Going out into the desert is akin to a religious experience—and not just because you feel you’re walking the same paths that Jesus Christ might have taken all those centuries ago.
In our case it was mostly because our driver had the tendency to floor the accelerator as soon as he hit the open roads. As you can imagine, this causes a predictable chain reaction: we fasten our seatbelts, hold on for dear life, and pray to all the saints in our novena booklet.
But yes, there is a sense of history that pervades as we pick our way through ruins and abandoned citadels, an awareness that once upon a time a few great men may have passed this way.
It took three years for caravans traveling along the Silk Road to complete the crossing, picking up migrants, pilgrims, and other assorted members along the way, becoming moving communities as the journey progressed.
In the old days, it might have taken trade caravans a few weeks, perhaps a month or two, to travel from Damascus to Palmyra, the next stop on our itinerary. We got there in a matter of hours.
Seat of Girl Power
A visitor seeing the ruins of Palmyra for the first time may be forgiven for genuflecting in reverence.
It starts as a collection of stones seen from a distance. As one moves closer, the stones grow into columns and form themselves into the skeletal remains of this once beautiful and prosperous city that according to the Bible dates back to the time of King Solomon.
Viewed from just the right angle, one can see straight through the colonnaded Central Avenue, which stretches for hundreds of meters, giving visitors a glimpse of Roman urban planning.
Along the left side is the amphitheater, where we stumbled upon a tourist singing to a rapt audience (wow, those acoustics were GOOD). Set apart from the main ruins, in front of the recently-inaugurated visitor’s center, stands the temple of the Babylonian god Bel, whose plain outer wall conceals one of the most interesting, not to mention important temples of the time.
As an oasis in the middle of the Cham dessert, Palmyra was a natural pitstop for traders traversing the Silk Road. It evolved into an affluent hub of commerce, enjoying “free city” status for hundreds of years despite Roman rule.
Historians, however, still speak admiringly of Zenobia, a third century Palmyrene queen who rode into battle against the Romans. As the original poster girl for Girl Power, Zenobia wrested control of Egypt and Syria from the Romans and expanded the Palmyrene empire from Egypt to the Bosphorus. Declaring independence from Roman rule, she fashioned coins in her own likeness and took the title “August,” provoking the Roman emperor Aurelian into mounting a ferocious campaign to bring her down. Aurelian eventually captured her and brought her to Rome in golden shackles, though legend has it he was so impressed with his prisoner that he let her go and allowed her to live a fairly sedate life as a Roman matron in what is now Tivoli, Italy. Zenobia’s downfall signaled the end of Palmyra’s prominence.
Two towers
A few hundred kilometers down the road is the Crac des Chevalier, a military fortress built on a volcanic crater in Homs. A World Heritage Site, it is one of the more popular and more impressive landmarks of Syria. Reputedly the most famous castle of the Middle Ages, it bears witness to the violent and age-old battle between the Arabs and the Crusaders.
The citadel remains largely intact: from the long flight of stone steps that lead to the courtyard, to the even longer flights of steps that lead to its ramparts, where every window offers a breathtaking view of the lush countryside. In the courtyard, horsemen dressed as Crusaders obligingly pose for photos with several tourists who come to the castle in droves. A cavernous hall off the side of the courtyard was converted into a huge dining room, and this was where lunch was served.
Considered a symbol of Arabian military architecture is the Citadel in Aleppo. More oriental in design than the Crac des Chevalier, the citadel towers majestically over the city and is both an attraction and a venue for cultural activities.
Aleppo itself is one of the oldest and most beautiful inhabited cities in the world. Excavations in nearby Ebla have uncovered evidence of its existence as far back as 5,000 BC. There is a timelessness to the place that puts visitors in mind of a well-preserved painting. Located between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, it was also an important trade post for Silk Road caravans.
The city has passed through many hands from the Amorites of Messopotamia, to the Persians, the Seleucids, the Romans, the Muslims, and the Ottomans. It has been besieged twice by Crusaders, and nearly demolished by an earthquake that killed more than 230,000 in the 11th century. Yet the city has survived, thriving on a strong mercantile culture that kept trade going even in the dark years.
Aleppo is known for its souks (which unfortunately we did not get to see), its good food, and its friendly people. It is more conservative than Damascus. Women are shrouded from head to foot in black (wearing stiletto heels and pumps as a nod to femininity). But there are also more children who are happy to smile and pose for the camera.
It is here that the Silk Road festivities are officially concluded.
End of the road
Our Silk Road journey ends in a village as old as Christianity. Maaloula is a hamlet, about 50 km out of Damascus. It is perched on a slope pockmarked with numerous caves and grottoes, where houses sit on top of each other in gradated terraces, embracing the hillside.
It is one of only three villages left in the world where Aramaic, the language of Christ, is spoken, carefully preserved by villagers who pass it on orally from one generation to another.
We got the chance to hear this ancient tongue when a novice at the convent of Saint Serge offered to pray the Our Father in Aramaic.
The convent, dedicated to the two Christian horsemen (Serge and Bacchus) in the Roman army who were executed by Emperor Maximian in 297 for refusing to give up their faith, is a treasure trove of religious icons and relics. The convent, which was built on the foundations of a pagan temple, is said to contain the remains of Saint Serge.
The Convent of St. Thecla is a Greek Orthodox convent and church dedicated to the daughter of a Seleucid prince. Thecla was a student of St. Paul who held on to her virginity through several trials and tribulations. It is said that she was chased by the Romans until she reached Maaloula, where she was hemmed in by the cliff wall. Her prayers to be saved were reportedly answered when the cliff split open and she was able to escape. Visitors who come to the convent give offerings and gain blessings.
Maaloula was the last stop on our itinerary. By evening we were back in Damascus, our desert adventure behind us.
Traveling across the Syrian desert is like following a roadmap to antiquity, a journey that is both enriching and fulfilling.
While it is not as affluent as its oil-rich neighbors, Syria boasts of wealth that is not quite tangible, but far more lasting—enduring traditions, a rich heritage, and a unique front row seat to the meeting of eastern and western cultures.
A brochure from the Ministry of Tourism claims, “In Syria, history is present every step of your way (sic).” Our journey through the desert cements this claim.
