The road to Bab Al-Hawa

The Turkish boarder was about a 45 minute drive from Aleppo. The boarder is setup so that it goes through a mountain pass. Once you leave Bab Al-Hawa (where the Syrian customs and boarder control is) you have to drive for another 5km or so before you reach the actual Turkish boarder (at Cilvegözü) where they inspect your vehicle and stamp your passport. Even though Aleppo is only 105km (65 miles) from Antakya, the trip takes about 2.5 hours (coming back, about 3.5 hours going in):







Lots of abandoned cars between Syria and Turkey. Most were sitting in a ditch on the side of the road.




There is the boarder, lots of trucks waiting:




Welcome to Turkey:




The second of three checkpoints that lead into Turkey. Here, the guards inspect luggage and automobiles. The first checkpoint stamps passports and the third checkpoint inspects the paperwork from the first two checkpoints:




The post office between the second and third checkpoints:




Just past into Turkey on the road to Antakya: