PalmyraPersonal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Palmyra, Syria. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Palmyra and navigate the world using Google Earth Show on map
N 34° 33.126
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The ruins of Palmyra are extensive and cover ten square kilometres. Especially from the Citadel above it, the wall surrounding the city can clearly be seen. Although large part of the city lies in ruins after centuries of rampage, siege and earthquakes, a considerable part is still standing and makes it interesting enough to walk around in wonder for hours. Large parts of the city still remain to be uncovered. It is a challenge to try to imagine the city as it was, with its original inhabitants, colours and sounds. Palmyra offers 
I started to walk through the city from the foot of the Citadel to the Temple of Bel. From this side, you first walk through what has been residential area. You can clearly follow the Avenue, and on both sides you can see remains of the city stretching quite far away. After reaching the Tetrapylon, a crossroads of Palmyra, you enter the official quarter of the ancient city. We found an old Syrian on a bicycle selling some drinks here and refused riding a camel before entering the most interesting part of the city.
The Avenue becomes wider, and on the right hand side you can visit the remains of the Agora, or market square also used for discussions in Greek and Roman style. One stone attests to history with inscriptions in Greek and Palmyrene. Walking on, you can see remains of the Senate, a theater which is largely intact, and several baths one of which is Zenobia's bath, after the famous Palmyrene Queen. Then, at the end of the Avenue you reach the Monumental Arch which is a richly decorared high Arc of Triomph.
