M A I N A T T R A C T I O N S
Damascus |
Aleppo | Palmyra |
Crac des Chevaliers |
Bosra | Dura Europos |
St Simon's Castle | Hama
Damascus is Syria's largest city and capital. It grew up around the Barada River
and Ghouta Oasis, which make life possible in an otherwise uninhabitable
landscape. Damascus is possibly the world's oldest continuously inhabited city -
there was a settlement here as long ago as 5000 BC. Today, its fascination lies
in its mysterious oriental bazaars and the gracious, somewhat decayed, charm of
some of Islam's greatest monuments. The centre of the city is Martyrs' Square -
most of the restaurants and hotels are close by.
The epicentre of Damascus' charm is its Old City, surrounded by a
Roman wall. The city's main covered market is the Souq al-Hamadiyyeh, a
cobbled street of bustling crowds, hawkers and high-octane haggling. Opposite
the end of the market is the Omayyad Mosque. Built in 705 on the site of
ancient temples and a Christian cathedral, the mosque was designed to be the
greatest ever. Despite being gutted in a fire in the 19th century, it's still a
jewel of Muslim architecture, with several gorgeous mosaics and three original
minarets.
Saladin, one of the great heroes of Arab history and the man who showed the
Crusaders a thing or two, is buried in Damascus. Saladin's Mausoleum was
built in 1193 - it's covered with a red dome and set in a pleasant garden
outside the northern wall of the Ommayad Mosque. Azem Palace, south of
the mosque, was built in 1749 from alternating lines of black basalt and white
limestone - it's now home to the Museum of the Arts & Popular Traditions
of Syria. In the Christian Quarter, in the east of the Old City, you'll find
St Paul's Chapel, which marks the spot where the disciples lowered St
Paul out of a window one night so that he could flee the Jews.
One of Syria's most graceful mosques is Takiyyeh as-Sulaymaniyyeh,
just south of Barada River. Designed in Ottoman style in 1554, it features
alternating layers of black and white stone and two slender minarets. The National
Museum, also south of the river, is worth at least one visit. The museum's
facade was once the entrance to the Qasr al-Hayr al-Ghabi, an ancient military
camp. Inside is a fantastic array of exhibits, including written cylinders from
the 14th century BC that use the world's first known alphabet, statuary from
Mari that's over 4000 years old, two halls full of marble and terracotta statues
from Palmyra, Damascene weapons, old surgical instruments from surgeons' graves,
a collection of 13th century Qur'ans and a complete room decorated in the style
of the 18th century Azem Palace.
Known as Halab by the locals, Aleppo is Syria's second largest city, and has
been a trading centre since Roman times. With its fascinating covered souqs,
citadel, museum and caravanserais, it's a great place to spend a few days. The citadel
dominates the city at the eastern end of the souqs. Its moat is spanned by a
bridge on the southern side, leading to the 12th century fortified gate. Inside,
the fort is mostly ruins, but the throne room above the entrance has been
lavishly restored. The only surviving buildings from the original citadel are a
small 12th century mosque and the 13th century great mosque.
The fabulous covered souqs are the city's main attractions. This
labyrinth extends over several hectares, and once you're under the vaulted stone
ceiling you're whisked away to another world. Swoon to the sweet scents of
cardamom and cloves, gag at the hanging carcasses in the meat souq - it's all
here. Most of the markets were built in the Ottoman era, but some date back to
the 13th century.
On the northern end of the souqs is the Grand Mosque, with a
free-standing minaret built in 1090. The mosque has a lovely carved wooden
pulpit, and if you peer round to the left of it you may catch a glimpse of the
head of John the Baptist's father (decapitation obviously ran in the family).
The city's Archaeological Museum has a fine collection of artefacts from
Mari, Ebla and Ugarit. Most of Aleppo's places to stay and eat are slap-bang in
the centre of town.
This is the 'if you're only going to see one thing in Syria, see this' sight.
Unlike Petra, the Middle East's other great must-see, Palmyra is a relatively
quiet little spot where you won't be peering between zoomy package tourists to
view the ruins. Palmyra is in the middle of nowhere, 150km (93mi) from the
Orontes River to the west and 200km (124mi) from the Euphrates to the east.
Palmyra's ruins date from the 2nd century AD, although the city began its
rise to glory under the Assyrians. For a while it was an important Greek
outpost, and in 217 it was annexed by Rome and became a centre of unsurpassed
wealth. They city's most famous character was Zenobia, who ruled Palmyra from
267, when her husband died under suspicious circumstances. Zenobia took on the
Roman forces but was soundly beaten in 271, with Palmyra being burnt to the
ground two years later. An earthquake finished the job in 1089.
There are plenty of ruins to ferret around in at Palmyra. The Temple of
Bel is a massive square courtyard. Across the road is the Great Colonnade,
an impressive column-lined street that was once the main artery of the town. The
monumental arch that stands at one end of it has been restored. To the
south of the colonnade, the theatre incorporates a market place and a banqueting
hall. On the hill overlooking Palmyra is Qala'at ibn Maan, a 17th
century Arab castle. The museum has some excellent pieces from Palmyra
and the labelling is in English. There are a few places to stay and eat in the
new town surrounding the ruins. You can get to Palmyra from the transport
crossroad of Homs or from Damascus.
