I was sad to hear earlier today of the death of the great actor Peter O’Toole, and it reminded me of some time spent in Jordan. Anyone who has seen the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia will remember not just the fantastic acting by Peter O’Toole and his colleagues, but also the story, the score,…
In my writing on my travels through Syria, I have mentioned a series of great cities and civilisations that I have been lucky enough to visit in my time there, including current cities like Damascus and Aleppo, the mighty Crac de Chevaliers, and formerly great cities that are now in ruins like Rosafa, Mari and…
I have written so far about travelling through Syria, from Damascus to Aleppo via Crac de Chevaliers, then off to the Iraqi border via the Bastion of St Simeon Stylites on the Turkish border. The next stage of our trip was to continue from the Iraqi border., and we planned to get to the ancient…
I have commented recently about travelling through Syria, from Damascus to Aleppo via Crac de Chevaliers. We made some trips from Aleppo, for example, up the Bastion of St Simeon Stylites on the Turkish border, one of the very many historic sites in the area. The Bastion, however, finds itself in the curious position of…
I have commented recently on visiting both Damascus and Crac de Chevaliers in Syria, and I mentioned in both that I was on my way to Aleppo at the time. Aleppo, or Haleb in Arabic, is the largest city in Syria, and like Damascus, is one of the oldest constantly inhabited places on the planet,…
I wrote yesterday about a trip to Crac de Chevaliers in Syria, and mentioned that I visited it on my way from Damascus to Aleppo. Sadly, both cities are in the news at the moment for the wrong reasons, as coverage of the conflict there is reported around the world. I was lucky enough to…