SYRIAN RUINS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20826, 3 July 1942, Page 6

SYRIAN RUINS

BEAUTY OF PAST AGES GISBORNE MAN’S TOUR A detailed account of the impressive beauty which he saw on a sightseeing tour of Syria, is given in a letter by Lieutenant Hugh Hamilton, Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Hamilton. 394 Palntefston road; “I have been to Beirut,” he writes. “It is a beautiful drive from the mountain top. and Beirut is seen resting between the foot of the mountain and the blue Mediterranean. It is a pretty town, with some fine modern buildings., The streets are narrow and windy, but the road round the sea-shore is wide, and provides a lovely drive. “Last week I went to Aleppo, 180 miles away. It is one of the nicest Eastern towns I have seen, being a mixture of the modern and the ancient. It was the centre of Eastern trade in centuries past, and has seen the Crusaders, too. Right in the middle of the town is a huge old ruined castle, built in 600 B.C. It was occupied in turn by the Byzantines, Arabs, Turks and Crusaders. I went over it with a guide and it still possesses the beauty and magnificence of past centuries. We went down 62 steps into a Byzantine temple built underground in solid rock. It was beautiful, with white walls and huge black and white pillars reaching up to a high domed roof. Temple Used as Storehouse “When the Arabs conquered the country they used this temple as a storehouse, and cut a huge jar-shaped well, 30ft. deep in the floor, and used it for storing grain, which was taken out when required by means of buckets. The marks of the ropes can be seen still round the mouth of the well.” Lieutenant Hamilton went on to say that on top were the remains of a Turkish palace, harem, and baths, beautifully tiled in geometric designs. Tlie huge throne room, except for the roof, was almost intact. It overlooked the causeway which led into the castle. The whole building was surrounded by a moat. That place, and the ruins of the temples of Jupiter, Bacchus, Venus and Baalbech, impressed him more than the pyramids, he said. “I also went through the bazaars, which are arched underground passages, thousands of years old. There are miles and miles of passages with square holes in the roof for air and light. I saw some beautiful heavy brocades, carpets and camel-hair material, but all very expensive. I bought a quaint pair of inlaid wood slippers. Both gold and silversmiths were busy and I saw them doing most exquisite and intricate work.”