A morning’s drive took us Northwards out of Damascus with the Anti-Lebanon mountains just to our left. Although the land through which we passed had once been the 'orchards' of Damascus, it was now, unfortunately, a typical urban ribbon development of car showrooms, light industry, offices and small eateries - only the occasional olive grove remained of the original cultivation.
With its dramatic setting atop Jebel Khalil, it was the guardian of the strategically important gap through the mountains - one of the Crusaders' principal supply routes. The impregnable turrets and towers stand as a defiant reminder of the holy crusades against the forces of Islam by Christian knights from northern Europe, who established the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1100-1290). A history that is coming back to haunt us with many seeing the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as modern crusades - driven by petrochemicals rather than religion. The negative West -v- East or Christian -v- Muslim aspect of this, reinforced by Bush Snr's description of the first Gulf war as being a 'crusade' is now being fuelled by many Islamic extremists in their recruitment of new recruits. The term 'crusader' has now morphed in many extreme perceptions to a very negative term.
After visiting this imposing castle we travelled along the coastal road to Ugarit or Ras Shamra, mentioned in texts from the 14th century BC found at Mari on the Euphrates. A large number of engraved terracotta tablets were recovered from the Palace area - we had seen many of these in the National Museum. They had been inscribed in the Ugarit alphabet of 30 cuneiform letters - we were told that this was the world's first alphabet but there is also an argument that, like many inventions, this happen at similar times in several locations. The ruins of the city emphasised the level of local social and architectural sophistication during the Bronze Age when compared with that in Britain at the same time.
We were there just as the sunset and, although this cast soft shadows, there was a keen cold wind cutting across the site and through our coverings. Some colonials from warmer climes were so dressed up with layers that all you could see of them was a narrow eye strip - probably less exposure than in a hijab.
Our overnight stop was in Syria’s main port - Latakia, named by the Greek leader Seleucus I after his wife. Befitting a commercial port, our hotel was adequate and in a rather run down residential / student area with a lack of a great choice of food outlets. We found a small bakery not far from the hotel, that had part cooked pasties and pizzas. You pointed to what you waned - the young couple running it had limited English, and they put it back into the pizza oven to warm up. With a can of pear juice, the mini-pizza + 2 pasties I consumed came to less than a £1. A couple of doors away there was even a patisserie, so something sweet, chocolaty and sticky was taken back to the hotel foyer to be taken with a glass of black tea.
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