Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)
-   Middle East (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/middle-east/)
-   -   Just back from Jordan & Syria (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/middle-east/just-back-from-jordan-syria-32109)

Gecko 7 Jan 2008 12:49

Just back from Jordan & Syria
 
Just had Christmas and New year travelling aorund Jordan and Syria. As it was also my honeymoon it was done in finest tourist style but we crammed a lot into 3 weeks . Arrived in Amman and spent a couple of days soaking up the city and then drove down the desert highway and accoss to the kings highway south into Petra. Spent a couple of days there before heading off into the desert at Wadi Rum where we froze our butts off spending a night with the bedouin. Then onto Aqaba for a night at the coast to warm up before spending Christmas at the Dead sea. It's a bit 'cheezy' there but fun to see. We visited Jesus' baptism site (or so they would have us believe) before heading north to mount Nebo (Moses was there...) then onto the northern town of Jerash where there are fantastic Roman ruins. In total 10 days in Jordan before hopping on a super cheap Royal Jordanian airways flight (very good) to Aleppo in northern Syria.
Aleppo is great - huge crusader castle in the town nice souk (which was closed because we forgot Friday is Sunday out there... doh !!:innocent:) Headed out of Aleppo for a 3 day tour all over the country - Apamea , Salidin's castle, Marqab citadel, Tartus on the coast (not a pretty place) then Crak de chevalier, an amazing almost complete crusader castle dating from 1271 AD . From there east towards Iraq and a new years eve night and day in Palmyra where the Roman ruins are truely a site to behold. It pales anything else I saw into insignificance - Palmyra is just incredible. It is vast and you can spend days wandering the ruins. After we drove south to Damascus before stopping at the obligatory 'Bagdad cafe' on the crossroads where the sign points one way to Bagdad and Iraq and the other to Damascus. Nice fella there gave us a cup of tea and taught me how to tie a tea towel round my head :D
Damascus was our final stop where we chilled out for a few days and wandered all over the town before heading home.

Overall conclusion - very interesting - very friendly people - Syria cheaper than Jordan but both very cheap by western standards. Never once felt unsafe or threatened - very few traders hassling you to buy anything - unlike Egypt - masses of amazing archeaoligical sites to visit , most unprotected and largely unrestored. 3 weeks of fascination and fun - happy new year !
Anyone thinking about visiting , drop me a message. I have some useful GPS tracks and contacts for hotels and guides which I gathered along the way.

I used the Wanderlust GPS mapping on my Garmin 60c to get around. used in conjunction with a road map we only went wrong once and got around fine. The Wanderlust mapping isn't 100% accurate as you may be used to but it's pretty damn good to navigate you through the country where road signs are often only in Arabic and are easily missed.

Margus 7 Jan 2008 13:21

Good to hear all went well Gecko! :)

I'll back up your opinion about that region - very friendly people, very safe and cheap (mostly)!

Cheers, Margus

Mony 63 8 Jan 2008 13:00

Syria,Jordan
 
Happy New Year !

Sounds very nice Gecko,congratulation!
So as you saw,we plan to go there in september 2008,thats why we are very interested to share with you all the trucks that you recorded.

Best wishes for the 2008,and hope to see you on the road.

Cheers,
Simon

monkii 9 Jan 2008 17:27

Gecko,
Were you travelling by car, or motorcycle?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gecko (Post 166957)
Just had Christmas and New year travelling aorund Jordan and Syria. As it was also my honeymoon it was done in finest tourist style but we crammed a lot into 3 weeks . Arrived in Amman and spent a couple of days soaking up the city and then drove down the desert highway and accoss to the kings highway south into Petra. Spent a couple of days there before heading off into the desert at Wadi Rum where we froze our butts off spending a night with the bedouin. Then onto Aqaba for a night at the coast to warm up before spending Christmas at the Dead sea. It's a bit 'cheezy' there but fun to see. We visited Jesus' baptism site (or so they would have us believe) before heading north to mount Nebo (Moses was there...) then onto the northern town of Jerash where there are fantastic Roman ruins. In total 10 days in Jordan before hopping on a super cheap Royal Jordanian airways flight (very good) to Aleppo in northern Syria.
Aleppo is great - huge crusader castle in the town nice souk (which was closed because we forgot Friday is Sunday out there... doh !!:innocent:) Headed out of Aleppo for a 3 day tour all over the country - Apamea , Salidin's castle, Marqab citadel, Tartus on the coast (not a pretty place) then Crak de chevalier, an amazing almost complete crusader castle dating from 1271 AD . From there east towards Iraq and a new years eve night and day in Palmyra where the Roman ruins are truely a site to behold. It pales anything else I saw into insignificance - Palmyra is just incredible. It is vast and you can spend days wandering the ruins. After we drove south to Damascus before stopping at the obligatory 'Bagdad cafe' on the crossroads where the sign points one way to Bagdad and Iraq and the other to Damascus. Nice fella there gave us a cup of tea and taught me how to tie a tea towel round my head :D
Damascus was our final stop where we chilled out for a few days and wandered all over the town before heading home.

Overall conclusion - very interesting - very friendly people - Syria cheaper than Jordan but both very cheap by western standards. Never once felt unsafe or threatened - very few traders hassling you to buy anything - unlike Egypt - masses of amazing archeaoligical sites to visit , most unprotected and largely unrestored. 3 weeks of fascination and fun - happy new year !
Anyone thinking about visiting , drop me a message. I have some useful GPS tracks and contacts for hotels and guides which I gathered along the way.

