syria and lebanon

Aleppo, Syria



Kids playing in the main square of the Christian quarter.


Alleyways of the Christian quarter.

This restaurant is below the old marketplace.

Nuts for sale in the souk - the old city.


The citadel. Originally Muslim and then taken over by Crusaders.

A hummus seller in the old city. They give you a big bowl of hummus, with some olive oil drizzled on top, and a plate of tomatoes, spicy peppers, and fresh springs of mint.




Central Syria - Roman ruins and castles.

Sheep grazing among Roman ruins.

The columns of the main walkway go on for 2 kilometers.

Another castle, looking over the modern town.

Another view of the surrounding fields.

Crac de Cheveleirs - the castle of all castles.

Exploring the castle.




Palmyra, Syria

Sunset in the desert.

Another citadel overlooking the desert.


Roman ruins in Palmyra at sunrise.

A camel in the ruins.

A breakfast of just-picked dates and figs in the garden with this gentleman. He saw us walking and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Pre-Roman temple of Baal.

Inside the desert citadel.

More sunset.




Damascus, Syria

Covered market.

Umayyad mosque. Kids running around and families socializing. Before it was a mosque it was a church, and before that a Roman temple.



Pyramids of baklava. Yummmmy!



Beirut, Lebanon

The Torino Express, a fun, friendly bar with a fabulous dj playing sing along tunes. They made great mojitos.


Byblos, Lebanon

Two days of relaxing on the beach before heading back to life in Cairo. We're in more Roman ruins overlooking the Mediterranean.

Summer Adventures - Paris and Turkey

Pastries in Paris.


On the Seine.


Istanbul:
Hagia Sophia, which had claim as the largest church in the world, until the angels were painted over and replaced with Arabic names and it became a mosque, going on to inspire the architecture of mosques everywhere. Now it's a museum.


Rachel in a quiet corner. Despite the crowds, the immensity of the place makes this possible.


Byzantine cistern.


The blue mosque, down the street from Hagia Sophia.


Inside the Blue Mosque.


Istikbal street, full of people dawn to midnight. No cars allowed, just a lone trolley car going back and forth.


Inside the Sultan's palace with James.


Suburban Istanbul that we saw on a ferry cruise.


Typical Istanbul houses.


After leaving Istanbul we went to the small picturesque town of Safranbolu. The town is known for having typical Ottoman houses and was filled with tourists, although the vast majority were Turkish tourists.


Safranbolu is named after the saffron they grow near there. Store owners often offered tea made of saffron.


Lokum, known to outsiders as Turkish Delight. We bought a box, then climbed to the top of a hill just above Safranbolu to gorge ourselves.


Amasra, near Sarfranbolu, but out of the mountains and on the Black Sea coast. Some women (think church women) were selling plates of food so we bought some dolmas and stuffed peppers. Yum. Speaking of which, Turkish food is awesome. Eating a whole bunch of small plates (mezza) instead of a main dish is typical, as it is in the Arab world, and the small dishes tend towards the vegan.



It is a typical beach town, really, with a harbor, a couple of rides, fish restaurants, and ice cream. Bikinis, as opposed to Egypt, were not uncommon. Turks in general tended to dress informally, even in Istanbul. Lots of men in shorts and women in tank tops, neither of which are seen often in Cairo.


Okay, no produce can hold a candle to Egypt, but Turkey had some good fruit.


Next it was off to Capadoccia, land of strange rock formations. We had two hours in Ankara on our way, and managed to take the subway downtown, but it wasn't particularly interesting.


In Cappadoccia we took a day tour that included exploring a medieval Byzantine cave city.


Cappadoccia is really famous for little churches carved out of rocks.

We hiked for a couple of days down this narrow lush valley, with churches carved into the valley walls, a river and tiny cafes. We almost got mowed over by a herd of cows, and the dog that had been following us disappointingly did nothing to help.


This is a particularly big monastery complex.


These are really what the region is famous for: these mushroom/phallus things, a result of a softer rock layer under a harder rock layer, so that the tops protect the columns from erosion.


Some of the nicer New Testament paintings in the churches.


It was hot, though, and we could see how critical having places to rest from hiking in the shade was.