Leaving Syria

I left Syria on 19 June 2009 to catch my train in Istanbul. I bought the ticket through a 'travel agent' type guy in the hostel in Damascus. It cost 2,500 Syrian pounds, nearly €40. Not bad considering the length of the journey, about 1,000km according to a website I found on Google. Some photos of the journey attached.

On the first leg of the journey to Istanbul, the bus journey from Damascus to Antakya was a little surreal. It was at least 30 mins late setting off and I think I was the only 'real' passenger on board. The other 'passengers' were there for other reasons. Let's just say that there were lots of strange things happening at the border with the duty free and they seemed to have an unusually big supply of nappies, tea and bread. A few extra passengers got on just before the Turkish border and then vanished into thin air as soon as we crossed into Turkey.
At the border the guy in the office was looking for 550 Syrian pounds, and not 500 as I had been told. He had put an official stamp on the exit card and that's why it was 50 pounds extra. The bus driver gave him $1 and he seemed happy with that. To top it all off, I had to wait 6 hours in Antakya bus station for the bus to Istanbul and not 2 hours as had been told.
After travelling from 22.00 on Friday 19 June 2009, I finally arrived in Istanbul at about 5am on Sunday morning 21 June 2009. I was pretty knackered as you can imagine and I took the tram to the hostel I had stayed in before. The city looks amazing at that time of morning, with the sun just making an appearance and the crowds yet to arrive.