Egypt

Hard to believe it's been six weeks, but my work in Damascus is done.  I've headed to Egypt for a quick stop in Cairo and then on to the Red Sea for some diving.

Here are some pictures of Cairo.   And here are the pyramids.

Diving in Sharm el Shiekh, while quite cold, was very good. 
- Coral gardens near Sharm
- Ras Mohammed national park
- The straits of Tiran

Syria

Here are some pictures from a trip to some Roman ruins near Damascus.  And a couple pictures of Damascus at night.


Things have been going well since I arrived.  I've been very busy with work, but have had a chance to see a few things around Syria.

Here are some photos of around my hotel.  And the Umayyad Mosque in the Old City. 

I spent a snowy day in Bosra to see the Roman amphitheatre, as well as the  various thousand year old ruins that the town is built around.

I also went down to see the ancient Greek/Roman city of Palmyra. 
First some photos of a couple villages on the way there. 
There are a number of ancient tombs and funerary towers around Palmyra.
The temple of Bel is very impressive, parts of which date back to 32 AD.
And here are the rest of the ruins at Palmyra.