Click here to link to a list of my many ancient site in Turkey, Syria and Jordan.


Palmyra, تدمر is the one ancient site any visitor to Syria should try and visit. The pictures I show lead you first to the (excellent) museum. It has very many of those portrait stones that used to close off the graves that you can still see the one grave tower that is can be visited or in the one hypogeum that is opened. At the latter photography is forbidden, the same goes for the museum. Luckily I have many pictures of such portraits in the Damascus National Museum or the Istanbul Archaeological one, click the link (this page ought to remain opened. Having visited these sights you proceed to the ancient town itself. In the end we are near the road to modern Palmyra, where I took some pictures of the night falling, and next morning some of the Bel temple.

In my profile I indicate I sometimes edit my pictures. In the Palmyra pictures there are a number where I gave in to my urge to have “clean” pictures, that is: without tourists in them, let alone cars. I cloned out two cars (I think the parking of cars on any spot that is a worthwhile picture should be punishable. Instead I have noticed some people have a preference for parking right in front of a major piece of art, as if their dismal vehicle is more important than the priceless treasure they thus spoil). I have erased a whole bunch of Italians that did not budge from a temple, and a couple of lone travelers that kept reading their guidebook right where they shouldn’t. I think I did a fair job, the erasures/clonings will be hard to spot for anyone who does not visit the site on a regular basis (“Hey, this stone is not where it should be”). But I thought I ought to confess.

The above text is silly in the light of the destruction that was wrecked by religious villains just a few years later. I will not indicate at each subject what has been destroyed, but a lot has.