Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Day 26

Stats:
Trip Total: 1941.2

Day Total: 56.61

At 12:15 I started biking the 10 km ride to the Turkish Syrian border. The ride was smooth, the road pavement mostly acceptable.

I biked nonstop till the border

and then went in line for passport check etc. Everybody was very polite. While waiting I chatted w/ a Polish group of four that was touring the area by bus. This type of travelling is another idea to consider. Eventually, I changed money and biked on to the between the borders zone, the no man's land, that stretched for about 5 kms.

and eventually made it to the Syrian side

As I was standing trying to decide where to go, a man approached me, talked to me in English, and offered to help me through the bureaucracy. He worked for the tourist organization and was really nice and accommodating. I followed his advice and had my passport stamped and was ready to go.

I decided to bike to Idlib rather than Alepo. I was running short on time. The road was newly constructed and there were very few cars. People that I met on the street were very friendly. Here are a few photos of the country side:

the first 25 kms were smooth and then the wind started blowing in my face. Nonetheless, I made it to Idlib and started looking for a hotel. It was difficult to talk to people. I was accustomed to try on people the little Turkish I knew and now it was my Arabic that I had to brush up. I managed to make them understand that I was looking for a fonduk(hotel.) Finally, a motorbiker waved to me to follow him and led me to a hotel. I thanked him and he left.

As I was dismounting, another motorbiker approached and asked me in English whether I needed any help. I told him that I had just found a hotel and I would be fine. He then asked me where I was coming from and I told him from Greece. He then spoke back in Greek. I was surprised beyond belief. I asked him how is it that he knew Greek and he said that he had lived in Crete for 12 years and had recently returned home. He then got off the bike and led me to the hotel where he did all the talking. Unfortunately, there was no room for just one night. Sofhuan, the helpful fellow, told me he would take me to another hotel. That hotel was luxurious and prohibitively expensive. However, as it turned out, there were no other hotels in town. So I went back to the first one and Sofhuan negotiated a two day stay at a reduced price. So I stayed at the Grand Hotel that was right across from the town hall.

I settled in and then went out foraging in the market. Here are a few photos where, as you can see, the environment is drastically different from that in Turkey.

Finally I made it back to the hotel, had dinner, and hung out at the hotel's yard. Sofhuan stopped by at around 20:30 and we went for a walk around the town center together. Our first stop was at his office, where we had Arab coffee. He deals in real estate. Next, we took the streets and stopped at many stores the owners of which had spent time in Greece and all spoke good Greek. The one we spent most our the time with was Mohamed who had also lived in Crete for many years. They all reminisced their time in Greece, and I suppose I had a hand in it. Finally, we went back to Sofhuan's store and while having Arab coffee again a number of relatives and friends stopped by to say hi. The person who stayed the longest and to whose house we ended up was Adnan, Sofhuan's first cousin, who is a really gentle person. Even though he only speaks Arabic we managed to communicate. Finally he invited us to his house. Here is a photo of the three of us.

The final move was to say goodnight and return to the hotel.