Palmyra is the top tourist destination in Syria, out in the middle of the desert. It started out as an independent city between Persia and Rome from about the 13th century BC until the third century AD. It fell to Rome in 267 AD, to the Muslims in 634, and to an earthquake in 1089. It was rediscovered in 1678, and excavations began in 1924. There's a main colonnade with enough columns reconstructed that you can get an idea of the extent of it; lots of temples large and small, and some pretty interesting sarcophagi.

The main area of Palmyra at sunset viewed from the nearby citadel.

The road to Palmyra offered options to more dangerous destinations.

Postcard seller in Palmyra. The Dickensian phrase "Street Arab" comes to mind.

Ray at sunset.

The back side of the Temple of Bel, the largest structure in Palmyra, with restored columns giving a hint of how it must have looked originally.

The entrance to the temple, inside a large courtyard.

Some of the best preserved carving is on the underside of these stones.

Part of the carving under the stone.

A theater located along the colonnade.

The "tetrapylon" located in the middle of the colonnade.

A small temple.

Roof supports on the columns, with the citadel in the background.

There only seemed to be one T-shirt design in Syria, showing the ancient Ugarit alphabet and many others. The shirt-seller on this bike tried selling Ray more shirts even when he was already wearing one.

The entrance to a tomb in the Valley of the Tombs.

Many of the burial spaces in the underground tombs had a bust of the person who was buried in it at the end.

A family tomb.

Palmyra has a large oasis.

These kids ran out rom the date orchards to greet us, so we asked the taxi to stop, and took their picture. Maybe somebody in one of the Internet cafes in Palmyra will tell them they are on the World Wide Web.

Kids playing in the ruins on Sunday. There were a couple of dozen of them who shouted syllables at us that we later imagined were "Papa Noel!" It seemed an odd point of reference for them to be using. There are other bearded men in the news.

A very Islamic conjunction of the moon and Venus. If you look carefully you can see that the blob of light representing Venus has the blurred out hint of a crescent in it as well.

A big Bedouin tent featured a great live band and a belly dancer, and was full of tourists.

On to Bosra