Today, I visited Syria’s number 1 attraction as the Lonely Planet calls it!

Palmyra is an ancient city located at an oasis that was very important during the Roman period and hence, there lies today the ruins of a Greco-Roman city.

Palmyra is quite a well conserved and partially restored city with some impressive buildings like the temple of Bel and some interesting tombs but it is nowhere close to the quality of Jerash (or Baalbek from what I have heard. I should report on that soon ;)).

The interesting thing about the ruins is that they are now surrounded by the desert and sand is everywhere. The oasis starts a bit further of the ruins. I don’t know if the city was originally built in the desert or if the oasis shrank though. I would guess for the later. Anyway, it makes for an impressive sight and possibly harsh conditions. For example, yesterday, the wind was blowing very strong projecting sand at great speed. It made it difficult to walk against the wind and visibility was not that great.

So, an ancient roman city and the desert. Definitely my kind of place 8).

And call me a masochist but I loved visiting with the wind blowing through the old walls and columns. It made this hissing sound and you really feel like you are mother Nature is taking her rights back.

The best part was when I was at the top of the local Islamic castle that overlooks the ruins. It was quite thrilling to be walking on the roof of the castle as the wind was blowing me from one side towards another while I was looking at the sun setting over the ruins. The rest of the passengers of the minibus I used to get to the castle had decided to stay comfortably seated and protected of the wind inside the bus and were looking at the sunset through the windshield! Too bad for them.

The rest of the town around the ruins bears no interest. And if you order Mansaf at the Traditional Palmyra restaurant there, don’t forget to mention you want the real thing with Lamb or they will just try to give you a chicken dish for the same price pretending that it is a chicken Mansaf once you protest! Hum… thinking about it, just don’t go there! ;).