Apamea and the Dead Cities

Getting ready

I woke at 0500 and lay till 0630.  We got packed up and headed out for a brief walk around the town of Hama before breakfast at 0715. I wanted to see what changes, if any, since our visit two years ago.

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Pat and Fiona joined us at 0730 and were pleased to see bread rolls instead of pita bread.  After breakfast we paid Abdullah and said goodbye to Pat and Fiona.  We’re going to be apart from them for two nights while we go to Aleppo.  They’re spending today and tomorrow here in Hama for sightseeing and a daytrip to Palmyra.  We’ll meet up with them in Damascus day after tomorrow.

Instead of making our own way from Hama to Aleppo, Abdullah organised an excursion for us to a couple of places and finish halfway to our destination.  From there we would find our own way to Aleppo.  Abdullah is amazing like this and that’s why we’re back to stay with him at Riad Hotel.

We shared a minivan with four other people and departed at 0830.  It felt really late because Syria had just finished daylight saving time.

Apamea

Our first stop, about an hour away, was Afamia (Arabic) or Apamea (Greek).  It is famous for the Greek and Roman era ruins which included a 2km colonnade and one of the largest Roman theatres.  These are estimated to be from the 2^nd Century AD, built after widespread devastation to the city in 115BC.

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Dead Cities of Serjilla and Bara

From Afamia we continued to the first of the Dead Cities, Serjilla.  The route took us through very dry and rock ground and some very poor areas.  Like the Bekaa Valley across in Lebanon, the countryside was littered with plastic bags.

Our guidebook didn’t have any write-up of the Dead cities so we had to borrow one from another traveller.  Serjilla is one of the best preserved of the Dead Cities in Syria.  The Dead Cities of the region are believed to have been abandoned in the 7^th Century when Arabs displaced the Byzantines from the area.  The area had been on the important trade route between Antioch and Apamea.

We wandered around the relatively intact buildings some of which are now home to goats and sheep.

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Our second of the Dead Cities with Bara, not far away.  It was set amongst olive groves and is known for the pyramidal burial chambers.

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Around the villages we noticed, as we had last trip, that some people are very blonde and northern European.  On the other hand, others are quite dark with rather Indian features.  I guess we are at the cross-roads of very historic trade routes.

Aleppo’s historic hotels

Our excursion finished with a drop-off at a nearby town’s minivan station.  Here we found transport to Aleppo.  We needed a taxi to get to our pre-booked accommodation.  The driver was illiterate so the map in Arabic which we had didn’t help.

With the help of some locals and walking the last little bit, we got to the Mandaloun Hotel in Al-Jedeidah, the Christian quarter.  It turned out we had been past it already.

The hotel is one of many historic ones located in this part of town, converted from mansions.  We realised the charm of these hotels while eating in the restaurants last trip.  I was eager to return to Aleppo and stay in one of them.  So here we are, having left Pat and Fiona behind in Hama.

We popped out nearly straight away to get some savoury pastries and a mango drink.  We rested but felt sleepy.  Fearing that our night would be ruined if we slept, we headed out to an internet café.

We took dinner at the hotel’s basement restaurant.  We ordered a beautifully-seasoned chicken kebab, fattoush salad and hummus.  There was plenty of food to make more than three wraps per person with the pita bread.  With one big bottle of water, the total came to only USD5 in this posh restaurant.

It was early to bed, sleeping around 2100.