Route Map through SYRIA. Covered approx. 1,500km on the motorcycles.

May 10, 2006. Waking up in a Bedouin Tent in Bosra.

Staying in a Bedouin Tent across from the Citadel.

Bosra's Citadel. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The fortress was built around a Roman Theatre.

These are the galleries leading to the Theatre seats.

View of the town of Bosra and the Mosque from the Citadel.

This is the best preserved Roman Theatre in the Middle East....

....seating up to 10,000 spectators.

The fort around the theatre was built during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods.

The main stage.

View from the main stage.

As always we like to explore all the dark corridors.

A mosaic recovered from the excavation at the Bosra Citadel.

Just adjacent to the Citadel are the ruins of an ancient Roman town.

Looking at the Roman Bath building.

Inside the remains of the Roman Bath building.

Stone Paved Roman Colonnaded Street.

Large pillars made out of black basalt blocks.

Continuing along the Colonnaded Street.

The current town is built in, around and over old sections of the Roman Buildings as can be seen here.

Greek Inscriptions.

A large tiled area has been excavated. Today local children play soccer on it.

Ruby uncovers more mosaics under the dirt.

Children playing in the ruins of Bosra.

A very large cistern in Bosra.

Meeting up with Abdul (friend from Canada on holiday in Syria) and his brother in Damascus.

Abdul and his brother take us for dinner at the Damascus Gate Restaurant. Very fancy place.

Here we are joined by more of Abdul's brothers and brother-in-laws. A great traditional Syrian feast.

May 11, 2006. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

Abdul shows us around in his home country.

Inside the great mosque.

The courtyard displays several facades of golden mosaics.

The Umayyad Mosque, built in 705AD, is a converted Byzantine cathedral and formerly the Roman Temple of Jupiter. The colonnades of the Roman Temple of Jupiter were incorporated into the architecture of the mosque.

Prophet's Yahya's shrine.

Outstanding ceiling painting.

Minbar.

Abdul and a very covered Ruby.

Beautiful mosaics cover the floors around the courtyard.

St. Paul's Chapel. The biblical significance of the Chapel is that St. Paul was lowered out of a window in a basket one night to escape the Jews.

Abdul Jawas picks us up and we head to Maalula.

Man-made caves dating back 1000's of years.

Cooking area in a cave.

Sleeping quarters.

View from the caves over the town of Maalula.

Stopping to pick up some figs and almonds from a mobile vendor.

Entering a gorge located in Maalula.

In the distance Abdul Jawad stands for size comparison of the gorge.

Some area's are only a couple of meters wide.

May 12, 2006. On the road from Damascus to Palmyra. Only 172km from Iraq.

The famous Baghdad 66 Cafe Reststop.

...in the middle of the desert of Syria.

Palmyra, the Monumental Arch. We actual ride our motorcycles down the Colonnaded Street around the Tetrapylon. Amazing.

May 13, 2006. 6am Sunrise over the ruins of Palmyra.

Perfect sunlight and blue sky makes for some incredible pictures.

The Monumental Arch...

...entrance to the site.

Palmyra dates back to 2nd Century AD and ....

... covers approx. 50 hectares of land.

Half way up the columns are consoles once supporting a public figure.

The architecture was influenced by the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.

In its most glamorous days it was ruled by Zenobia,...

... a half-Greek, half-Arab queen around 267AD, ....

...but then was taken over by the Romans and finally destroyed by an earthquake in 1089.

The Tetrapylon, it marked the junction of thoroughfares.

Here one can see the elaberate aqueducts.

Walking along the Colonnaded Street.

The Colonnaded Street and ....

...in the far distance a glance of the Arab Castle.

The funeral temple, dating back to 3rd Century.

Palmyra means City of Palms.

View of the Camp of Diocletian.

Steps up the Camp of Diocletian.

The Diocletian's camp was erected possibly on the site of what had been the palace of Zenobia.

In the distance the ruins of the free-standing square-based funerary towers.

The wall of the Agora (Forum)

The Senate House.

A perfect row of columns.

The only public figure on a column console recovered from Palmyra.

The outer wall of the Temple of Bel. Reconstruction of the wall used actual columns from the site. What a shame.

Inside the Temple of Bel.

A ancient grinding stone.

The outer pillars of the temple.

The actual temple or cella.

Grapevine basrelief motif among the ruins of Temple of Bel.

The cella dates from 32AD.

The cella consists of two open chapels, containing a single decorated slap of ceiling stone.

The Palmyra theatre.

The theatre has been restored and is no comparison to the grandness of the Bosra theatre.

The theatre stage.

The Temple of Baal Shamin. A small shrine dedicated to the god of storms and fertilising rains.

Sculptures of people buried in the funerary towers...

...displayed in the Palmyra Museum.

More very well preserved sculptures recovered in the tombs.

Elhabel Family Tomb Tower.

Inside the square tower coffins are stacked 6 high.

Each floor of the tower could hold at least 60 coffins.

Ceiling paintings inside the tomb.

Other free-standing square-based tomb towers.

The Elhabel Family Tomb Tower.

View from the Arab Castle onto the Temple of Bel, Great Colonnaded Street and Funeral Temple.

Close up aerial view of the Great Colonnaded Street and Tetrapylon.

Aerial view of the Temple of Bel.

Aerial view of the Great Colonnaded Street.

Areal View of the Funerary Towers.

The Elhabel Tomb Tower we visited earlier.