Damascus and straight on for London

Our drive from Bosra was very unusual as we passed through a few towns that were not only Burka free but there were very few headscarfs visible and plenty of ladies walking around and even a few ladies in skirts! It's odd how you get so used to driving through towns and villages and seeing 90% men and the woman you do see are covered head to toe, sometimes not even with their eyes showing. When you do reach a 'normal' town it's quite a shock! What was more interesting though was how these towns seemed busier, more alive and less lethargic than the others, and how the shops seemed more modern and more appealing, more designed to get your attention and get you into the shops with large plate glass windows and displays, whereas in the other towns the shops were little more than a doorway with a rack outside.

Anyway, Damascus must be the first capital we didn't drive through the centre at rush hour but it was still bedlam on steroids. We found the campsite without a map just using the gps! Which we thought quite impressive. The site itself was a little oasis of green grass and trees due to be demolished in 2 weeks!
Damascus is a real gem. Easily the nicest city we have been to by miles and we spent two days wandering around the souks and seeing the sights. We would love to have stayed longer but you pay $100 a week diesel tax in Syria so everyone limits their trips to one week when you really need about 11 days and we therefore headed on to Hama to see the Norias - the waterwheels. We spent a couple of hours in a cafe with a drink watching these ancient wheels turn and creek and groan like mad, whilst the youths climbed all over them and even dived off the top, just for us!

Our next stop was the cavalier castle at Crac de Chevaliers which was great fun to wander round and climb all over. You can climb onto all the tower roofs and ramparts and unlike Europe there are no safety rails and also no walls to stop you walking over the edge and yet small kids climb around without their parents being at all concerned. When we left we saw our first sign post for London!

We tried to visit Aleppo as our final stop In Syria but got kicked out of everywhere we tried to park and as we were both feeling unwell with tummy bugs we headed for Turkey camping just outside Aleppo at a lovely campsite run by a Belgian lady.
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