St Simeon- Cyrrus

Day trips outside Aleppo. We went first to the Monastery of St Simeon, one of the oldest and most important sites of Christian pilgrimage.

It was built around the site of the pillar of St Simeon, the stylite. Saint Simeon died in 459 after spending 38 years atop a pillar- spending most of his time standing and chanting hymns to god . He forbade the presence of women and even refused to see his mother. Rumor has it that he also spent a summer as a human turnip, buried up to his head in the monastery garden. People came from all over to ask for his blessings and help with their problems and ailments.

Now the site has the remnants of his pillar, a church, monastery and baptistery.

From there, we drove to Ain Dara, a 1st millenium Neo Hittite site. In blazing hot sun (like facing a blast furnace), we walked up the hill to the remains of the site. There’s not much left to see but a well-preserved basalt lion at the entrance.

More backroads (with signs in Arabic) on the way to Cyrrus. We had to do a slight backtrack when we hit the Syrian-Turkish border. To get to Cyrrus, we had to cross over two 2nd C Roman humpback bridges- still in use and with their original pavement.

Cyrrus was founded in 300 BC and remained a garrison town through both Roman and Byzantine times. The Roman tower tomb was the only thing still recognizable at the site.

Dinner- lasagna and Lebanese wine…again.