel but a friendly man helped us to find the way. The streets were very narrow and it was difficult to find a parking space. They have especially for Aleppo very small trucks that can even drive in the souq. At last we managed to find a parking spot at the tourist centre. This was especially for tourists, but the people of Aleppo were a little bit annoyed, too many cars with an Iraqi number plate use it as a parking spot. They are refugees and definitely no tourists, but they have a nice parking spot in the city centre. We settled in and went for a walk in the old city. It was a lot like Damascus, although here the souq is world heritage site. The things they were selling were incredible. One butchery shop even sold sheep’s brains. We also saw the lungs, liver and spleen, heart and windpipe. Helma thought it was a nice biology lesson, but Bart was not interested. Helma enjoyed it a lot and bought some silk and apricots but Bart and I didn’t find the souq much and we did not stay long. Aleppo also has a citadel, but we saw enough I guess, or we were a little bit tired and left it. We drank something at a very famous historic hotel ‘Baron’ and ate on top of a roof of another restaurant. The waiter did not understand English but he was very nice. He brought Helma some fresh fruit while she expected some fresh fruit juice. We stayed in a backpacker’s hotel and had a room with 4 beds for 15 euro, basic but OK. Lots of backpackers slept on a roof mattress. It was a mattress on top of the hotel with no privacy at all. I think there were about 20 mattresses. The good thing was that it was very cheap and cool because of the blowing wind. Unlike our room that was rather warm.

Your reporter: Evert

Crac des Chevaliers- photo's

Crac des Chevaliers

After easily finding our way out of Damascus we set off on yet another highway to the Crac (castle). This was one of the castles which the French king of Jerusalem made to protect Jerusalem. A Chevalier is a knight, so in English Crac Des Chevaliers is castle of the Knights. The crusader knights largely expanded the castle around the middle of the 12th century. When we arrived at the Crac we couldn't believe our eyes, it was almost complete. A huge castle with more than six towers standing high in a inner and an outer wall. The reason was that this castle was never truly breached, despite several attacks. they just gave it up. it was too difficult to defend it when it was surrounded by the armies of the Islam. They had supplies for 5 years, but after one month under siege the Crusaders agreed to depart in return for a safe conduct.
When we came in through the main entrance(which was a bridge) it was not easy to find our way, with underground tunnels and houses leading to more underground houses, stables and wells. Once on one of the towers, we had a fantastic view, according to mum and dad. After walking around the castle on its walls we went back down to explore the inner part of the castle.
Once in we saw broken remains of a church and even a mosque. When we had seen all the remains of a kitchen, a hall, a market place and a dining room we climbed up another tower where we sat down to eat a sandwich. The only negative point of this castle was that inside people were building a kind of theatre (which made a lot of noise).
When jumping back in the car we all thought that this was the best castle we had seen so far. Looking back at it once again we set off to reach Syria’s main sea port Lattakia.

Damascus

Al Amayyad Mosque

No comments on our blog, so we will keep the truth a little longer from you, or is nobody reading it anymore?? We hope the reason is holiday and in that case we wish you all a perfect holiday. It won't be too long now before we reach the Bovenstraat, but we still have a long way to go.

But first Damascus........

Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world. The guide book says that Damascus is one of the most architecturally significant cities in the Middle East. We just thought it was wonderful. It has a nice mixture of tradition and modernity.

We wondered through the Souq al Hamidyiyya in the Old City that is surrounded by a Roman wall. We went to the Umayyad Mosque, where even Helma had to were a grey outfit, which was rather uncomfortable and very hot. We tried to find our way through all the little streets while Evert was guiding us and we had a look in the Azem palace which was built in 1749. Of course we also saw the treasures from the National Museum and even managed to find a sticker with the Syrian flag for the car. The souq was amazing they sold everything, but you will read about that later.

We saw the tea sellers in the souq. On Friday it was quiet but on Saturday it was so busy. It was wonderful. The only thing we did not do was a hammam. There are different days for female and male and the boys could not be persuaded to enjoy the service of a bathhouse.

