Greetings from Damascus and - as you can see, there are no library pictures of Syria.

Well, Palmyra was fascinating - it covers a large area with various "bits" to see - two lots of tombs; a central collonade; the Temple of Bel and then - away on a hill top - the Citadel - an Arabic fortress dating from the 17th century from which you can get grand views over Palmyra and the surrounding desert.

The museum in Palmyra is also reasonably interesting.

Thr drive back to Damascus - about 225km - is mostly through desert. We stopped at the Bagdad Cafe (no "h") - which is a regular little Aladdin's cave but a nice rest-stop all the same. Shortly after that we passed Bagdad Cafe 66 - either a serious lack of imagination or owned by the same people and as the Iraq border is at least 170km away - nowhere near Baghdad itself (with an "h")....

As the initial tour of Damascus was a bit hurried - on coming back i had more time to wander around the Souq al-Hamidiyeh - obviously stopping off to buy an ice cream smothered in pistachios at Bakdash - the souq & the windy streets around the Omayyade Mosque are just fascinating....

One thing that is worth mentioning about all of these ancient sites is the lizards - lots & lots of them - from weeny ones to quite big ones - maybe 9 or 10 inches long - very sweet - they scurry around thinking they can't be seen - then they stop & blink at you and you can imagine them saying: "you haven't seen me, right?" - before scurrying off again......