Cappadocia - not of this world

Cappadocia was formed when a nearby volcano erupted depositing ash and lava on the surrounding countryside.
In the millennia since then, the softer ash and lava had been eroded leaving the harder rock, and forming chimneys and other weird formations. Across the centuries, taking advantage of the soft rock, and the valleys which offered shelter on the high Anatolian plateau, people have carved houses and churches into the rock chimneys. Our guest house was carved into the cliff and the rooms were great (apart from the loudest muezzin yet on the trip).

They also built underground cities which it is estimated could hold up to 10,000 people. The children loved the underground city at Derinkuyu, as they could run like rabbits through the rock tunnels.

For Elspeth and me, in fact especially for me, squeezing through these tiny spaces with minimum headroom was more of a challenge.

Just up the road from Capaddocia is the Ilharra valley where we had a very pleasant afternoon walk up a beautiful gorge, visiting more churches carved into the rock faces.

Syria part of the Axis of Evil - aye right!

We leave Syria and indeed the Arab world, with wonderful memories. Syria has been a great experience. It is a wonderfully unaffected country. People have been unfailingly kind and helpful, in ways that I do not think we would be in Scotland or the UK. The children have received numerous small gifts from complete strangers, and even though we speak very little Arabic, shopkeepers, waiters, almost everyone we have met has bent over backwards to make us welcome and to ensure our stay has been the happiest we could want. One simple example was in a kebab shop in Aleppo. The owner spoke no English, but he invited the children behind the counter, showed them how to prepare kebab, and then asked them what they wanted on their own kebabs to ensure that each of them had exactly what they wanted. And he refused to accept a tip.

The single biggest state supporter of terrorism in the region is not Syria or Lebanon, it is Israel. Israel's continued denial of the basic right of self determination to the Palestinians, and its ongoing illegal occupation and settlement of the West Bank, fully supported, armed and funded by the US, and in contravention of international law and UN resolutions, is the ongoing source of the problems in the region. Until this is addressed, there will be no peace.

"I'd like a first class ticket to Alloa please"

Standing in the railway station at Aleppo, it was quite a thought that we could travel by train all the way from Aleppo to Alloa. Indeed a century ago, we could have caught a train to Scotland from Medina in Saudi Arabia. From Aleppo we could have travelled to Turkey and then onwards to the Balkans or east to Iran. Instead we took a 5 hour train ride down through the hills to the coastal city of Latakkia from where we crossed over the border into Turkey - by bus.

Scottish Crusaders?

I don't know much about the Scottish contribution to the crusaders, but judging by the number of redheads in Syria, there were Scots here at some point.

Soap and shopping in Aleppo

Aleppo is a joy. Much of the old town is still as it was hundreds of years ago, and the souq is a delight to wander and shop. Many of the original buildings still remain and it is a positive rabbit warren of vaulted passageways and courtyards.

It has butchers, bakers,

and I am sure if I had looked harder, I would have found a candlestick maker. It also has the usual amazing array of spices which we have become used to seeing in bazaars in the region.

A constant surprise, given especially that Aleppo is a conservative city with many fewer uncovered women than in Damascus, and with many women also wearing black, was the wide array of openly displayed colourful women's clothing and underwear. In the bath house I was chatting to a man who owns a lingerie stall and according to him business is very good.

The outerware fashion in Aleppo seems to be the double breasted black overcoat worn even despite the heat. As for the trends in underwear . . .

It was also interesting to see the original coffee sellers still traditionally dressed.

Next to the souq is the old Armenian quarter which has been renovated and which is stunning. Aleppo is famous for its cuisine which is a fusion of Syrian/Arab cuisine and Armenian. The cherry kebabs which we had in the Armenian quarter were divine.

Aleppo is also famous for its soap. The local soap is made from olive oil and laurel oil, and prices depend on age and on the percentage of laurel oil. As an old soap salesman myself, I was unable to resist purchasing a few bars, for old time's sake.

Barcelona fever

If there was ever doubt which sport is the true global sport, a brief look around the cities of the middle east and Turkey would answer the question. Football is number one and nothing else comes close. Everywhere we go, it is on TV, on posters, and reflected in the football shirts sold throughout the region.

