Content tagged as syria.
A Road to Damascus Experience
The road north from Damascus runs parallel to a long line of dry cliffs where the Antilebanon drops down from the Lebanese plateau to the Syrian plain, which must once have been the bed of an inland sea. Nowadays it is mostly desert except where spring water seeps down from Lebanon and feeds an occasional oasis. In such places there are villages...
Abel's Tomb
On another occasion we had been inspecting an orchard in the general vicinity of the Lebanese border in connection with some scale insect problem on apples. The visit started in style with a magnificent breakfast laid out in a packing shed, with a giant platter of humus with sheets of pita bread and nice coffee. They sure know how to turn it on...
Syria
I never found out why they sent me to Syria. Perhaps something in my first report on Korea, from which the Korean authorities seem to have gleaned with joy the impression that I was recommending an extra 90 staff for their quarantine unit, had led them to report to FAO headquarters in Rome that I was an exceptional person. More likely, since...
Damascus
In Damascus of course we visited the great Mosque, and saw the ornately grilled structure within it that is supposed to contain the remains of John the Baptist. Since he was said to have been beheaded at the whim of Salome I’m not sure whether the corpse is complete, and I couldn’t make out anything recognisable when I looked through...