Syria through the Ages

We begin in Bosra with a fine Roman theatre, before continuing to Palmyra, where the awe-inspiring remains of the great caravan city of Queen Zenobia sit majestically in the heart of the desert.  We follow the River Euphrates to Justinian's great river fortress at Zenobia and visit the remains of the pilgrimage city of Rasafe before reaching Aleppo.  Here we explore the city including the Great Mosque, the Archaeological Museum with its Hittite antiquities, the Citadel, and the vast medieval souk, and visit the church of St. Simeon Stylites.  After Serjilla, a Roman 'Dead City', and Apamea with its caravanserai and museum, we reach Hama with its ancient water wheels and the Azem Palace Museum.  From here we visit the great Crusader castles of Krak des Chevaliers and Qala'at Marqab, the 'Valley of the Assasins', and the 12th century cathedral at Tartus.  Our journey, via the early Christian church in Maaloula, ends in Damascus where we explore the city's Islamic and Christian sights such as the Great Mosque, the Tomb of Saladin, the 18th century Azem Palace and the Archaeological Museum.  We also cross in to Lebanon to visit the Ummayad site of Anjar and the great Roman temple of Baalbek.

Day 1: Sunday, 31st October

London / Damascus / Bosra
Depart London Heathrow on a British Midland early afternoon flight to Damascus.  Drive to Bosra, ancient capital of the Hauran region, and check into the Cham Palace Hotel, located in the heart of the city, where two nights are spent. 

Day 2: Monday, 1st November

Bosra
Morning walking tour of Bosra, which was one of the leading Nabatean cities before becoming capital of the Roman province of Arabia in 106 AD.  It was the first city to become Moslem in Syria and was for many centuries a halting place for pilgrims on their way to Mecca.  See the city's Roman ruins which rise among the houses of the present town, including its beautifully-preserved Roman theatre (2nd century AD) constructed in black basalt.  It is surrounded by a 13th century wall and, from the outside, looks like an Arab fortress.

Lunch at the hotel.  Drive to Shahba, site of ancient Philippopolis, a city founded by Philip the Arabian (Roman Emperor 232-237 AD).  Its Roman ruins are still lived in today and a fine collection of monuments from the 3rd century AD as well as six large mosaics are to be seen here.  Continue to the village of Qanawat, site of Roman ruins including a theatre, a nymphaeum and the Saray complex of temples, the most intact of which dates from the 2nd century AD.  Continue to Suweida to visit its museum which contains an impressive collection of very large 4th century mosaics from Shahba.  Return to Bosra.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 3: Tuesday, 2nd November

Bosra / Palmyra
Drive to Ezra'a to visit the Basilica of St. George, a Greek Orthodox church which dates from the 6th century.  Continue to Dumayr and visit its Temple.

Lunch at a local restaurant.  Continue to the fabled city of Palmyra, site of the awe-inspiring remains of Queen Zenobia's oasis city, with its temples, palaces and colonnaded streets, majestically isolated in the heart of the desert.  Check in to the Zenobia Cham Hotel, located next to the ruins, where two nights are spent.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 4: Wednesday, 3rd November

Palmyra
Visit the sit of Palmyra, originally an essential stopping place for caravans named Tadmor, renamed Palmyra (place of palms) after it was incorporated into the Roman Empire circa 17 AD.  See the earliest surviving building, the Temple of Bel, which stands on a large raised esplanade and is interesting for its ornamental sculpture on the ceilings and bas-reliefs on the architrave.  Also see the Great Colonnade of honey-coloured limestone, which is one of the most striking features of the city.  In addition, view the Theatre, the Agora, the beautifully-ornamented Triumphal Arch and visit the interesting local museum.

Lunch at the hotel.  Visit the Valley of the Tombs containing funerary towers, ancient free-standing, square based towers that were constructed as multi-storey burial chambers for the wealthy families of Palmyra, and also underground tombs (or Hypogeums) including the Hypogeum of the Three Brothers, a tomb dating from 160-91 AD containing some beautiful frescoes, including portraits of the three brothers in oval frames.  Evening camel ride to visit Diocletian's Camp, which comprises the remains of a monumental gateway, a tetrapylon and two temples.  Dinner in a Bedouin tent.

