Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We started our tour with the famous Citadel of Aleppo. We had been up since very early in
a day, which had begun with a 3½-hour flight and a nice lunch, but our sprightly septua-
genarian guide Ahmed was having no mercy on us. We had a plan to fill and his duty was
to make sure we saw, understood, memorized and finally, repeated accurately all we had
learned. I am not joking. He had pockets full of sucking sweets or boilers that he would
dole out to whichever of us was able to remember what he had just explained. He would
also give us a hard time if we showed inattention or forgetfulness. This was to be a cause
of much laughter between Peter and I; and what a pace Ahmed went at, leaving us trailing
in his wake and floundering in confusion from all the facts he kept bombarding us with.
As we scurried across the bridge to the citadel in pursuit of the unrelenting Ahmed, we had
to quickly move aside for a heavily loaded horse that was bringing supplies of soft drinks
there. It was very atmospheric inside the Citadel. There was a series of dark tunnels leading
out to an open area, which hosted occasional concerts. The inner passages were low and
dark and they had many bends in order for defenders to hold the advantage over potential
invaders. It was a very impressive construction and it dominated the city. In addition to
that, my father, Dallas Allardice and his friend, John McKay had visited the citadel in 1941,
whilst on commando training in the area and he had spoken to me about it, his training and
his amusing encounters with the Bedouin tribesmen, some of which he had written about
in his book, “Friendship in a Time of War”.
