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When the mind wonders off – part IV

When we got into Syria (after spending a little Baksheesh) the final question from the boarder guard was if we support FC Barcelona (since he saw Pere’s Spanish passport). Pere said he does, but tat Peter supports Madrid and the guard shook his hand saying he’s also a “Real Madrid” fan. Then he gave us a warm „Welcome to Syria“, and to Pere – “back to Turkey,” but naturally only as a joke.

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We saw the ancient city of Aleppo and it’s bazaar and even got a shave in one of the narrow streets. It all went normally, except for the painful pulling of the whiskers in the end. I might have shed a tear or two during that, who knows. Next we went to the crusader’s castle: Crac de Chevallier.

Many remains of an ancient civilization awaited us in the town of queen Zenobia, in Palmira. The Romans devastated it, but still you can see the remainders of the old temple, theatre, tombs…. It’s amazing, but so different from the Petra in Jordania. A 1.2km long canyon leads you to the treasury, which is not the only surprise in Petra. One of the most impressive is the monastery you can climb on top to, if you wish to climb 800 steps in the middle of the desert.

Tired we went to the Wadi Rum deserts in the evening and spent the night there. We stayed near a nomadic tribe, but some of them already rent their tents to the visitors, to earn some money and don’t have to move anymore. Their prices were a bit to pricy, so we just had some dinner there, with some other travellers.

We wanted to catch the fairy out of Jordania, but have lost over 4 hours to get all the papers for the car and finally were able to get to Egypt.

Over the Sinai we continued toward Suez and a scenic road took you along the coast of the red sea and pass the mountain of Moses. But Sinai is still in Asia.
 
Our destination was Port Taufiq where we watched the boats passing by. This modern history became more interesting to us, so we went up the north through the canal. It’s really hard to explain the view you get by watching the huge ocean ships in what seems to be the desert.

Africa, we’re here!
 
 
 
Simon Pečovnik
Translated by Borut Jurisic

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