27th, 28th & 29th Aleppo, Antakya & Nigde

Free day in Aleppo today that started with a 3 hour walking tour of the old city with Ahmed Modallal, through the old city. He took us to the front gates of the Souq and explained that the entrance was made with fortification in mind as a battering ram could not be used to enter. A little hard to see from this picture but there is a wall opposite the gate. We went to the Al-Bahrambyya Mosque, inside a hammam and also an old hospital which they are in the process of converting to a museum. We zigzags our way through the souq finishing outside the citadel.

We left the group and set off to find lunch (8o cents for 2 falafel rolls) and wander around the Christian quarter. We wandered for a while before making our way back to the hotel. David went for a walk around the souq and then listened to music in the room while Catriona played cards with Jill and Tony. In the evening a few of us went  up to the terrace restaurants below the citadel for dinner. A nice end to another busy day.

28th Had a lazy start to the day, breakfast at 9am then walked back to the citadel. Public buildings are not open on Tuesday so that is why we had to wait until today. We had a good walk around and were able to recognise different parts of the castle from our previous castle tours. There was a hammam that they had reconstructed part of. We stopped at the top for a cup of tea and a cola for around 20 minutes while we recapped on what we had done on our trip so far.

Catriona went back to the hotel while David set off in search of cushion covers. He managed to buy 2 for around $9. They are very bright! We walked a couple of blocks to the local bus station for our bus to Antakya (Antioch) in Turkey. The boarder crossing was a little confusing and it was raining heavily. The first time we have seen real rain since we arrived in Cairo almost a month ago. Luckily Catriona had her umbrella so she stayed nice and dry as we had to wander around outside. We made it to Antakya around 4.30pm and set off to see the Mosaic Museum. The Mosaics were incredible. There is a pronounced difference in Turkey from the 3 other countries we have visited so far. Everything is so green and clean and it is much more European. We didn't manage to find the holy hand grenade of Antioch though. I just hope we don't run into any killer rabbits on the road.

29th Quick start this morning and back on the road. We caught a very nice coach from Antakya to  Nigde, a 7 hour drive. The scenery on the way was magnificent, reminded us of the Swiss alps. We arrived around 3.30pm and had to change some money. The rest of the group set off to have a look at the local markets and the Castle, we followed later. The castle was very small compared to the others we have visited so far. We met at 6.30pm for dinner. The two of us shared our meals and finished with a shared rice pudding. We finished the night in the games room in the basement of the hotel.