Day 5: Thursday, 4th November

Palmyra / Aleppo
Drive north into the desert to Resafe, known in Roman times as Sergiopolis, one of the most spectacular sites in the Euphrates Valley.  Founded by the Assyrians in the 9th century BC, it owed its later fame to a shrine built by the Emperor Justinian for the Christian martyr St. Sergius.  Here see the walled city, the remains of Byzantine churches and remarkable underground cisterns built by Justinian.

Picnic lunch on the site.  Continue to Aleppo, a key town on the trade routes for thousands of years and still a busy merchant city of exceptional interest.  Check in at the Dar Zamaria Hotel, housed within three converted Ottoman-style courtyard houses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, where three nights are spent.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 6: Friday, 5th November

Aleppo
Leave to visit Qalb Lozeh.  Drive to the ruins of the church of St. Simeon Stylites (Qal'aat Sam'aan) where the hermit St. Simeon settled in 412 and lived on top of a pillar for nearly 30 years, surrounded by pilgrims.  The basilica was built in the second half of the 5th century, shortly after his death.  The design of the church is unique with four basilicas arranged in the shape of a cross with an octagon at the centre where the base of his pillar is still to be seen.  The architecture and sculptural details are magnificent. 

Picnic lunch.  Return to Aleppo and visit the Great Mosque.  Dinner at the Beroia restaurant, a former Ottoman bank with views of the Citadel.

Day 7: Saturday, 6th November

Aleppo
Morning tour of Aleppo starting at the Citadel, which is probably the finest example of Arab military architecture anywhere and stands impressively on a mound above the city.  The hill has been occupied since the 1st millenium BC and was the Syro-Hittite acropolis.  Begun in 1292, it served as a fortress and royal residence.  A steeply rising bridge leads across the moat to the forbidding entrance gate.  Also visit some of the city's mosques including the Great Mosque, founded in 715 by the Ummayad caliph.  Nothing now remains of the original building, the present structure dating from the 12th century and later, apart from the minaret which was built in 1090.  Continue to the Archaeological Museum.

Lunch at a local restaurant.  Afterwards, visit the souks, among the most authentic and fascinating markets of the East.  The fine vaulted roofs date mainly from the 13th century and each craft is established in its own street in the traditional way.  Dinner at Sissi Restaurant.

Day 8: Sunday, 7th November

Aleppo / Hama
Depart Aleppo to visit some of the Dead Cities, on a hilly massif called the Jebel Zawiyeh or Jebel Riha, south west of Aleppo.  They were agriculture-based settlements and, at Serjilla, the whole layout of a modest but prosperous late Roman and early Byzantine country town can be seen: the parish church, the village shops, the public baths and houses.  At nearby al-Bara, the most interesting ruins are a series of monumental tombs with pyramid roofs, dating from between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. 

Picnic lunch.  Continue to Apamea, a fine Hellenistic and Roman city, one of the main centres of the Seleucid Kingdom and an important military base before being taken by the Romans.  Visit the site which includes what was one of the largest theatres in antiquity, palaces, temples, the Agora and a 2nd century AD Corinthian colonnade with a twisted fluting.  Also visit its archeological museum.  Continue to Hama and check in at the Apamée Cham Palace Hotel where two nights are spent.  The hotel overlooks the Orontes river with its famous giant 14th century norias, originally ingenious Byzantine waterwheels.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 9: Monday, 8th November

