his is a report from our trip to Syria which we made in September 1995. It was actually a part of a trip where we went from Istanbul to Damascus.

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We crossed the border by bus coming from Antakya to Aleppo. On the way there, the bus broke down because of lack of fuel. This happens regularly, since fuel is cheaper in Syria, so the drivers try to get to Syria to fill up his tank, but sometimes he fails.

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We used the LP as it was the only guidebook available at the time. We did manage to find our way with it although it could be a bit more detailed. Prices were a bit outdated but that's normal. The Jordan section was included in this book. However, they've now split up the 2 books, and the information has become more detailed since.

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We did have some problems getting reliable information on buses from Antakya (Turkey) to Aleppo. People were telling us the bus would leave at 8 am or 10 am or 11 am or 13 am. When we arrived at the busstation, they told us it was 10 am.

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We had made reservations at the Cairo Hotel, but they had already told us they would be full. So they proposed us the Noria Hotel owned by the previous owner of the Cairo. The Cairo gets mixed reports now, some people love it, other people say service is not what it used to be. Price is 100 S£ for a mattress on the roof and 700 S£ for a double room with bathroom and breakfast (10/2000). The last reports I got was again very positive (8/98 and 10/2000).

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We thought Hama is a good base to visit the Crac. From the busstation in Hama we took a microbus to Homs. We had our connection straight to the Crac "Qalaat al hosn" almost immediately. People are very helpful to get you on the right bus. The whole trip from Hama to the Crac took us 90 minutes.

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We took a direct Pullman minibus to Tartous. This took us 1h45'. We then took a taxi to the Daniel Hotel, but you could do this by foot.

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There is a Karnak bus at 3 pm to Homs, but we took a minibus at 1.30 pm to Homs, arrival at 14.45 pm. We had to wait 30 minutes for a minibus to Palmyra, were we arrived at 5 pm.

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I didn't go to Deir-Ez-Zor myself, so the info you find here is only second hand info I got from other people. Apparently the reports I read are a bit mixed: some people like it, others say it's not really worth the trip.

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There's a shuttle bus leaving every 30 minutes to and from the center of town, but service stops at midnight. I could never figure out why planes leaving for Europe mostly leave in the middle of the night. Someone has a suggestion? Otherwise you have to take a taxi which will cost about 15 US$. A more recent report said he had paid 20 US$ !! (6/99).

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