Tartous

It's hot and suddenly the work in the house is going very slow. We are waiting for the electricity and water to be finished. That takes a long time. Too much time...

To keep calm, I traveled a few days with Mohamed and some Italian customers of his. They had chosen a wonderful 2-days trip along the main castles. There was just 1 minor point in their program : they absolutely wanted to visit Tartous, stay the night there and have a swim in the sea.

Tartous is a small town at the Mediterranean coast, but it has nothing else to offer than a museum - which is worth visiting, if you are passing by - and the Medina (Old City) which is almost completely destroyed, as the people living in it are replacing the original features by modern ones. The border at the sea which should be the beach is one big workplace full of machines to dig holes and to heap up sand, so no place to swim.

After the customers had finished the visit of the Merkab Castle, we told them that we would be spending the night in a hotel with a view on Krak de Chevaliers and that they had the choice : either staying in Tartous, where there are no good middle class hotels, or coming with us.

Big discussion, because they wanted a swim after a long hot day. And, as the Syrians are always telling everybody who wants to hear that Tartous is a paradise, we asked them to wait for a decision until after the visit of Tartous. They just had to tell us. If they really wanted to stay, we would go back to Tartous the next morning to pick them up and to bring them to the Krak.
So, on we went. After 40 km, we arrived in Tartous. It took them 5 minutes to decide to come with us. Unanimously....

Really, there are many treasures to see in Syria, but Tartous is definitely not 1 of them. Never forget this, if ever you come to Syria. It's a waste of time and money.