Can you believe I celebrated my 36th (yes, 36) birthday this weekend?! My friends, Megan, Allison, Chereylene, and I went to Aleppo to celebrate this milestone. Aleppo is Syria's second major city, located in the Northern part of Syria.
On our way we stopped off at one of the best preserved dead cities- Serjilla. It was settled in 473 BC and was quite wealthy, with bath houses, mosaics, churches, etc. It was abandoned in the 7th century when Arabs conquered the area and changed the trading routes. Why anyone would build in this area, I have no idea. I have never seen such rocky terrain in my life. We felt like we were driving on the moon. Although we loved the dead city, our favorite part of Serjilla was driving back to the road, some kids were out in the street playing. One sweet little girl, about 8 years old, was yielding a nice, big rusty axe that she was swinging around! Syria's Lizzy Bordon?! I tried to snap a photo, but I motorcycle drove by just as the camera clicked. Her parents might consider letting her play with Barbies.
The trip to Aleppo is actually quite pretty with "a lot" of trees, fields, and a nice view of the Anti-Lebanon Mountain range. It was nice to see green field and mountains, especially after spending Christmas in arid Jordan.
We loved Aleppo. It was much cleaner and calmer than Damascus. We stayed at a hotel that was converted from two, old, Arabic houses. We stayed in the basement (cellar) rooms because they were much warmer than the other, more drafty rooms. My friends took me out and bought me WAY too many drinks, then we went to a nice (I'm told) Italian restaurant. That part of the night, a little blurry for this girl. I recovered enough the next day to make a trip to the Citadel and Souke. Both were amazing. I could have passed on "Carnage Alley" with the meat (goats, chickens, camel) carcasses and innards hanging about though. I will get pictures on Shutterfly soon. Keep looking.
We rented a car for our trip, and we learned a very valuable lesson about driving after dark in Syria. DON'T DO IT!! I guess it's not against the law to not have tail lights, to drive going the opposite direction, or pass on the shoulder, but don't even try to pass on the left lane when Mr. MachoArabMan want to speed down the road because he'll tailgate you, flash his lights, and kindly blare his horn at you until you move over. It was the most nerve-racking experience of my life.
Next week it's off to Bahrain....
