louiseinlimbo

 Around all of the great sights that one can see in Syria, however, is the awful legacy of the recent conflicts, with very visible war damage to homes and businesses.  Not to mention that the parts of the country around Idlib and Rojava are still subject to flare-ups.  It’s estimated that some 600,000 have been killed in the war, and millions have fled overseas.  I met several of the latter, on ‘home visits’ to their families – most of them very well-educated and now completing their studies overseas (eg one doing her masters in disaster prevention civil engineering, another looking for a place to continue her studies in genetics to doctorate level).  It made me feel rather guilty that I’d been so awestruck at all of the physical war damage, excitedly taking photos of the remains of apartment blocks without really thinking that those had been peoples’ homes, and that there might have been people inside when the rockets struck.  But when I expressed this to ...

Although I did pass briefly through Syria in 1985 on the way between Turkey and Jordan, I stopped to visit only Damascus and Palmyra – so when I later heard about some of the other great places in the country – Krak des Chevaliers in particular – I was determined to go back.  Then earlier this year I saw a trip organised (the only way to get a visa currently is on a group tour, and that way you also have a knowledgeable local guide managing the security side) for a week in August when I had nothing else planned.  As there are no flights in and out of Syria currently, the tour started and ended in Beirut, so all the government warnings to leave Beirut immediately due to the threat of imminent Hezbollah-Israel conflict were rather concerning.  But thankfully my flight was not cancelled and there was no escalation of the tension before (or during) my trip.  Although I did hear sonic booms from Israeli aircraft over Beirut (a daily reminder to Hezbollah of their capabi...