3 Farflung Museums of the World

My current home town of NYC has some pretty amazing museums.  The city is fortunate to have the world’s history and art come to them instead of traveling many time zones away to see it. When I’m traveling I’m always up for checking out the ones that get a little less attention and are somewhatContinue reading “3 Farflung Museums of the World”

Transport with a splash of color

Most trips overseas for the intrepid traveler involve overland travel.  There’s sometimes unavoidable on small islands in the Philippines and the desert expanses of the Middle East.  The road offers adventure, perspective to a new place and experiencing the local color. Some of us have quickly found that schedules in most places do not goContinue reading “Transport with a splash of color”

Ancient Eastern Crossroads of Apamea Syria

Driving up to Apamea after visiting the ruins of the other great cities of the area Al Basa and Sejilla while I was staying in Hama, Syria.  This city was the center of it all at one point in time.  The former village of Pharnake was renamed Apamea by the newly appointed and former Roman general to Alexander I kingContinue reading “Ancient Eastern Crossroads of Apamea Syria”

The Howls of the Rebel River in Hama Syria

The highlight of the city of Hama is by no doubt the norias or “wheels of pots”.  Seventeen now remain standing and occasionally running above the Nahr al-Assi, aka Rebel River.   Many know it as being the Orontes River.  It’s presently the job of the office of Antiquities in Hama to make sure that theseContinue reading “The Howls of the Rebel River in Hama Syria”

The quiet town of Palmyra

The bus rolled into Tadmor, or as most know it as Palmyra, a little over 3 hours after it left the Harasta Pullman terminal in Damascus. Taking local buses is always fun and tricky if you don’t speak or understand the native language. The final destination wasn’t Palmyra and even if it was the busContinue reading “The quiet town of Palmyra”

Not so Dead Cities of Syria

Imagine having a UNESCO Heritage site all to yourself? This is what I found late in the day when I got a ride out to see Al Basa and Sejilla from Hama, Syria. The two sites aren’t officially recognized by UNESCO but are both protected by the Syrian Antiquity law and listed under the categoryContinue reading “Not so Dead Cities of Syria”

Hama and it’s great Beehives

We were at a crossroads in Syria and needed to figure out whether the next stop should be the ancient city of Hama aka Hamah (Epiphania) or Homs aka Hims, Syria?    We then turned to the help of the internet.  We checked out some somewhat reliable travel forums, did some quick Google searches, read a little  and decidedContinue reading “Hama and it’s great Beehives”