Day 96 Monday 21/12/09

EP and MC set off north, heading for Turkey whilst JC and VI were to have a day in the souks of Damascus.


Heading north we deviated off the motorway near Hama to find the fort of Qalaat Shmaimis. This 13th century ruin sits on top of a volcano in the middle of the flat plain east of Hama. Having climbed up to the fort and the small cave that sits beneath it, we got back to the Land Rover to find a couple of locals on their motorbikes. We showed them a picture of a cave and asked if they knew of any more in the area. With help from one of our Lebanese telephone interpreters one of them said yes and he would show us. He was one of the Bedouin who camp around the base of the fort, tending their sheep.

The cave was in the moat of the fort and was a small cave of two chambers. One chamber ended in infill which looked to emerge on the hillside not too far away. Back at the car we were invited back to his camp for tea and giving him a lift back, we headed off to camp. Here we met more Bedouin and enjoyed some cups of tea with them before a quick photo session and heading off back to Hama (after declining the offer of camping there for the night).

We drove into Hama to see the massive wooden waterwheels and grab a quick falafel sandwich before continuing north. We drove up to Latakia on the northern coast, ready for a crossing into Turkey the next day. We arrived late and found a layby with a truck parked for the night. We decided to stop behind the truck and car camp there. We went over to say hello to our new neighbor and had some coffee and a chat with him albeit in different languages! We went to bed in a massive storm with heavy rain, thunder and lightning.