July 22, 2001 Aleppo |
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Around
9 am, we go to the citadel that is very impressive from the outside. It was
built in 12-13th century, the hill is 40m high, and the ramparts covered the whole
site and are 12m high. From the ramparts, a weathering joins a big ditch (38m
wide) that circles the hill. Aleppo :
The weathering of the citadel The
entrance is very massive and was very tricky in wartime. Instead of building the
door in front of the drawbridge (today replaced by stairs), the door is
located on the right side to avoid the use of a ram to break in. Aleppo :
The entrance of the citadel Inside
the citadel, we are astonished by the size of the rooms and it is almost by
surprise that we enter the royal room (24m by 27m), beautifully restored.
This room is with the covered way for the 360° view, the best part of the
citadel. Today the citadel is big excavation site with many parts still
buried in the ground. Aleppo :
View on the city In an alley I
meet Bertrand and Jacqueline who have finished the visit and take a bus to
Homs and Palmyra in the next hours. Eugenia is
not well today, so we bring her back to the hotel to have a rest. While
Eugenia is trying to sleep, we decide to go the national museum of Aleppo.
The entrance of the museum is a copy of the one in Tell Halaf with three
basalt statues. The most surprising thing is that we are nearly alone in the
museum, only a group of tourist overtaken us by doing the quickest visit of
the museum without admiring the magnificent items. Some of them have been
made 5 millenniums ago. One of these items is a goddess represented in a
human size holding a vase, and an hydraulic system enables water to flow from
it on demand. In a room we see a vase that looks like the one Massimo bought
in Apamea. After this
knowledgeable visit, we eat a wonderful sandwich in a crowded restaurant, an
excellent address for Falafel. The owner offers us a glass of milk to drink
while eating. We come back at the hotel to have some news of Eugenia who is
still suffering and dont find sleep. Eugenia
tells us to visit the Armenian district. The neighbourhood is very nice with a
lot of alleys where you can easily be lost. That is what we did a lot, they
are all the same. Aleppo :
typical alley in the Armenian district Finally we
find the Sissi House restaurant and our location on the map. We visit near
the restaurant a middle class residence that is under restoration to be
transformed in a museum. As always no distinction from the outside but a well
done organization inside, many rooms, a private hammam and the traditional
square in the middle. The district
also has many churches: a Greek Orthodox church unfortunately closed, a
Maronite one but there is a service in progress and the beautiful Armenian
cathedral of the 40 martyrs. We hesitate to enter because our clothes do not
fit the place but Armenians who celebrate the baptism of a child welcome us.
The inside is really beautiful and offers a great contrast compared with the
insides of the mosques. We stay for the baptism of a little girl and we exit
to come back to the hotel. Eugenia
suffers from high temperature (40°), which is not good under this climate.
She was a little bit ill while being in Lebanon and maybe she suffers now
from dehydration. We go quickly to a pharmacy to buy salted powder to fight
this problem. I also have some medicines that will be helpful in her case.
After this first treatment, we go to the market in order to buy some bananas. Tonight the
ambiance is not the same without Eugenia. We go to the Al Koumeh, neighbor of
the Al Kindi. The restaurant is at the top of the building and it is an open
terrace on the sides with a great view on the citadel. We eat quickly to let
Massimo be with his wife. |
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D10 :
Aleppo San Simeon Aleppo D11 :
Aleppo Qalaat Al Saadin Tartous (1)
(2) D12 :
Tartous Krak des chevaliers Beirut (1) (2) D15 :
Damascus Maaloula Damascus D17 :
Damascus Bosra Damascus D18 :
Damascus Amman Dead Sea Amman |
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Last update : January 2002
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