Catching up..

We're a bit behind with the stories, mostly because we didn't have constant access to the internet for the past week, and also because there was a fast turn of events.

The crossing of Jordan was partially covered in a previous post. So, I'll just add a few details and then move forward as fast as possible, without omitting essential stuff.

Swimming in the Dead Sea.

One of the weirdest experiences we've had in this pilgrimage: effortless floating in the crazy salted water.

In the morning we left Wadi Musa, I had to shave because the beard already started to annoy me. The guide warned us about feeling cuts that we didn't even know about, so I already knew that I'll pay for my arrogance.

However, I imagined it can't hurt more than splashing some after-shave on a clean shave, especially since 6 hours were about to pass until we were supposed reach the sea shore.

Boy I was wrong.. It hurt a lot more than that. Also it was a continuous pain that didn't fade away until I showered with fresh water.

Anyway, it is totally worth to experience the buoyancy, no matter the pain involved :)

From the Dead Sea, the taxi took us to Amman, only to jump in another service taxi that crossed us the border to Syria - Damascus.

Some changes were prepared here for us: the country is cleaner and better organized than Egypt and Jordan. We liked it from the moment we crossed the border.. this is how obvious were the differences.

In the same time, it felt like a "communist" country because of the president's photo on walls, in shops' windows, in taxis.. everywhere. What we read about the people's limited freedom of speech, added to this feeling.

Facebook, Youtube, Blogger and other sites are banned, but you can bypass the restrictions with a proxy server.. which we did :)

I would like to say that Damascus was great, but it would be too much since we spent most of the time wondering through the souq (bazaar) and in the most important Mosque from city - which is also considered to be the most important one for all Muslim people.

In Damascus we started the day with the famous ice-cream from the souq, and also ended the day with it. I think that in the second day we went three times to that place, not just for the ice-cream, but also for watching the local people coming there (it was crowded all the time), and also for watching the guys preparing the ice-cream - in a really interesting manner.

After Damscus, Hama and Aleppo followed.

In Hama, the main attraction were the Norias: big water wheels positioned in the center of the city. What was interesting about them, was the sound they made all the time, from wood on wood friction; it was like a mourning.

Also, here there are two impressive castles that are worth visiting, for the history, architecture and also for the view they give upon the surroundings (being placed on high ground).

In Hama we befriended a nice couple from Brazil, and all of us traveled together to Aleppo, where we stayed for half a day, just to see the souq - which was a lot different from the one in Damscus (more rustic)), but also more tiresome because of the narrow passages.

From Aleppo, we came to Turkey - Cappadocia where we're preparing to discover this fairytale like landscape.

No photos this time.. sorry.. The picasa web albums doesn't seem to work here, and the blog loads only partially, so we'll have to leave the photo upload for another time.