Where are we now???

Damascus at night


Although you´ll see a nice picture of Damascus by night the question is where are we now? Publish a comment with your answer and we will reveal the truth tomorrow the 23rd of July


Good luck

Barty

Jerash

Roman soldiers and the colonnade

Artemis temple

As we are planning to see Damascus, we skipped Amman and drove direct to Jerash, a well preserved Roman city. It was very impressive. Imagine, we walked on the road that Emperor Hadrian and Alexander the great walked on. A lot of walking though, but it was well worth it. Most beautiful was the temple of Artemis.

We also saw a show with roman soldiers and chariots in the hippodrome, fun. now we are stranded in Irbid, the university town in Jordan and tomorrow we will cross the border with Syria where Internet seems to be a little more problematic.

Spiritual Jordan

Map in St George Church

You tend to forget that Jordan is a place for many pilgrims. You can visit many places which were named in the Bible. So very close to Israel, but if we want to come home by car we are not allowed to have a stamp of Israel in our passport. So we visited Mount Nebu, the place where Moses just before his death saw the promised land. We also saw the river Jordan where Jesus was baptized. It is a very dirty and small river these days, but in the past it was a big river. The other side was Israel, with some practise you would be able to jump over the Jordan river. In Madaba many churches are decorated with mosaics. The most famous one is the St George church (again, we already met him in Ethiopia). It has a map for the pilgrims on the floor with all the biblical sites. Especially in the past very useful because maps were rare. These days Madaba is still the centre for mosaic, you see them everywhere and they even have a special school for making mosaics.

View from Mt Nebu

Dead Sea

The dead sea is very salty so you can float without help. If you get the water in your eyes they will start burning. It happened to Evert and Helma, they rushed out of the water to rinse their eyes under the shower. It also tastes foul and makes you very thirsty. The sea is clear but no fish are in this sea, too salty. For 3 euro you can put the mud on your body, they say it is very healthy, but we declined. You actually can walk in the water, it is a very strange experience. The first time you enter the water you feel a pressure that makes you float. We enjoyed it very much, but what was a good thing was the pool. It was a good thing the beach had a shower to rinse off the salt and then jump into a very big nice pool for some proper swimming. Suddenly floating is much more difficult. We had a wonderful day at the dead sea. You could see salt all along the beach and the funny thing was that the rocks also had a coating of salt. We pulled some off and let it dry in the sun, perhaps we will be able to use it on boiled eggs....

The Dead Sea

The king's Highway

Heavy stuff, Bart!

secret tunnel

The King's Highway is the historic route to Amman. The views are stunning and you can see Crusader castles in Karak and Shobak. Shobak was very small but had a very interesting secret tunnel. Our torches were not good enough to try to leave the castle this way, but still it was nice to venture around this castle. History in practise because there were arrow slid windows according to Bart and lots of armoury like the very heavy bullets for the catapults.

Karak castle was much bigger, with nice views, we even could see the Dead Sea. It also had a nice museum which told everything about the crusaders.

On the way up north we had to cross 3 wadi, or rivers. It is also known as the Grand canyon of Jordan. It is a spectacular valley about 1 km deep and over 4 km from one edge to the other. We found a hotel in Madaba, a very nice town, that also happens to be the centre of Byzantine mosaics. It is also the most important Christian centre in Jordan and there are many churches.

But we cannot wait to go to the Dead Sea.


Karak Castle

The wonderful Petra

Treasury

Petra is a Unesco World heritage site. We had no idea but it is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataens, Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago. Apparently it was a junction for all the trade routes and linked China and Egypt. It was left by its people. reason unknown but most likely due to earthquakes. Anyway, to enter this city you have to walk almost 2 km through a very narrow kind of canyon known as the Siq. If you have seen the movie : "Indiana Jones and the last crusade", which was featured here, you know what we mean. Of course lots of tourist, but once you enter the city you are rewarded with a wonderful view of the treasury or Al-Khazneh. It served as a tomb but if the sunlight radiates this tomb it is really breathtaking. After that you enter the city, however, most of it is still under the grounds. There is a street of facades, a 7000-seat theatre, lots of tombs, a colonnaded street where the market used to be and various temples. we climbed up a hill (yes, again) to see the monastery (yes, again) of Al-Deir, a long rock-cut stair case but with some rewarding views.

