So, after talking to my hotelier Abdullah yesterday, I traded my trip to Lattakia and Aleppo for a town near the south-east border crossing into Iraq! He (along with other travellers) said that Lattakia wasn’t nice and I could instead have a cool dip in Lake Assad while having a view of an ancient citadel!
Along with Ammi and Salome (South African couple) and our driver Abdul Kader, we left at 7am. We stopped briefly at Qalaat Al-Shmemis (Ashmamis Castle) where I hiked up to the remains of the moat. This was followed by a brief photo-stop at some beehive houses.
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- Ashmamis citadel.
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- Ashmamis citadel.
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- From Ashmamis citadel.
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- Near the top of Ashmamis; looks like leftover from a moat.
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- Ashmamis citadel.
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- Ashmamis citadel.
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- Beehive village.
Our major sight was Rasafa, a huge ancient walled city. Most of what we see now is left over from the Romans 1500-1800 years ago.
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- Inside Rasafa.
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- Inside Rasafa.
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- Basilica at Rasafa.
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- Cistern at Rasafa.
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- Inside Rasafa.
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- Main gate of Rasafa.
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- Inside Rasafa.
Next was Jaabar Citadel. This was a Mesopotamian style citadel but the difference here is that since a dam was built across the Euphrates (with Soviet assistance), the citadel is surrounded largely by beautiful turquoise water. Very pretty.
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- Looking up at Jaabar Citadel.
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- At the top of Jaabar Citadel.
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- Jaabar citadel.
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- Lake Assad, an artificial beauty as a result from a dam with a Soviet hydro plant.
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- Lake Assad, an artificial beauty as a result from a dam with a Soviet hydro plant.
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- On Jaabar citadel.
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- On Jaabar citadel.
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- On Jaabar citadel.
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- Jaabar citadel.
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- Hot hot hot at Dayr Az-Zawr.
After lunch, it was getting a bit late and it seemed like too difficult to have a swim … the usual reasons … changing, shoofis (staring squad), changing back, carrying wet clothes …. so we bundled ourselves into a bus bound for Deir Al-Zur.
A couple of hours later, we started seeing signs pointing towards Iraq. And shortly after, we were in the town of Dayr Az-Zawr (Deir Al-Zur). It sits by the Euphrates river, with its lush banks. The icon of the town is a pedestrian suspension bridge across the Euphrates.
It is a remote and conservative town with few visitors. During our stay, Salome got a lot of stares and eventually resorted to wearing a headscarf.
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- At our hotel.
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- At our hotel.