A poll of these strips would show a pretty accurate reflection of current form. The number one team in terms of popularity by a mile is Barcelona, even though they lost to Inter Milan recently. There are Barca shirts and posters everywhere, especially of Lionel Messi. After Barca there is Manchester United and Real Madrid. Then comes a groups with Liverpool, Chelsea, Milan, Inter, Arsenal, and Bayern Munich. When we say we come from Scotland, the most common response, along with "Braveheart" and "whisky" is "yes . . . Glasgow Rangers, Glasgow Celtic". Where are the Rangers and Celtic strips? I think they will need to win something first.

More crazy castles

Just south of Hama are two wonderful castles. The first, at Masyaf, was home to the Ismaili sect who got their bravery from use of hashish, and from this, the word assassin is derived.

The second is the amazing Crac de Chevaliers. This is a schoolboy's dream of a castle, perched on an outcrop guarding the Homs Gap which is the only break in the mountains in north Syria and therefore was a vital strategic position.

It is a huge fortress with an outer and inner castle. There are almost no restrictions on where you can explore and certainly no safety rails etc. Safety is very much your personal responsibility. One reason the Crusaders built such robust castles was that the Crusaders were few n number. Therefore they built big castle with huge thick walls which could be defended by a small number of men.

Water Wheels in Hama

After the clean air of the mountains we spent a night in the port city of Tripoli before crossing back into Syria to the city of Hama.

Hama was in the news in 1982 when the then President Assad brutally put down a rebellion in the city against his rule by shelling the place with the loss of thousands of lives. Of course this is not heavily publicised today, but for obvious reasons the memories are still there. We met a restaurant owner who had lived in Russia for 14 years. When I asked him about 1982, he was naturally reticent. He said that the young people had forgotten or been encouraged to forget, but those who were there will never forget. He left it at that.

Hama is a beautiful city with the river Orontes running through the middle . The river has steep banks which made irrigation difficult, so the locals constructed a system of wooden water wheels which are turned by the current, gathering up water and depositing it in aquaducts along the banks. You hear the wheels well before you see them as they constantly creak and groan on their wooden axles. At night they are lit up and are the centrepiece of the town, attracting promenaders and families, as well as the handful of tourists who make it to this beautiful city.

Snowball fights

From Baalbek went back into the mountains, crossing a 2900 metre pass,

and descending through one of Lebanon's main ski resorts to the town of Bcharre. In contrast to the south and the Beqaa valley, this is a Maronite Christian town. Church bells have replaced the muezzin.

On our second day here we drove back up to the pass and walked up towards Lebanon's highest point.

The children just loved the snow. Lachlan kept pounding me with snowballs and the girls made lots of snow angels. From the crest of the ridge we could see Syria, the Beqaa valley, the Golan Heights and we would have seen the sea had it not been for the brown haze of pollution.

In the afternoon we went down to the valley floor where there are a number of monasteries. Monasteries do not really excite the children so we went for a walk by the river and enjoyed the stunning scenery.

Into the mountains of Lebanon

Lebanon is a very small country divided into three strips: a narrow coastal strip which rises sharply to 9000 feet mountains, which then fall sharply into the Beqaa Valley which is a high altitude Valley. On the other side of the Beqaa Valley is Syria.

Leaving the coast at Sidon, we had a long climb into the mountains, stopping at a wonderful old Ottoman Palace called Beit Edin. The children particularly liked the bath house in the palace.

After a further long climb, made more stressful by crazy Lebanese driving, we reached the Beqaa valley which is a high altitude valley between the Chouf mountains and the Syrian border. It is incredibly fertile. After weeks of desert and barren places, the ox-blood red soil of the valley comes as a shock to the system and the valley is brimming with fruit and vegetables (and allegedly top quality marijuana).

The object of our visit was the temple complex at Baalbek. It was worth the drive. There are three temples, one each to Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. They are massive and took 250 years to build. The foundation stones alone, so the guide claimed, weighed 400 tonnes each.

I fear the children will be disappointed when they get to Italy and see the Roman ruins there. It seems strange that the Romans should build such a massive complex so far from Rome. However it seems that they were keen to impress on the local inhabitants the size and majesty of the Roman empire. This "message" took over 200 years to build and cost thousands of lives. Again in Baalbek the flags of Hezbollah were prominent. The stall at the temples even sold wide ranges of Hezbollah t-shirts.