This morning as expected Alison was complaining about her leg muscle aching, but I didn’t take too much notice of it. She could climb on the back of Tuah to stow the milk away, so I guess she would survive.  Having packed Tuah up, we went strolling towards the Water Wheels known as Noria of Hama, They were at one time used for irrigation purposes but now standing still because of shortage of water.

At 1100hrs we left Hama heading for Damascus. We saw fish being sold along the Highway not long after leaving Hama and wondered why that particular stretch of road was used to sell fish. Perhaps it is nearest point to the Syrian coast of Mediterranean.

About 30kms out of Damascus we saw what we thought was smog but it tuned out to be someone having a spate of open burning. We passed a Proton dealer about 16kms from the city but this time I gave it a miss on taking picture of it. About 5kms from the center we spotted a campsite and took note of it in case we needed one tonight if we didn’t find any reasonable accommodation as the temperature was again suitable for camping, at 17C.

By 1430hrs we were driving through the old city which looked rather interesting. Alison suggested that we drive out of town and look for a hotel and we could take a taxi into town if necessary. She was concerned about the traffic I guess but as long as I was careful no one would be mad enough to go charging into Tuah. We carried on driving by instinct and stopped at a hotel which looked to be new and upon enquiry at the Blue Tower their rate was a wee bit too high at USD124.

As I had stopped and left Tuah slightly blocking one lane of traffic, I got back just in time before the cop came. We had a short conversation about where to find a cheaper hotel, joined by two strangers, and we were then headed in the direction pointed out to us. The cop even bid us welcome to Syria!

We spotted the Four Seasons Hotel which looked rather inviting but chose instead Al Boustan which was charging USD60 with breakfast. The parking attendant told us it was ok to park along the street after 3pm and before 9am but in front of the hotel there were free parking spaces which was full and with a bit of luck will be available later on in the night.

As we didn’t have lunch we were starving and decided to have an early dinner. As there was no restaurant in sight we had to ask someone and he pointed to one across the road and told us the food there was superb. Alison thought about having the fried chicken but unfortunately there was none left and she had to make do with Sis tavuk. I had rice which looked lie some corn and chicken slices on top which was edible and the cost was reasonable at 435SPD.

As the hotels in Syria, unlike Turkey, do not provide wifi we went in search of an internet café and found one not too far from the restaurant. Adrian and I left Alison to do her stuff and went back to the hotel where Adrian can make all the noises he wants without any complaints.