Sunday, January 30, 2011

Monastery? or Monstrosity?

Driving out of Aleppo into the surrounding countryside, patches of olive groves appeared in the rocky countryside. At times, a herd of sheep camoflagued in the rocks and the hills could be made out as the lone shepherd sat on a rock keeping an eye out (or resting his eyes).

We arrived at St Simeon's Monastery which had been built in the fifth century.  The ruins give an indication of how massive this building really was - the size of at least four large cathedrals.  The rock blocks, archways and design gave us plenty of different places to explore.


















Returning to Aleppo, I took the brave step of shopping in the longest undercover bazaar in the world with two women, armed with their wallets.  The merchants, while still skilled salesman certainly are not as agressive as those in Egypt.  Similar to Turkey, they do actually allow you to leave the shop if you haven't made a purchase - unlike Egypt where they become rude, pushy and may actually continue perstering and chasing you down the street!

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