26th Crac des Chevaliers and Aleppo

Crac des Chevaliers, described by author Paul Theroux as the epitome of the dream castle of childhood fantasies, and we had finally made it. We set off at 9am for a 2 hour tour of the castle, starting at the stables we then saw the roman baths and checked out the secret passages to outside. We also walked through the great hall, chapel and the outer wall of the castle which had great views of the surrounding countryside. They had been filming a movie of Cleopatra at the castle and the sets were only half taken down so a few of the rooms were decorated in Egyptian style along with a market scene in a courtyard.
Oh no I've been hit!
Our guide was very good, it was such a shame we didn't have more time here but we had to set off to Homs for our bus to Aleppo, our next overnight stop. We had 2 minivans for the 1 hour trip to Homs where we transferred to a public coach for the 3 hour trip to Aleppo. We stayed in a hotel in the Souq (Dar Halabia) which was quite comfortable. Mark took us on an orientation walk around the city and we stopped in for a gin and tonic at the Baron hotel, where Agatha Christie wrote murder on the orient express. We finished up having dinner next door at Al-Andalib a place that has a write up in the lonely planet.