Monday, November 13, 2006
10/11 Crac des Chevaliers, Snow, Apemea and Hama...
As we walked up the road this morning, Lebanon's snow capped mountains were on one side and the mediterranean was on the other. Quite a contrast. It was a clear, cool day, warmer than it's been for a couple of days and welcome. We spent the morning exploring C des C castle. The largest and most well preserved of the Crusader castles in the middle east. It's not a particulalry amazing castle as castls go but just the fact that it is here in the mountains of Syria and has survived it fascinating. The church (now mosque) had incredible acoustics and our guide Wahid sang an arabic call to prayer that was quite spine tingling and incredibly melodic and pure.
Long hours in the minibus this afternoon getting to Apemea, an ancient roman city in the middle of fertile Syrian farmland. The main colonaded street is 1 roman mile long, much of it still standing. Only 7% of the site has been excavated and the possibilities are endless - every hillock and bump in the landscape has the potential to be a theatre, bathhouse, temple or other building hidden by centuries of silt. With seeing this, Palmyra and Jerrash, the three give each other perspective and context. The Roman civilisation was all encompassing. The impact and size of Roman citizenship on the middle east seems so much greater than in Britain. Why they bothered with an outpost in isolated Britain is hard to understand the value and strategic ocation of the sites here.
Got into Hama this afternoon. Took a stroll around town to check out the waterwheels, which move the water out of the river into the aquaducts that feed the city's water supply. It was Friday evening and many families were enjoying time together in the city parks and streets. Hama is relatively greener as they have water. Although parks are not as we imagine them - lots of dirt and rubbish and small. From a farmimg point of view the land is much better too - now in the fertile crescent - rich volcanic soil and higher rainfall.
As we walked up the road this morning, Lebanon's snow capped mountains were on one side and the mediterranean was on the other. Quite a contrast. It was a clear, cool day, warmer than it's been for a couple of days and welcome. We spent the morning exploring C des C castle. The largest and most well preserved of the Crusader castles in the middle east. It's not a particulalry amazing castle as castls go but just the fact that it is here in the mountains of Syria and has survived it fascinating. The church (now mosque) had incredible acoustics and our guide Wahid sang an arabic call to prayer that was quite spine tingling and incredibly melodic and pure.
Long hours in the minibus this afternoon getting to Apemea, an ancient roman city in the middle of fertile Syrian farmland. The main colonaded street is 1 roman mile long, much of it still standing. Only 7% of the site has been excavated and the possibilities are endless - every hillock and bump in the landscape has the potential to be a theatre, bathhouse, temple or other building hidden by centuries of silt. With seeing this, Palmyra and Jerrash, the three give each other perspective and context. The Roman civilisation was all encompassing. The impact and size of Roman citizenship on the middle east seems so much greater than in Britain. Why they bothered with an outpost in isolated Britain is hard to understand the value and strategic ocation of the sites here.
Got into Hama this afternoon. Took a stroll around town to check out the waterwheels, which move the water out of the river into the aquaducts that feed the city's water supply. It was Friday evening and many families were enjoying time together in the city parks and streets. Hama is relatively greener as they have water. Although parks are not as we imagine them - lots of dirt and rubbish and small. From a farmimg point of view the land is much better too - now in the fertile crescent - rich volcanic soil and higher rainfall.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 12:58 AM 
