Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Behind Damascus the hills are steep and stony and bare of any vegetation, the fringe of the
city giving way to a series of enormous unsightly quarries that provide a vista of visual pol-
lution.
The countryside became increasingly arid, essentially a stony desert with blunt eroded hills.
We were headed for Palmyra, a distant oasis in the direction of Iraq.
After several hours of featureless desert we stopped for a break at a tiny roadside settlement.
A battered sign, decorated with the skull of a goat, informed us it was the 'Bagdad Café'.
The surrounding countryside was unforgivingly stark, although there were some Bedouins
about and from time to time their black tents appeared in the distance.
The road signs began to include arrows pointing south-east with reference to Iraq and Bagh-
dad and the number of trucks on the road increased the closer we got to the major road junc-
tion where you had to commit one way or the other - Palmyra or Baghdad. The trucks were
obviously going to Iraq because, as we turned toward Palmyra, the traffic dried up and were
saw very little traffic thereafter.
It was getting dark as we approached Palmyra, the last stretch being along a very rough stony
road that required the vehicle to slow to a crawl. It was a neat little town, set square within a
large oasis of date palms. Beyond the oasis, it was plain, unadulterated desert.
The Hotel Heliopolis had a clean bed and a shower that worked. What more could one ask.
From an initial look around, I noticed that the vehicles of choice in town seemed to be bi-
cycles and ancient Mercedes.
That night we went out for what was described as a Bedouin 'experience'. Men in traditional
garb served food while others played instruments and danced in a manner that was more of
a gymnastic gyration. On the following day, the net result of the 'experience' was a number
of the group suffering from a severe attack of diarrhoea.
