I crossed the Euphrates! leaving Turkey behind me and heading into Syria. Writing this post in Damascus and looking back, I am really amazed at what a difference a few kms and fictive line in the sand can make. I remember wondering whether I would really notice the difference between the south of Turkey and the north of Syria... yes, I did. Partly also as result of choosing Aleppo as the city to spend my first night in Syria in... Aleppo also happening to be in center of one of the most conservative areas in Syria. 
I've decided to wait and give any opinions and interpretations of my own that I my have about this region only the end of this part of my journey, try to get a bit of balanced view first. One thing I have to say though, seeing women completely in black, wearing gloves, not even space uncovered around their eyes, in the warmest part of the day, continues to freak me out. My journey itself was rather nice, interesting too, climbing one of Turkey's most famous landmarks, mt Nemrut... a burial for an obscure king in the shape of a mountain, walking through Mesopotamia, and... hearing aramaic for the first time.