For once, a castle that's not just a pile of rubble on the ground. This fabulous
Crusader castle looks almost exactly as it would have 800 years ago. Crac des
Chevaliers, guarding the only major pass between Antakya in Turkey and Beirut in
Lebanon, was built and expanded between 1150 and 1250 and eventually housed a
garrison of 4000. The castle held out against several attacks, but was lost to
Sultan Baibars in 1271.
The castle has two parts: an outside wall with 13 towers and an inside wall
and keep. The two are separated by a moat, now full of stagnant water, which was
used to fill the baths and water the horses. Walk through the main entrance, an
imposing gate in the 5m (16ft) thick wall and past the towers which defended the
castle, and you enter a courtyard. A corridor covered in delicate carvings leads
to a large vaulted hall, where you can see an old oven, a well and some
latrines. The chapel in the courtyard was converted to a mosque after Sultan
Baibar took over, and you can still see its pulpit. The top floor of the Tower
of the Daughter of the King is now a cafe with great views. It's possible to
stay in the castle area, or you can make an easy day trip from Tartus or Hama.
Bosra sits on a fertile plain littered with black
basalt about 140km (87mi) south of Damascus. It once held pride of place on
local trade and pilgrimage routes, but it has now sunk into obscurity. Despite
this, it's a weird and wonderful place, built in, over and around old Roman
buildings, like some sort of architectural strangler vine. The city is made
almost entirely from black basalt, most of which has been filched from older
buildings. It is also has one of the best preserved Roman theatres in the
world.
The theatre is particularly unusual in that it
was fortified and turned into a citadel. Nine towers were raised around the
building and a deep moat dug to further protect it. Inside the citadel, you can
still see the magnificent 15,000-seat theatre. When it was in use, the theatre
was faced with marble and draped in silk, and during performances a fine mist of
perfumed water was sprayed over the patrons to keep them comfy.
In amongst Bosra's shops and houses, you can
also see the ruins of a nymphaeum, some baths, one of the world's
oldest mosques, a 4th century monastery and a Nabatean gate.
There's only one hotel in Bosra, and it's darn pricey, but you can get a direct
microbus from Damascus or Der'a.
This startling walled city lies in the middle of
nowhere, about 160km (99mi) north of Palmyra, and rises up out of the
featureless desert as you approach it. Possibly inhabited in Assyrian times,
Diocletian established a fort here as part of a defensive line against the
Sassanids late in the 3rd century. The fort was expanded in the 5th and 6th
centuries, but in the 7th century it was taken over by the confident Omayyads,
who refurbished it as a summer palace. The Omayyads realised the error of their
ways in 743 when the Abbasids strolled in and levelled the palace.
The city walls, enclosing a quadrangle 550m
(1804ft) by 400m (1312ft), are almost intact. As you enter, you're confronted by
an immense emptiness: there's been very little restoration or excavation here,
and the quadrangle is bare apart from three churches. The grandest of these is
the partially restored St Sergius basilica, with its two aisles and
sweeping arches. The basilica, and the two other churches, were built in the 6th
century. There's nothing to eat or drink here, and it's quite difficult to get
to - you can catch a microbus from Raqqa to Al-Mansura, and you'll then have to
wait for a pick-up to take you to your final destination.
The basilica of St Simeon is more interesting for
its history than anything you'll actually see here. St Simeon was a 5th century
shepherd who, after having a visionary dream, joined a monastery to suffer for
Christ. But monastery life just wasn't hard enough for St Simeon, so he took to
the hills, where he built himself a 3m (10ft) pillar to perch atop. For the next
36 years he built himself taller and taller pillars, eventually getting up to
15m (49ft). The saint chained himself by the neck to his pillar in case he fell
off during the night, adding potential strangulation to his list of crosses to
be borne. Pilgrims came from all over Europe and Asia in the hope of spotting a
miracle, but mostly they saw an old guy ranting on top of a pillar.
In 459 St Simeon kicked the bucket, and an
enormous church was built around his pillar. The unique church had four
basilicas arranged in the shape of a cross, each opening onto a central
octagonal yard covered by a dome. When it was finished in 490, this was the
largest church in the world. A monastery was also built, and a town sprang up to
cater to the needs of pilgrims. The church is remarkably well preserved, but the
pillar has deteriorated dramatically - it's really just a boulder on a platform.
Qala'at Samaan is about 40km (25mi) west of Aleppo, and a microbus runs between
the two.
This quiet town between Aleppo and Damascus is one
of the most attractive in Syria, and makes a good base for exploring nearby
ruins. Much of the town's charm comes from the Orontes River, which flows
through Hama - its banks lined with trees and gardens and ancient, groaning
water wheels known as norias, which measure up to 20m (66ft) in diameter.
The wheels were built centuries ago to provide water for the town and for
irrigation. The wheels and blocks on which they're mounted are wooden, and the
friction between the two produces a moaning noise which pervades the air of
central Hama. The norias in the middle of town are set in a lovely park, where
children swim between the wheels.
Other things to see in Hama include the Grand
Mosque, the Azem Palace & Museum dates from the 18th century,
with some interesting artifacts and a pleasant shady courtyard. To really soak
up Hama's atmosphere, try the outdoor cafe on the banks of the river - it's a
great spot for a coffee, a nargileh (water pipe) and a game of
backgammon. Buses run between Hama and Homs, Damascus and Aleppo.
