Dana is a wee tiny village that takes you back 100's of years.. and the Dana Village Hotel was just perfect.  Suleyman was so very hospitable and always made sure we were warm with a cup of tea.  In the evenings he and the local villagers came together in his roof top majilis and everyone sat around and passed time in the Arabic way - smoked shisha / waterpipe, chatted.. then played music with the oud, drums and of course.. loved singing and dancing!  Great to see all the local villagers (and guests) get up dance around in circle.  The smiles, enjoyment and atmosphere were infectious.

After 2 days of getting away from it all and being taken back in time.. we then went on to the lowest point on Earth - the Dead Sea.  After a refreshing dip in this salt salt salt salt salty swamp of thick salt, everyone felt very .. well, ah.. salty!  Dad dove in and the density of the water forced his eyelids open - salt salt salty stingy eyes must be a nasty feeling.  Walle tried to swim breaststroke and couldn't since his legs were popping up out of the water and Liza (having experienced all this last year) lay back and laughed.  Brilliant day - topped off by a glimpse out over Jerusalem and Moses' 'promised land' from Mount Nebo. 

After another day in Amman we continued our travels north..

THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

An hour later we hit the Syrian border.  Again the border crossing took over an hour with Liza being chatted up by the 'friendly' passport and customs staff.  Thus the establishment of Tip No 1. 

- Although Liza speaks a wee bit of Arabic and can help things along - always have her Dad accompany her to ensure excessive time is not wasted with flirtations and proposals!

After a brief stop in Bosra for the 1000+ year old fort and Roman ampitheter  - plus time to have our fika (Swedish coffee break) - we then spent the next hour driving to Damascus and 4 hours driving around in Damascus in the world's craziest traffic!  Yes - it's worse than Cairo!  Walle, sitting in the front passangers seat, was a nervous wreck. Dad was perched on the edge of the back seat leaning forward, eyes darting about watching the traffic whizz by from all angles, missing us by millimetres, and I continued to drive in and out of traffic, speeding along cool as a cumcumber (on the outside) whilst underneath - my adrenaline and blood pumped to the max!

AND THEN THERE WERE 4.. Fred arrived in the middle of the night and then the travelling foursome spent the next 2 days in Damascus - the oldest continually inhabited city in the world (so the claim is made - along with Alleppo and Balbec).  The old city, souqs, sounds and people have been amazing.  Fred was stoked being here- impressed already by his first day on the Bergstrom Safari.. understandably :)