BLOG: A minaret's view of Aleppo
Day 5 (Monday, March 29)
After an enjoyable time in Hama and Palmyra, we were set to move on to Aleppo, another ancient city. Before we arrived, though, we visited a couple destinations on the way. The best stop was Crack de Chevaliers, a castle perched on a hilltop over a modern city. The castle itself was quite magnificent, but the weather on the day of our visit made it even better.
It was cloudy and a bit cooler than the previous day, with a dense fog that engulfed the mountain-top outpost. It really gave it a medieval feel.
We then continued on to Aleppo. We arrived later in the afternoon and secured our hotel for the night before walking around town. Along our journey, we walked by a very large mosque, which is currently under construction, when we were approached by a man dressed like a car mechanic, who offered to take us to the top of one of the minarets. We quickly accepted, and after a long trek to the top, we had a tremendous view of the mosque below and of Aleppo, which rivals Damascus for the title of Syria’s largest city.
We then left for the Aleppo Citadel, another well-known ruin site, perched atop a hill overlooking the city. On the way, I was approached by a young man who, after learning I was from America, said, “You are welcome here, and enjoy your time in my country.” There were a few such interactions on our trip, and I valued every one. We arrived at the citadel just as the sun was beginning to set, which gave the ruins a unique look.
We then wandered around the city for over an hour before finally arriving at our dinner destination (This was a common trend throughout our trip: Rather than pay the often-exorbitant cab fees, we would try to find our destinations by foot. This strategy did save money, but also wasted quite a bit of time. We definitely could have used a Garmin).
