10 km, delivering the bikes to Fadi’s workshop. We have decided to leave the bikes and a bunch of our gear with Fadi in Aleppo. We will take a bus from Aleppo to Amman, Jordan, and from there take another bus to Aqaba. Aqaba is on the Red Sea and is experiencing daytime temperatures of…

When we first arrived in Aleppo, Fadi had offered to take us out to see Saint Simeon, a church about 40 km to the north of Aleppo. Unfortunately, Becky was not feeling up for the trip, so we had to decline. Today, with Becky feeling much better, we took Fadi up on his offer. The…

We awoke bright and early (OK, Scott woke Becky up at 9 am), to sun shine – although the sky was threatening rain. Since this was the first sign of decent weather in a few days, we headed up to the citadel to see what all the fuss was about. The Aleppo Citadel is one…

We awoke to a rainy morning. For the first time in days, I finally had energy and wanted to see a little bit of Aleppo. With the rain, the best thing to see was the old Souk (bazaar) since it is covered in many places. We spent a few hours wandering around the various aisles.…

On Sunday we were invited over to the home of Fadi and Ghina for lunch. We had a great meal and a good visit. Ghina speaks French and Arabic, and the kids (Fawad and Hayim) spoke a little bit of English and French as well as Arabic. So, the conversations were an interesting combination of…

After a fitful night, Becky’s cough was not getting any better. We decided to ask for Fadi’s [1] assistance with visiting a doctor. He had mentioned last night that his cousin Bassam was a Pharmacist at a hospital, and spoke excellent English. Ten minutes after our request, Fadi was at our doorstep to whisk us…

25 km, 1.5 hours Last night was cold! We were able to get warm enough wearing our wool tights and shirts and bundling into our sleeping bags – but at various times in the night we each awoke to cold feet and other body parts. We definitely need to get a warmer liner or outer…