large parts of the collonaded road in Palmyra are still standing upright, despite recent destruction efforts
So far we have been moving generally north-south or south-north, in the area where the vast majority of the population lives. For Palmyra we turn east, into the desert. For a short while the road is still lined with olive groves, and with other trees, although many of these have been reduced to stumps. But soon the trees disappear, too, and the herds of sheep get less, and smaller. Houses, too, disappear, and are being replaced, locally by some type of bee-hive hut, and by tents. The bee-hive huts are, apparently, a 10,000 year old design based on adobe – mud and straw -, long the only material available for building. The tall domes collect the hottest air and the thick walls are an excellent heat exchange mechanism, making these huts actually quite liveable, in the middle of the desert.
outside Homs, on the way to the desert, lots of trees have not survived
the characteristic bee-hive houses in the Syrian desert
some of them have been integrated with more regular-shaped houses
lots of regular houses have been destroyed in the recent years of conflict
the desert itself
the desert highway, mostly with trucks and busses
economic activity is mostly limited to sheep herding, from Bedouin tents
And then there is nobody anymore, only the army. No photos, of course. There is a string of low earthen fortifications, bulldozered walls surrounding a couple of army tents, and huts which probably hold machine guns, to protect the highway. Multiple check points – we pass nine on the 160 km to Palmyra – also support machine guns positions, quite visibly, and trenches run off to both sides of the road, a little further into the desert. In the sparse hills, at one stage, bunkers have been constructed, as far as the eye can see, to shield, perhaps, artillery or tanks. What looks like a military airfield, with a range of bigger and smaller hangers, is situated maybe a kilometre or two, off the road. Here it is not rebels, but ISIS that we must be protected against. In the few villages we pass the houses are mostly destroyed, again, although in places efforts are being made to restore some of the damage; it looks like there are still people living here, a few. If not in houses, then in tents, in between the houses.
Just before we get to Palmyra, we spot a castle, strategically located on top of a hill. This is the Qalaat Fakhr ad-Din al-Maani castle, a Arab fortress probably dating from the 12th or 13th C, but named after a 17th C Druze emir who unsuccessfully challenged Ottoman dominance at the time. The fort used to be open to visitors, according to my 2010 guide book, but no more: the army has taken possession of it.
the majestic Arab fortress towering high above Palmyra
Palmyra from a distance
the columns around the Bel temple are still mostly standing upright
In Palmyra we are the only tourists. In a place that must have supported thousands per day in the early 2000s, before the various conflicts. When it was still largely in one piece – the guide shows a picture of the Bel Temple from before, from before ISIS decided to blow it up. Of course, these are not people’s houses, like in Homs, or their businesses, like in Aleppo, but we are once again confronted with senseless destruction. Difficult to say what is from two centuries wear and tear, and what from twenty minutes dynamite, but I reckon by far the most rubble is from the latter.
Despite all this, the site is still pretty impressive. The Bel Temple is no more, but a single arch is still standing upright – behind it is a collection of column pieces which looks an awfully recent creation. And a climb up a piece of the remaining outer wall provides an impressive view over the entire ancient city and the neighbouring oasis.
a photograph of the Bel temple, how it looked, not even ten years ago
and the same, now; note the arch as only remaining structure in between the rubble
but from high above you really get an idea about the destruction, the senseless dynamiting of an archeaological site – despite an haphazard tourist blocking the view (photo courtesy of Stephen Nemeth)
also from above, what is left from the Palmyra Roman city, still quite impressive
this looks more wear and tear from centuries, not from dynamite
and here, too, in impressive row of columns has survived
offering nice settings for more photos, of course
the back stage of the theatre
and the small theatre itself, restored in the 1990s
From here it is a short walk to the main part of the town, where another impressive colonnaded road leads past a bath house – adorned with four massive granite pillars, that somehow must have been transported from Egypt, from where they originate. And past the remains of several temples, of churches, of buildings, which I don’t think have been recently destroyed, their demise may have been from longer before. The small theatre, tastefully restored in the 1990s, has also escaped the ire of ISIS.
another collection of columns
the present city is inhabited by birds, like those small birds of prey
and this little owl
destroyed tomb structures above ground
A little further is the Valley of the Tombs, Roman tombs. The ones above the ground have been blown up; we enter one of the underground ones, where the heads of tomb sculptures have been chopped off, or defaced, and most funerary structures have been broken into. Whether this has been done because Roman tombs don’t stroke with Islam, or whether there were more mundane, grave robber motifs involved, we will never know.
and the same, underground
heads chopped off, or defaced
and graves recently opened and destroyed
the Palmyra oasis, with in the distance the shells of the five star tourist hotels that once had brisk business here
Outside the Roman site itself are the remains of the many five star hotels that did good business back then, now just empty shells like so many other buildings we have already seen this trip. I don’t think there are any plans to revive these to their former glory, just as so much in this country will never return to its former glory.
The way back to Damascus is less militarized than the earlier road this morning, despite another ten-plus check points. And with a mountain range on one side, it is also somewhat more attractive. Including structures that even ISIS cannot destroy.
next: Damascus
on the way to Damascus, more sheep herding
and more Bedouin tents, including water supply
some large scale geological structures cannot even ISIS destroy
It’s very interesting I think but sometimes you must be sad to see all these buildings being destructief by wars and dynamite????
Indeed Thea, this has been the overwhelming impression of this trip, in Aleppo and in Homs, and now here again.