Camels, columns, and (pan)cakes...Palmyra

Day 3
Managed to get up and out of the hotel by 8 am and arranged a taxi through the hotel to take us to the bus station. The station entry required a walk through a metal detector and luggage screening before landing you in an arcade of bus companies with eager ‘runners’. While Noah and I sat on a bench, Aaron looked for one of the major bus companies, (state-run) Khadmous. Sign was in Arabic (no English) and folks inside didn’t seems interested (we heard that their Palmyra bus left at 11 am), so we went to Ciwan (a Kurdish company). I’m amazed at how orderly the bus/ luggage process is after the chaos of finding and purchasing tickets. Big, comfortable coach bus with a great steward who came by with candy cookies, and water. Noah was in love. Pretty remarkable – you can see Roman ruins on the way out of town, reused in other houses or buildings. About an hour out of Damascus, you reach the desert, where there’s nothing, save for the odd camp or shepherd and flock. There are a couple of checkpoints (I think one wasn’t official – the local cop flexing) and a couple of “Bagdad Cafes” and some amazing mudbrick. The beehive domes are spectacular. After about a two hour ride, we got dropped on the outskirts of Palmyra where, thankfully, there was a taxi. After negotiating the fare, the driver asked where we were from. When he heard, he broke into a grin and belted out “Obama!” The hotel gave us a double run and put in a fold up bed for Noah, where he is now happily snuggled watching cartoons. We’ll head off in about half and hour to the site to wander….
Headed out to the site in the afternoon. Wow. Such an extensive site….so much still standing and still used. Read somewhere that the Bel Temple is so well preserved because some family was living in it until recently. Was struck by the arched subterranean entry for the sacrificial animals. The walk in was roughly a mile…most of which Noah walked, or should I say, jumped, kicked dirt, and threw rocks. Didn’t matter – except for Bedouin on motorcycles trying to sell us something or an escaping camel, we were pretty much alone. This added to the romance of the site. Was like roaming around a David Roberts print. The Bedouin are still living in the site and once, when we wandered beyond the city wall, we had a ‘wave-down’ with two little girls and their family. Seen more kids – free range – here in general. They’re keenly interested in Noah. Noah is interested in rocks and sticks.
Noah was a precocious pain in the rump – lecturing, giving directions, issuing orders, and demanding to be carried, then when asked to walk he took “baby steps”. Turkey. Was a pretty great site for him to run around though and he delighted in a camel’s grumbling and told the postcard-selling Bedu, “maybe later.”
Stopped into the Tourist Office and shamefully blew off a chat with a very helpful gentleman there who gave us info on the bus to Dier ez Zour. The new Palmyra, Tadmour, is kind of a sad place. There aren’t many games in town – so to speak – and tourism is down. It looks a bit downtrodden.
Went for dinner at the Pancake House and Traditional Restaurant (why choose?). Had a good meal (and, of course, pancakes) and headed back to the room. We’re all in bed – its 7:30 pm.
There are parts of Palmyra that are really lovely. Would love to excavate here. Aaron found the spout of a Roman lamp and a coin while we were wandering around. But the modern town….it’s as though nomadic folks were forced to settle. While I love haphazard architecture, there’s something kind of bleak about it here. Just my impressions….