Day Trippin' - Ebla, Serjilla, and Apamea

Day 9 – Ebla, Serjilla, Apamea
No sandstorms. And not much sleep – for no good reason. The highlight of breakfast was meeting a Lebanese math professor from Connecticut when he helped us ask for cold milk.
Headed off to the south today – again – with Mohammed, Mr. Walid’s son. Together Mr. Walid and Mohammed are spoiling the pants off Noah. They always have some treat for him – little bags with candy and chips and stuffed mouse that plays the world’s most annoying song. Very cute.
Ebla, the first stop, was amazing. You can see mounds of the city wall surrounding the palace upon temple, upon palace, upon temple….you get the idea. Literally everything excavated at the site is a palace or temple. On the off hand chance that Ishtar (a Mesopotamian goddess) didn’t feel like inhabiting her temple on top of the tell, the worshipers built her another temple at the bottom. Good to be a goddess. It’s an amazing site and the Italians have done a fantastic job with preservation. Every mudbrick preservation technique is there. Very cool to see how it’s weathering. They even dug a shallow channel around one of the areas on the tell to keep the rain and wash away. There are sheep grazing all over the bottom of the city and when you go down the back side of the tell (which you should, if you visit) the wool wallacks come running at top speed. There’s some serious begging, attempts at antiquity selling, and in our case a new born puppy was produced for photos and baksheesh (tips). When refused, there’s some cursing and spitting….I shudder to think of what Allah is supposed to do to us….but if you can weather the storm for about 10 minutes (or until the caretaker comes on his motorcycle and chases off the kids), you’ll be left alone for the rest of the visit.
In defense of the wallacks, the surrounding village is pretty destitute.
Next we headed to Serjilla, one of the ‘Dead Cities’, which are – from what I gather – Byzantine cities that the occupants abandoned. Serjilla is fantastic. Large stone buildings preserved up to two stories…..some of which are still being used (for storage, living?, and one is a sheep pen – nice digs). This stone town is set in the middle of green and stone speckled hills with nothing else around. So fun to wander around. The wildflowers were stunning. Noah was thrilled because some of the pools and quarries had filled with water (it rained a bit while we were there) and he got to throw stones into them. He’s also an expert at locating “falling down columns”. I told him as much and said that before him I missed identifying so many things – broken pots, falling down columns, straw in mudbrick (that’s a whole other story)….”and poop, Mama!!!” (The site was littered with sheep and donkey surprises.) Indeed.
There was a Portuguese (?) tour group at the site and their tour bus was pulling out as we were getting ready to leave. In a rare magnanimous mood, Noah waved at the bus and blew kisses, much to the delight of every grandmother on board.
Headed on to Apamea – our last site. The classical city had close ties with Palmyra, I think. Before reaching the site, you pass a citadel (the name of which I’ll have to look up) – still in use! A fortified, inhabited, city on top of a tell just a stone’s throw from Apamea. Pretty incredible. The area is really lush (the effect of which was enhanced by some showers) and looks like I image Ireland to look. The columnade running down the cardo (?) is most impressive. The site is really extensive and most is covered by grazing sheep and cows. The shepherds and motorcycling uncles try to sell antiquities, umbrellas, etc. – but comparatively, they’re a pretty soft sell. At one end of the street (north?), there’s a building with a the drains exposed. Very, very cool. Those Romans….
Aaron got all jazzed because there were at least 4-5 untouched tells in the Orontes Valley within about an hours drive from Apamea. Oh, the possibilities….
Got back in the car and headed for the Baron. For the past two days I’ve been riding in the backseat with Noah, while Aaron sat in the front (non-related women in the front seat isn’t normally done). The first day the only book we had was ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’. Today I brought other books, but was still forced to ‘Meatball’ at least three times. Oy.
Came back to the hotel to find a cartoon on in the parlor (no, really. A parlor.) so Noah and I parked our behinds there. The cartoon gave way to a fantasy kids show (think Disney’s ‘Never Ending Story’), which we watched and ended up answering questions about it - literally - for the next two hours. (There was a ‘bad lady’ who shot a courier pigeon. I was ready to shoot the ‘bad lady’ after a couple hours.)
Success at the internet café and at the Sheraton (Maestro ATM). Had an amazing dinner at Beit Wakil – Thyme/Zaatar salad (thyme leaves and shaved cheese with an amazing citrus vinaigrette) and cherry kabobs (unbelievably rich and good) were the highlights. No luck on wine – its Sunday and the booze stores are closed.
Can’t believe that this is our last night in Aleppo – its gone so quickly. I feel like I didn’t get to spend much time in the suq, but I’ll relish eating in the Christian quarter in Aleppo and wandering the suq in Damascus. Would love to come back and check out some of the old houses (we were essentially doing this as we dined – nice, eh?). Beit Wakil was so beautiful (it’s a hotel too). Sigh. Aleppo. I (and my stomach) will miss you.
(Noah’s stomach might not miss Aleppo – he’s got Saladin’s Revenge. Thankfully it’s a mild vengeance.)