Had a disturbed nights sleep.  Our room at the hotel in Aleppo open straight on to the reception area.  The reception area opens straight on to the street.  There were very young kids playing football, shouting loudly and yelling.  At quarter past midnight – after about an hour and half of trying to sleep through this I had to ask the person behind the desk to move the children on.  This moring we left the hotel a little after 9.00 to walk to the Citadel of Aleppo.  Five minutes later the skies opened and there was a deluge of rain.  Five minutes after that we were all back at the hotel to dry off and change!


After drying off, we set off again.  A slight change of plan now we are going by coach to Aleppo museum to look round there for a couple of hours until the rain stops.


The entrance is a reproduction of the gateway to the temple at Tell Halaf

After the museum it is a short stop for a cup of tea/glass of coke at Baron’s Hotel (whose claim to fame is that Lawrence of Arabia stayed there and Agatha Christie wrote part of Murder on the Orient Express there).


The hotel is famous for having T E Lawrence and Agatha Christie as guests.

The rain has gone and it is time to try the Citadel again.  The citadel is a fortified city on top of a huge mound in the very centre of the old city of Aleppo. 


It offers some interesting photo opportunities and I concentrate on doing that.  I don’t think my mind can assimilate much more information on fortified locations and historical sites of Syria.




After the Citadel it’s back on the coach to cross the city to our lunch stop.  We finaly get lunch at about quarter past three in the afternoon, and despite my stomach still not being right from earlier in the holiday, I was definately ready for this meal.  breakfast was a long time ago.


What is left of the afternoon is “free time” or a chance to explore Aleppo’s souks.  I opt for going back to the hotel and trying to catch up on my sleep.