Our destination today was Lake al'Assad and the citadel of Qalaíat Ja'abar, about 150km to the south east, but we first detoured to some Roman-era rock cut tombs and the ruined basilica of Saint Simeon, an hour in the other direction. We were disappointed that it had clouded over, but the price of diesel was some compensation (about 28p/litre, compared to 108p/litre we'd been paying in Turkey).
In our search to find the tombs at Qatura we drove by the market being held in the small town of Dar Taizzah, only to be stopped by one of the stall holders who passed us a couple of bananas through the Land Rover's window; the Syrian people are so generous and genuinely happy to see foreign tourists. We finally found the tombs after a couple of detours, although we've seen better!
Simeon was a reclusive 5th century AD monk who was driven to erect a 3m pillar to avoid the touch of those who sought his blessing as word of his extreme piousness spread. Legend has it that he built increasingly high pillars (the last being 18m) as his tolerance of people decreased, and he is meant to have spent almost 40 years living on his pillars, drawing pilgrims for as far as Britain and France. After his death an enormous church was built around the pillar, the largest in the world at that time, later fortified to defend against the Islamic threat.
The ruins are remarkably well preserved and give you an idea of the scale of the church complex, and are accompanied by impressive views across the Syrian countryside. What is less impressive is the remains of the pillar which has been reduced to little more than a boulder as it has been chipped away by pilgrims over the centuries.
I slept for much of the drive to Lake al'Assad once we'd successfully negotiated the Aleppo road system, but Anne tells me it was a fairly monotonous landscape of small, single story settlements stretched out along the road. At least the roads are fairly quick, being mainly two lanes (at least in principle, as Syrian drivers seem to make up lanes as and when required). In order to reach the lake we had to stop at a police/military checkpoint by the dam to have our passport details recorded. The young soldiers, dressed in camouflage fatigues and armed with AK47s called over their 'officer' who was casually attired in a track suit and flip flops. It was all very polite and they were interested in our roof tent and said 'Camping, of course, no problem' before wishing us well and sending us on our way.
We pulled up at the restaurant near the castle where the Lonely Planet said you can camp and just caught the owner, Abdullah, and his two year old daughter as they were about to go and lockup the castle for the night. He welcomed us and after the usual 'Where are you from?' questions he said that he would leave on the lights and we could use his table and chairs, 'No problem'. With that he was off back to his house and we were left alone for the night, except for some fisherman we could hear in the growing darkness somewhere out on the lake. We also gained a guard dog for the night, who, after Anne befriended with a tummy tickle and some of our flat bread, insisted on sleeping at the bottom of our roof tent ladder.
It had been over two weeks since we last camped and it was nice to get back to living out of the Land Rover, even if only for one night. Pasta and sauce with fried courgettes was our Christmas Eve meal, which tasted delicious (if I do say so myself). SPOT
No comments:
Post a Comment