Day 151 Syria 16/2/2011, Aleppo. A trip to the visa office, a brief walk and a nice dinner.

Since arriving in Syria we have been told by a variety of people that our 15 day visa is actually valid for 30 days (some people have even told us that it is 45 days). Obviously we wanted to check this as turning up at the border late with an expired visa is not a great idea!

Joining Peter, who also wanted to check his multiple entry visa, we set off on foot to the visa office. Having read the 'Lonely Planet' guide we were reasonably confident we knew where it was, or at least where it used to be! Once again the information in the guide book was hopelessly out of date, according to a shop keeper the office had moved at least six years ago. He did however write down the new address in Arabic for us, so we could show it to a taxi/bus driver.

The shop keeper's directions proved to be correct and after a taxi trip we were outside the visa office. Inside there were people everywhere; we were looking obviously lost as we were soon approached by a very helpful official. The guy explained that we definitely did have 30 days in Syria and also told Peter what he had to do to get his visa extended. Finding out that we have 30 days is great news, as we now won't have to extend our visas in Damascus.

Back at the hotel, we helped Peter load his bike and waved him off into the Aleppan traffic. There is every chance that we will meet him again on the road somewhere, as he is heading to Egypt and then coming back up to Turkey. If you read this Peter, ride safe mate and we will keep an eye out for you on the road.

Due to the rain yesterday we had rather sped through the Al-Jdeida district, so we decided to head back and have another look today. The district was originally the Christian part of the city and is home to several Greek and Armenian churches. We had a brief look at one of the churches and then spent the rest of the time just wandering through the beautiful old alleyways.

The area in places has been extensively renovated, with some of Aleppo's best restaurants and some interesting boutique type shops. If it had been warmer and I had been less tired, we could have wandered round happily for ages. The late nights and busy days had caught up with me though, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest.

Needing to get some supplies for tomorrow, we headed to the nearby fruit and veg market. Having stocked up, we bought some eggs and some more honey (we are eating quite a lot at the moment).

Back at the hotel we did a bit of packing and then went downstairs to use the kitchen. Debs has learnt her lesson about carrying eggs in her panniers so as soon as we can we hard boil all of them. Cleaning egg out of a pannier is not the most pleasant of tasks!

While we sat in the lounge deciding what to do about dinner, we were invited by the hotel staff to join them for some food. Roast chicken, flat bread and dips went down a treat, We cannot say enough about just how welcoming everyone has been at the Kasr Alandaloss Hotel. Later that evening I sat and watched some of the football with Mathias and joined him in a drink made from some questionable ingredients. According to him it comes from Argentina and consists of a glass full of herbs?! that you add water to and then drink through a strainer equipped straw. It had an interesting flavour and there was lots of mention about it being quite mild; perhaps it's best to say that I survived the experience and then move on!

It will be quite sad to leave Aleppo, but we are eager to see what the roads in Syria have to offer.