Besides the wedding, other notable points from my trip to Syria were:

– Celine and Bangali’s wonderful cooking. The tomato soup and African peanut chicken dish were exquisite!

– On Saturday we visited the sight of Saint Simeon just out of Aleppo where the ruined cathedral, including St. Simeon’s pillar are located.

– Shopping! After visiting Saint Simeon, we went shopping in the centre of Aleppo for goodies to bring back to Turkey. I bought Cashew nuts (not found in Mersin), Arabic coffee, Syrian flat bread, Saudi dates and 6 kilos of gourmet Aleppian sweets.

– Rain poured all day Sunday. The taxi back to Antakya attempted to surf the puddles on the road several times.

– At the border I purchased 1-litre bottles of Kahlua and Tia Maria for the bargain price of 13 Euros each. I don’t know why I chose 2 coffee liqueurs when I already have homemade Kahlua maturing at home. I guess I had coffee on the brain. My receipt given to me by the very friendly shop worker not only included the 2 bottles but also 3 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes. Hmmm… I wonder if tax-free cigarettes are smuggled into Turkey. Of course not…