The next day we returned before the crowds arrived and were all alone in the Siq. On the way back the boys had a lift on the horses and after that in the hotel a nice shower, breakfast and into to car up north driving along the King's Highway.

Welcome to the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan

Ahlan wa sahlan,

We had no idea that Jordan has so much to offer.There are some world famous historical and cultural sites, but also breathtaking nature and pilgrimage routes. So you can say Jordan is an eye opener.

The people of Jordan are very friendly and although the Bedouins are traditional and still live in tents (while we cannot camp in the wild), although next to the camel a 4W car is parked, the other half of the population is rather modern. Furthermore they are all very tolerant. Christians and Muslims live together, along with a lot of Palestinian refugees. Everywhere you see the photographs of their King and the former King Hussein who died in 1999. Everyone is very proud of their royalty.

Crossing borders

As we feared problems with the ferry to Jordan, they were not necessary because we had assistance from lovely people and a very cooperative tourist policeman, who, according to Ed, really deserved bakshees, but refused. Well, the intention is there. But of course it does take a full day to get the tickets, pay tax, remove number plates etc. In the meantime Helma and the boys did some homework. Once the ferry arrived we saw so many overloaded cars, and we thought we were heavy!

The trip to Jordan was swift, only 1 and 1/2 hour, so we were in the fast ferry. No one was able to tell us this fact, but of course we did not complain. It was a much better trip than the Wadi Halfa- Aswan ferry.

In Jordan everything went smooth. They even scanned our cars. OK, it took some time to finish all the formalities, but at 5.30 pm we realized we did not have to spend a night at Aqaba so we rushed to Wadi Mousa to visit Petra. At the port we saw long queues, because also in the Middle east it is summer holiday. So many cars who wanted to cross the red Sea to Egypt. We were sure they all had to wait a long time and we were so happy that we drove in the opposite direction.

Jordan, quiet, clean, expensive compared to Egypt, friendly, no hassling. Jordan was and still is a wonderful experience.

Sinai

On Mount Sinai

Time is flying, we have to get going otherwise we won't reach Holland in time. On our way to the Sinai we stopped at Suez to see the Canal. Indeed we saw the Canal, but unfortunately no ships. They were all in the distance. We did not want to wait so we moved on through the tunnel underneath the Canal which was actually very short. We were in the Sinai. After seeing the Red sea again we went through the desert to St Katherine's Monastery. This monastery is very close to the Mount Sinai. It has been a place of pilgrimage since the 4th century. We stayed in the guesthouse and went to bed early. As many other people we wanted to climb the Mount Sinai, the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. It is also a place of pilgrimage for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

At 2.30 am we started our walk and we were not alone. Lots of people took a camel and walk down, but not this family. It was dark, no moon and actually it was good that we could not see the road we were taking because it was long and steep. Especially the last 750 rock hewn steps are killing. But we made it and saw the sunset. The sunset coloured the mountains red in an unforgettable manner.

After coming back around 8 am, we had our breakfast and saw the monastery which had a very beautiful chapel.

Then it was time to relax and we hurriedly drove in 1 hour to Dahab, a nice place close to the reef. Lots of divers stay here for diving courses and so on. But we wanted a sandy beach and a windsurfers paradise which we found. Relaxing, reading, surfing, Bart and Evert are getting a feeling for it now, and sunbathing, what a bliss.

On Saturday we are on our way to Jordan. We were told that leaving Egypt is as difficult as entering Egypt. Not something to look forward to, but we will let you know.