The Baron Hotel - Aleppo Syria

There was another news report on Syria today. Makes me so sad.
I remember a beautiful country. Some of my happiest memories are of a trip I made there in 1998/99.

When in Aleppo the place to stay was the Baron Hotel.

Only $20 a night.

The rooms are Spartan. Definitely not the Hilton but dripping with history. The furniture is probably from the 1920-1930s.

Built around 1909 by the Mazloumian Brothers, this used to be the centre of luxury.
If you were royality or someone famous, there was only one place to stay when visiting Aleppo ....
.... The Baron.

 

This is the public waiting room.

The guest list reads like a who's who of the mid 20th century.
In 1934, Agatha Christie wrote the first part of "Murder on the Orient Express" in room 203.

Lawrence of Arabia slept in room 202 and he didn't pay the bar bill :-).

The Presidential Suite occupants list include Charles de Gaulle of France, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (the founder of
the United Arab Emirates) & Syria's former President Hafez Al Assad.

David Rockefeller the American Billionaire also stayed there along with Dame Freya Stark, Julie
Christie, Mr and Mrs Theodore Roosevelt, Kemal Ataturk, Lady Louise Mountbatten, Charles
Lindbergh and Yuri Gagarin

King Faisal declared Syria's independence from the balcony in room 215.

...

 

..

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more travel postcards click here