Hama & Krak des Chevaliers
Visit the Azem Palace Museum, former residence of the governor Pasha al-Azem, who ruled the town from 1742, and one of the loveliest residential buildings in Syria.  Drive to Krak des Cheveliers, for a visit to the great Crusader castle, headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller.  Standing on a hilltop at 2,460 feet, its strategic position was immense as it controlled the Homs Gap through which the Syrian hinterland could communicate with the Mediterranean world.  It resisted Saladin's attempt to capture it but finally was forced to capitulate in 1271.  The fortress is composed of two thick concentric enclosure walls separated by a ditch.  In the inner ward stands the Great Hall, a vast vaulted storehouse, the lodgings of the Grand Master of the Order and a chapel.  Also visit the impressive Crusader castle of Qala'at Marqab built from black basalt rock, not as complete as Krak but commanding limitless views across the Mediterranean to the west and the valleys to the southeast.  Originally a Muslim stronghold it passed the Knights Hospitaller in 1168 and fell in 1285.  Continue to Tortosa, an important military base for the Crusaders.

Lunch at a local restaurant.  Visit the Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa, a 12th and 13th century Crusader building on the site of a very early church, said to have been dedicated to the Virgin by St. Peter.  The interior is splendid with fine proportions and some good stonework and contains an interesting museum with objects from antiquity and from the Islamic world from various sites along the Syrian coast.  Return to Hama via the Valley of the Assassins and visit its castle.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 10: Tuesday, 9th November

Hama / Damascus
Drive to Maaloula, a picturesque village clinging to the cliff face and the only place left where the inhabitants speak Aramaic.  Here visit the shrine and church of St. Tekla, said to have been a pupil of St. Paul, and the nearby gorge through which, legend has it, she escaped the soldiers sent to execute her.  Continue to Damascus, one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities, and check in to the Talisman Hotel, Damascus's best boutique hotel located in the old town, where three nights are spent. 

Lunch at a local restaurant.  Walk through the old quarter of Damascus, virtually a city within a city, with ramparts, rebuilt in their present form in the 13th century, and its long streets intersecting at right angles, following the ancient plan.  Walk along the famous Street Called Straight, mentioned in The Acts (XI, II), and visit the bustling souks where merchandise of all kinds is on sale.  Visit some of the Christian churches of the city including the Chapel of Ananais.  Dinner at the Dervish Tekke.

Day 11: Wednesday, 10th November

Damascus
Visit the Great Ummayad Mosque, which stands in the centre of the old city and is the earliest surviving monumental mosque and one of the great monuments of the Islamic world.  The mosque enclosure contains six huge Corinthian columns from a previous 1st century Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter and a basilica dedicated to St. John the Baptist.  Four Roman towers became the first minarets in Islam but only the southwest tower is original today and is topped by a minaret of 1488.  The mosaics are the wonder of the mosque and the main motifs are landscapes with trees, bridges and towered palaces, all on a gold ground.  Also visit the Tomb of Saladin (died 1193) which had become neglected by the 19th century and was restored in 1898 by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who also presented the silver lamp.  Continue to the Azem Palace, a good example of Arab secular architecture, built in 1749 for a Turkish governor which houses a museum of folklore and costumes.

Lunch at a local restaurant.  Visit the National Archaeological Museum, which is of great interest and the objects are well displayed.  The Ras Shamra room is where the principal finds from Ugarit are to be seen including the tablet inscribed with the alphabet of 30 cuneiform characters dating from the 14th century BC, the oldest known document of its kind.  Another remarkable exhibit is the 3rd century AD synagogue from Dura Europos which has figurative frescoes, contrary to Hebraic tradition.  There is also some fine funerary sculpture from Palmyra.  Dinner at the rooftop restaurant of Narang.

Day 12: Thursday, 11th November

Damascus & Baalbeck
Drive across the border into Lebanon to visit the Ummayad site of Anjar, a well-preserved walled and fortified city thought to have been built by the sixth Ummayad caliph, Walid I (705-15 AD) and only discovered in the late 1940s.  Continue to the great Roman temple of Baalbek, the 'Sun City', arguably the most important Roman site in the Middle East.  Its temples were built on an extravagant scale that outshone anything in Rome.

Lunch at a local restaurant.  Return to Damascus and dinner at the hotel.

Day 13: Friday, 12th November

Damascus / London
Transfer to the airport for a British Midland morning flight to London, arriving Heathrow Airport in the early afternoon.