Sunny weather, high of eighteen and the neighbour out again by the wall he uses as a drying rack warming his sock feet in the sun.
Suggestions at government level that both the North and Türkiye will attempt to establish transportation links with Syria under the new government. In the case of Türkiye that would mean an air connection between Damascus and Istanbul, whereas the suggestion re TRNC was a ferry link between Gazimağusa (Famagusta) and Latakia, Syria. Seems highly speculative and somewhat premature. Obviously the hope is that Syrians will establish a stable government but these are very early days and there is a lot of manoeuvring yet to come. As well as massive financial problems. Ferries to Syria may not be high on the list for either country.
There was a ferry service between the two countries in the past, before the partition of Cyprus, and the position of the European Commission is that there is no reason under international law that the ports in the North cannot be used for international vessels, the preferences of the Republic (South) notwithstanding.
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| Photographer Unknown - Public Domain |
Of more cultural and historical interest, the Turkish transport minister has spoken of reviving the Hejaz Railway linking Istanbul and Damascus and running south through Amman, Jordan en route to Medina, Saudi Arabia.The narrow gauge railway was begun in 1900, financed almost entirely by Muslim donations, and never actually completed as a result of various wars.
Not the luxury of the Orient Express, but for us there is a link of sorts. In 2006 we took an overnight train from Damascus to Aleppo and stayed at the Baron Hotel. It was a little down on its luck by then, and war has since made things much worse, but it had history. Lawrence of Arabia stayed there as did Kemal Ataturk. And we stayed in the room that Agatha Christie occupied while writing Murder on the Orientation Express.