palmyra

for our last few days in syria we headed to the ancient city of palmyra, in the syrian desert three hours northeast of damascus - once a flourishing city on the silk road, now a magnificent historic site with the small town of tadmor spread along one side.



the view from the castle, across the sands to the ruins and on to the oasis palms and the town of tadmor.

the bel temple - you enter and the size of it takes your breath away. huge columns, gigantic stone slabs, carved capitals with acanthus leaves, arches....it's spectacular.






spent the morning sitting in the temple ruins and then walked along the colonnaded street which stretches 1.5 kms from the bel temple towards the valley of tombs.