I used the Wanderlust GPS mapping on my Garmin 60c to get around. used in conjunction with a road map we only went wrong once and got around fine. The Wanderlust mapping isn't 100% accurate as you may be used to but it's pretty damn good to navigate you through the country where road signs are often only in Arabic and are easily missed.


monkii 9 Jan 2008 17:27

Gecko,
Were you travelling by car, or motorcycle?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gecko (Post 166957)
Just had Christmas and New year travelling aorund Jordan and Syria. As it was also my honeymoon it was done in finest tourist style but we crammed a lot into 3 weeks . Arrived in Amman and spent a couple of days soaking up the city and then drove down the desert highway and accoss to the kings highway south into Petra. Spent a couple of days there before heading off into the desert at Wadi Rum where we froze our butts off spending a night with the bedouin. Then onto Aqaba for a night at the coast to warm up before spending Christmas at the Dead sea. It's a bit 'cheezy' there but fun to see. We visited Jesus' baptism site (or so they would have us believe) before heading north to mount Nebo (Moses was there...) then onto the northern town of Jerash where there are fantastic Roman ruins. In total 10 days in Jordan before hopping on a super cheap Royal Jordanian airways flight (very good) to Aleppo in northern Syria.
Aleppo is great - huge crusader castle in the town nice souk (which was closed because we forgot Friday is Sunday out there... doh !!:innocent:) Headed out of Aleppo for a 3 day tour all over the country - Apamea , Salidin's castle, Marqab citadel, Tartus on the coast (not a pretty place) then Crak de chevalier, an amazing almost complete crusader castle dating from 1271 AD . From there east towards Iraq and a new years eve night and day in Palmyra where the Roman ruins are truely a site to behold. It pales anything else I saw into insignificance - Palmyra is just incredible. It is vast and you can spend days wandering the ruins. After we drove south to Damascus before stopping at the obligatory 'Bagdad cafe' on the crossroads where the sign points one way to Bagdad and Iraq and the other to Damascus. Nice fella there gave us a cup of tea and taught me how to tie a tea towel round my head :D
Damascus was our final stop where we chilled out for a few days and wandered all over the town before heading home.

Overall conclusion - very interesting - very friendly people - Syria cheaper than Jordan but both very cheap by western standards. Never once felt unsafe or threatened - very few traders hassling you to buy anything - unlike Egypt - masses of amazing archeaoligical sites to visit , most unprotected and largely unrestored. 3 weeks of fascination and fun - happy new year !
Anyone thinking about visiting , drop me a message. I have some useful GPS tracks and contacts for hotels and guides which I gathered along the way.

I used the Wanderlust GPS mapping on my Garmin 60c to get around. used in conjunction with a road map we only went wrong once and got around fine. The Wanderlust mapping isn't 100% accurate as you may be used to but it's pretty damn good to navigate you through the country where road signs are often only in Arabic and are easily missed.


5 Eyes 9 Jan 2008 17:30

Hey Gecko

My bike is in Tel AViv at the moment after a cape to cairo run.

Im heading back there on the 20th and have three days work to do before I get back on and ride into Jordan for a few days.
I would love to have some of your GPS points adn any other info about Jordan.
I'll only have two days to spend there this time. main reason is to leave isreal and return with a fresh stamp so I can leave it there for another while before riding it home to Ireland

goodwoodweirdo 11 Jan 2008 22:55

A drink ?
 
Gecko, Marc

Your trip sounds great, would love to meet up and hear more about it.... fancy a drink in Destelbergen my place / Gent or Sint Niklaas ?

Drop me a mail (matthew.mason@skynet.be) I think I have your mobile nos somewhere

Cheers
Matt

sciii 12 Jan 2008 01:21

Jordan
 
I going in april to Syria and Jordan and what price for insurance, and all fee for motorcycles in Syria, and Jordan?

santhasz 18 Jan 2008 11:50

Syria insurance and fee info
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by sciii (Post 167918)
I going in april to Syria and Jordan and what price for insurance, and all fee for motorcycles in Syria, and Jordan?

Read this:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...o-please-30974


Best wishes,
Szabi

sciii 18 Jan 2008 21:40

Do you so late to back from Jordan to Syria and pay again tax 92$:confused1: Or alwaus you must pay around 90$ when enter in Syria:helpsmilie:?

Margus 21 Jan 2008 08:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by sciii (Post 169327)
Do you so late to back from Jordan to Syria and pay again tax 92$:confused1: Or alwaus you must pay around 90$ when enter in Syria:helpsmilie:?

Yep, you'll have to pay around 80USD again. Only (20USD or so) insurance will be active (if you issue it long enough at the first place), but the "Temporary Import" (TIP, or "visit" as they call it) you have to pay EACH TIME YOU ENTER SYRIA.

Welcome to the world of arabian bureaucracy! :)

Ride safe, Margus

santhasz 23 Jan 2008 09:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by sciii (Post 169327)
Do you so late to back from Jordan to Syria and pay again tax 92$:confused1: Or alwaus you must pay around 90$ when enter in Syria:helpsmilie:?

Yes!

First entering 99 USD for 2 person and 1 bike, the second entry 92 USD for the same. As I understood we paid 92 and not 99 again because the insurrance was valid. Don't ask how is possible. At first entering we paid 36 USD insurrance and 62 USD import so if the insurrance was valid we should pay less ....

Best wishes,
Szabi

goodwoodweirdo 23 Jan 2008 12:17

Jordan
 
First entering 99 USD for 2 person and 1 bike, the second entry 92 USD for the same. As I understood we paid 92 and not 99 again because the insurrance was valid. Don't ask how is possible. At first entering we paid 36 USD insurrance and 62 USD import so if the insurrance was valid we should pay less ....

Best wishes,
Szabi


Szabi, did you have a carnet out of interest ???

Kind regards
Matthew

santhasz 5 Feb 2008 07:48

We had neither Carnet nor IDP (International Drive Permit)


Best wishes,
Szabi


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:05.


vB.Sponsors