By Sara
Of course, there was much more to Palmyra than a pretty face or two. As Eric noted (when he wasn't ogling the models), the ruins were among the most impressive we've seen in Syria.
Departing Damascus at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning to avoid traffic, we were thrilled not only to have our friend P. for company, but also for her car as well. It was significantly more comfortable than our regular means of travel- dilapidated buses with neither air conditioning nor shock absorption. We did a little hotel research upon arrival and found that one of our reservations was at a hotel (the Zenobia) practically within the main ruins site.
While I absolutely have moral qualms about building on top of a 2000+ year old city, I have to say, enjoying a drink at sunset at the hotel's outdoor restaurant mere feet away from the temple of Bel was incredible.
Known in Arabic by its original name of Tadmor, Palmyra was a prosperous, independent city in the few centuries leading up to its Roman conquest in the 1st century A.D. as it was situated along a main trading route and was adjacent to a lush, fertile oasis. The city then followed the typical track of many in the Mideast, after having been conqured by Romans, the Arabs marched in a few centuries later, and Palmyra never again lived up to its former glory.
However, the oasis is still in use and still quite a site to behold - about 10 kilometers square of tall date palms amid hundreds of miles of desert. Guidebooks in hand, we decided to check it out, imagining it would be like a zoo or park with footpaths and communal areas. At first, we couldn't figure out how to enter the oasis. Then we came upon a hole in the wall and saw a family having Saturday morning tea. The patriarch, Mohammed, invited us in and gave us a tour.
He told us (in Arabic- impressed? between the 3 of us, especially P., we were able to communicate) that the oasis is divided into separate, walled-off plots and maintained by independent farmers. He picked delicious dates and pomegranates for us and brought us back to sit with his daughters and nieces for tea.
The eldest, at 14 and 15-years-old, had stopped going to school after third grade because their home is too far from the nearest school. One of them told P. she expects to be married soon. They join their father/uncle once a week to help with the harvest. We tried to help them with olive gathering...
...but were informed we were stepping on too many of them. Despite our poor farming skills, the three of us agreed our side trip to the oasis was one of our favorite moments thus far in our travels in Syria.
Comments