I hardly got any sleep that night. Breakfast was at 4.30 a.m. and I had no appetite so early in the morning. However, we had a long day ahead and little time for meal breaks. The road from Damascus to Palmyra alone was 5 hours one way. Knowing that, I forced myself to swallow two fried eggs followed by two cups of weak instant coffee. Everyone else at the table also was bleary-eyed and not as talkative as usual. We left our luggage at the reception and at 5.30 a.m., we were on the bus going to Palmyra.
It was a caravan city sitting at a crossroads of critical trade routes. The Palmerian merchants profited from the goods coming from India and China that traveled from there to the Roman empire. By the 3rd century, Palmyra was very wealthy; its beauty became legendary.
The historic site is just an open space that anyone can enter. We walked freely anywhere we wanted accompanied as before by a local representative who did his best to show us Palmyra.
We stopped for lunch in the residential part of the city. So far, food in Syria was good albeit practically the same everywhere. This time, we hardly ate it. The chicken pieces and fried potatoes were cold and unsavory. I had some fresh salad and asked for Cola hoping to get calories from the drink. The locally produced Cola tasted funny, and I decided that drinking it was not worth the risk.
Five hours later, we were back to Damascus where we picked up our luggage from the hotel and went straight to the border with Lebanon. The border formalities this time did not take long. Soon, we were taken to our respective hotels in Beirut. The group trip was officially over, from that moment on, each of us was on their own.
It was hard to say goodbye to all these people with whom I traveled in Syria including Fadi and his staff from The Golden Team. The trip was meticulously organized, down to every minor detail. Nothing was overlooked or left to chance. Perhaps, that is why it went so well despite the difficult situation in the region.
Unlike others in the group, I had an extra full day in Beirut. Since there is little to see in Beirut itself, I initially planned to go somewhere. But I did not realize how tired and badly sleep-deprived I was. We all were holding on in Syria, no matter what. Once the trip was over, my body demanded rest.
I slept late next morning, then turned on TV to watch the news. Journalists were reporting from Beirut about the pager explosions in the city and panic on the streets. What a great timing to be there! I hoped that the tension would not escalate and the airport would remain open for 24 more hours. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in Lebanon with no way to escape.
I made a superhuman effort to pull myself out of bed before the hotel stopped serving breakfast, ate a good meal and rested more, then went outside. Beirut looked normal – the shops were open, people went about their business, kids played. I walked to the city beach. It was empty which was not surprising given how dirty the water was. The day was hot and walking along the busy streets was not pleasant. It was much better in the airconditioned mall. The prices were in US dollars, about the same as back home and not a thing of interest to buy. There was really nothing else to do other than to eat again, return to the hotel room and watch movies on TV.
The news next morning was about more explosions but my flight was on time and I left the country with no problem. One day later, the airlines canceled international flights. By then, all of us got out of Lebanon. One week after the trip, the IDF destroyed the Syrian checkpoint where our group crossed the border.