I take a tour of the region for $10 through Spring Flower Hostel (with three total participants). It's not the Dead Cities tour I hoped for—including the large ghost town of Serjilla between Aleppo and Hama—but it's all I can afford. The driver is the hotel owner's brother, who speaks excellent English and attempts to guide us a bit around the ruins, although he's not required to.

Shamass, the dead city

The dead city we visit is named Shamass ("sun"), dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries and containing various Roman ruins. It's very small and interesting enough, but the real highlight is finding a tortoise among the old stones.

The round remains of St. Simeon's pillar

Next we visit the Basilica of St. Simeon (Qala'at Samaan), where my powers of persuasion finally hit a roadblock—I have forgotten my student ID, and no amount of cajoling will get me out of the relatively hefty 150SYP entrance fee.

The condition and beauty of the ruins make the fee worthwhile, as well as its lovely setting among the trees. St. Simeon was the monk famed for living atop a sequence of pillars of increasing height. Possibly to distance himself from his pilgrims, possibly to get physically closer to God. The church is built around the alleged remains of his last pillar, which after centuries of abuse is now somewhat egg-shaped. The design of the church is really lovely, and the views of the olive orchards and rolling hills make it well worth the trip.

View from the citadel

Happy to pose

Mushabbak

The tour then takes us to the Valley of Death, where we see some small rock-cut tombs. The one that is big enough to enter has no features. Here we meet some children eager for photos. They request no money and are aware my camera is not digital, but one boy solemnly stands on his horse for a dramatic pose each time one of us raises a camera.

Finally we visit the church Mushabbak, which is small but well-preserved. It's a lovely basilica, but not nearly as impressive as the one for St. Simeon. Apparently the church is very close to an army camp, so we are dropped off at the bottom of the hill, told to hurry, and be careful taking photos.

We are hungry and discuss a pastry we've heard of called auzi, apparently big and flaky and stuffed with meat. All good. The driver takes us to his favorite bakery, but they've run out of auzi for the day. When we finally find it, I'm disappointed that mushrooms are featured prominently.

I'd rather have paid the extra $3 for the true Dead Cities tour and missed out on Qala'at Samaan, but fungus pastry aside, it was a good overview to the region and a pleasant day.

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