Our guidebook said that the castle Le Krak de Chavaliers was one of 2 must see sights in Syria so we loaded up the bus and headed to the central plains our first morning. The first picture is a gas station/rest area - you can see snow on the hills in the background. Once we got around the rain shadow of the Lebanese mountains the countryside became very lush. There is a snowy peak in the second picture too, but it is hard to make out in the more humid air.