Aleppo and Hama

Ahh, I haven't had much luck with the internet connections. I don't know if it's the whole country or just the cafes I've been to, but the connections are equivalent to dial-up. Coupled with the government bans on blogging websites and facebook, and dirty/sticky keyboards, it's been a frustrating experience using the internet here.

To make matters worse, I'm pretty much illiterate here. In Turkey I could at least read signs, maps, etc. Here the Arabic script is unique and I've had a greater amount of difficulty finding places. Even the numbering is different, though I learned it fairly quickly. There are signs in the latin alphabet, but few and far between.

Aleppo was not as fun as I thought it would be. Part of that was because it's Tuesday. It's a holiday and most of the sights were closed. The one I was looking forward to most, the citadel, was also closed. The Great Mosque was open, but it was a bit of a let down for photos. All I did really was walk around Aleppo's souq (market place), which was pretty fun. It's much more interesting than Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, though the guidebook says otherwise.

In all honestly, I couldn't wait to get out of Aleppo. To me it seemed overpriced, dirty and overrated. I decided my next destination would be Hama. That's where I'm writing from now. It's so much better. The first hotel I went to was very clean and I wasted no time booking a room for almost half the price I paid in Aleppo. I then made my way around the town, getting oriented with the neighborhoods and taking some photos. I met a handful of locals, all were very friendly and I saw a very welcoming and clean town. I'll probably spend a couple of days here. Tomorrow I'll visit a couple of nearby castles and some Roman ruins.

Aleppo:

My breakfast:

Aleppo Citadel:

A man fights with a sheep:

Aleppo Souq (marketplace):

Carpet shops:

All natural soap:

Nut shop:

Aleppo's Great Mosque:

A Beautiful Hama Mosque with Norias (water wheels):