Syria - Friendly and Fascinating

Syria is a welcoming, comfortable, exciting and rewarding destination – offering a very different experience to the anti-western picture often portrayed in the popular press. The Christian communities enjoy great freedom and tolerance, and Sunday morning is a remarkable sight as devotees flock to attend services in the many Catholic, protestant, orthodox Armenian and Greek churches. Shia and Sunni mosques flourish side by side, attracting the faithful and pilgrims from Moslem lands.

The attractions of Syria are many and varied. The cities of Damascus and Aleppo conjure images of Biblical stories, or alluring oriental bazaars filled with silks or spices: we will spend four days in Damascus at the start of our tour and three in Aleppo at the end. In both cities we plan to stay in charming small hotels in the old quarters. The history of this fascinating country goes back much earlier than Biblical times - to the earliest periods of recorded history: ancient cuneiform tablets found at Ugarit, in the 3rd millennium BC the most important city of the Mediterranean coast, contain evidence of the world’s first alphabet. The Eastern desert is crossed by the Euphrates river, and Syria shares, with its neighbour Iraq, some of the sites of ancient Mesopotamian and Babylonian civilization. Mari, close to the Iraq border, has the remains of palaces, temples and a ziggurat dating from 5000 BC, while the fortified city of Dura Europus nearby was the Roman Empire’s major Eastern defence against the Persians. Syria is full of wonderful Roman and pre-Roman cities, which are remarkably well preserved: Bosra, with its dark volcanic stone colonnades and wonderful theatre, Apamia in a magical setting with its beautiful spiral stone columns, and perhaps best of all, Palmyra, where we spend two nights of the tour.

After the fall of Rome much of the land was ruled by the Byzantine Empire from Constantinople. The Byzantines adapted some of the Roman and earlier buildings for their churches and fortresses. We will explore some of these, and especially the beautiful and enormous Church of St Simeon, north of Aleppo. The ascetic monk preached from the top of a pillar, attracting hordes of pilgrims long after his death. They all wanted bits of the stone pillar as a relic, so now it is a mere stump surrounded by the magnificent basilica! The Arab Muslims, in turn ruled the region, building mosques, forts and palaces and frequently adapting former buildings. Their presence in the Holy Land prompted Pope Urban II in 1095 to declare the first Crusade to recapture Jerusalem, which resulted in the building of the enormous chain of Crusader and Arab castles from Cyprus and Turkey to the Arabian Gulf, and culminated in the famous struggles of Richard of England and Saladin. Krak des Chevaliers, held by the Knights Hospitallers for the Crusaders, and the Arab fortress of Aleppo are two of the best examples of castle building. The Ottomans held the region until their defeat in the 1st World War, adding luxurious town houses and places, and the French colonial influence can be found in many parts of the country including the tree lined boulevards of Latakia and other towns.

Our tour starts in Damascus, which can trace its history back over 8,000 years. The old city is as lively as ever and contains the famous Omayyad mosque, the Azem Palace, Hamidieh Bazaar, the ‘Street called Straight’, St Anania church, and St Paul’s window. Sightseeing will also include a visit to the National Museum, containing many of the finest pieces of Syria's past. There will be ample time to explore the fascinating souks of the city, and a mosque and caravanserai built by the Ottoman architect Sinan now contains a lovely artisan quarter.

A short excursion from Damascus takes us to the unusual Roman city of Bosra, built from black volcanic rock. The impressive theatre is the main focus, but there are many other interesting buildings.

In the highlands just north of Damascus are the important Christian enclaves of Sednaya and Maalula, where some people still converse in Aramaic, the language of Christ. We will visit the churches here before driving on for lunch and an afternoon visit to the castle of Krak des Chevaliers. This is one of the most formidable structures anywhere in the Middle East and is the most famous of the crusader castles. Situated high up in the coastal mountains, it was of great strategic value to the Hospitallers who occupied it during the 12th and 13th centuries.

From Krak des Chevaliers we drive on to the two ancient Bronze Age sites of coastal Ugarit and inland Ebla - vital components in understanding Syria's early complex history. The world's first alphabet dating from the 14th century BC was discovered at Ugarit, which we will have seen on a small clay tablet at the National Museum in Damascus. From here we can visit the astonishing citadel of Saladin [also known as Saone]. Its name derives from Saladin’s capture of the castle in 1188, but it was originally built by Byzantines and extended by the Crusaders, who cut a vast artificial gorge (leaving a pillar to support a drawbridge) as part of the defences. A short journey of 24 kms takes us to the port of Latakia for an overnight stay.

Next day we drive first to the very beautiful and remote site of the ruined Roman city of Apamea, where the colonnaded road stretches for almost 2kms into the rolling fields of wheat around the site. The alternate spiral flutings of the columns, make this an unforgettable, yet little-known site.
The town of Hama is famous for the very large & extraordinary waterwheels in the town centre and stretching along the Orontes river, still used for irrigating the surrounding countryside.

Palmyra is a real desert oasis, situated in the middle of the Syrian Desert. This unlikely location is due to its position between the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean, at the end of the Silk Road from China. The formidable Queen Zenobia built an empire here that rivalled Rome and acted as the buffer state between the Romans and Parthians. The Romans extended the city which contains colonnaded streets, temples, baths, & a lovely theatre. Adjoining the site is the impressive Temple of Bel, and mysterious Valley of tombs.

From Palmyra we travel east across the desert first to Mari, near the Iraq border. Here the ruins of an ancient mud-brick Mesopotamian city contain an enormous Royal Palace, seat of a city state of the 18th century BC. The city was destroyed by the Babylonians, but excavations have revealed two palaces, temples and the ziggurat or pyramid tower. Further north along the Euphrates River is the enormous Greek and Roman fortress city of Dura Europos, defended by a wall of cliffs above the river. There are ruined gateways, temples, barracks, baths and an amphitheatre. We travel a little further north along the Euphrates to spend
1 night at the Der Al-Zour Badia Cham Palace for our overnight halt, perhaps strolling along the riverbank.

En route to Aleppo we first visit the small museum of Der Al-Zour, then drive on to see the fortress town of Halabiyyeh, founded by Queen Zenobia and refortified by the Emperor Justinian. It fell to the Persians in 610AD. Across the river is the fort of Zalabiyyeh. Further north is the Arab castle of Qala’at Najm, dating from 12th century and reconstructed by Saladin, it commands what was once a crossing point on the Euphrates.

We then reach Aleppo, still the vibrant heart of northern Syria, building upon thousands of years of trade across the region. Aleppo is a very large city, but the old quarters (where we stay) contain the bazaar with many lively khans or caravanserais, selling every item imaginable. Important sites to be visited include the impressive citadel, museum and Grand mosque.

An excursion from Aleppo takes us to the very beautiful ruined church of St Simeon, located at a tranquil site where Simeon Stylites is said to have lived atop a 20m high column for over 40 years. On the way there and on our return we plan to visit several of the ‘lost cities’ – stone-built Byzantine settlements that were deserted when the area was occupied by the Arabs.