Bawabet Al Hamra - بوابة الحمرا
Aleppo Citadel
Damascus - Tartous - Hama - Aleppo - Palmyra
9 Nights / 10 Days
Day 1 Arrival to Damascus airport. Meet & assist at airport. Transfer to hotel. Dinner and overnight.
Day 2 Sightseeing Damascus including the National Museum, the Old Bazaar, Umayyad Mosque: The site has housed sacred enclosures as far back as the second millennium BC. The worship of the Semitic god Hadad was taken over in the roman period and given imperial patronage. The temple was dedicated to Jupiter and was rebuilt under Septimus Severus. After the adoption of Christianity as the imperial religion, the temple was converted to a Christian church dedicated to Saint John Baptist. This is often attributed to the emperor Theodosius (379-395) who ordered the tearing down of the inner shrine of the pagan temple in 379. With the taking of Damascus by the Arabs in 636, the Christian population were generally allowed to continue to use their churches. In 708 the Caliph Al Walid (r705-15) negotiated with the Christian community for the cede of the church and converted the whole compound into the magnificent mosque that we can see today. Visit the Azem Palace: Built in 1749-1752 by the Ottoman governor of Damascus, Assa'd Pasha Al Azem. A jewel of the Arab architecture, the palace displays courts, fountains and a Turkish bath (Hammam). Continue to Bab Charki (Eastern gate - second century AD) where begins the Straight Street (Decumanus of Damascus) which is cited in the Bible. Visit Anania's House, the house of the bishop of Damascus when a roman officer called "Saul of Tarsus" came from Jerusalem with his soldiers to arrest the Christians of Damascus. This was St Paul who was converted on his (road to Damascus) and who probably took refuge between Anania and his disciples. The Roman soldiers began searching for him and he escaped from Damascus through Bab Kissan (the Gate of Kissan) to Palestine. This gate was later replaced by a tower, which is dated from 1364. A chapel was recently built in this place called St Paul's Window. Dinner and overnight in Damascus.
Day 3 Depart to Seidnaya at 27 km from Damascus. Seidnaya is an important pilgrimage site. Legend relates that the monastery was founded by Justinien (r527-65). The miracles associated with the image of the Virgin brought to the chapel wide fame, particularly during and after the Middle Ages. It became the most famous centre for pilgrimage in the East, after Jerusalem. The Crusaders were fascinated by the legend of "Notre Dame de Sardeneye", associated with a painting of the Virgin said to have been executed by St Like the Evangelist. Even in times of open hostility between the Franks in Jerusalem and the Muslims of Damascus, Christian pilgrims reached Seidnaya. Continue to Maaloula: This village has three claims to fame: its setting, its early Christian associations and the resistance of the villagers to the final replacement of Aramaic by the Arabic as the language of communication. Visit the Church of Mar Sarkis (St Sergius), which has architectural elements, which may go back to the Byzantine period. Icons dating back to the 13th century are worth inspecting. Visit the monastery of "Mar Takla" or St Thecla. The saint (reputedly a pupil of St Paul and one of the first martyrs of the Church) is believed to be buried in a cave above the monastery. Continue to Krak des Chevaliers: one of the most impressive crusaders' fortress. Taken in 1110 from the Emir of Homs by Tancred, Regent of Antioch, the Castle was enfeoffed to the Count of Tripoli. In 1114, Raymond II, the count of Tripoli transferred the Krak along with his other dependent castles to the Knights Hospitaller. The order massively expanded the existing fortress after 1170. The Krak survived 2 major Muslim challenges. The Mamelukes under the sultan Baibars invested the Krak on 21 February 1271. A couple of kilometres away from the Krak is Saint George Monastery. Founded originally in the 6th century probably at the time of emperor Justinien, it has tow chapels of which the older dates from the 13th century, with an iconostasis in ebony wood. The Monastery feast day (attended by Christians from All over Syria and Lebanon) is held on 14 September. Continue toward Safita, the crusader's "Chastel Blanc". Part of the domains of the Count of Tripoli from 1112, the building of the first castle probably dates from that time. In 1167 and 1171, the Seljuk Nour al-Din took advantage of unprepared Crusader, occupying Tartous and largely demolishing the first version of the Safita fortress partly out of anger at Crusader piracy against Egyptian merchant ships. The Knights Templar took control of Chastel Blanc and the major work on the present keep probably dates from their reconstruction of the earlier fortress. Damage from an earthquake in 1202 probably intensified the need for major improvements and the present building is largely of the 13th century. Today, only the dungeon has been transformed into a church dedicated to St Michael. Dinner and overnight in Tartous.
Day 4 Tartous: Founded by the Phoenicians as an extension to the island city of Arwad (Aradus), it was not separated from it till Constantin (306-7) giving advantage to the Christian citizen on pagans on the island. The city was known for its early cult for the Virgin and one of the earliest chapels was built in her honour before the 4th century. The legend says that St Peter himself has consecrated this first church. An icon, said to have been painted by St Luke, was also venerated there. In the Frankish era the city was entrusted to the Knights Templar. Visit the old part of the city. The main site is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa (12th - 13th Centuries). The major work was done under the Templars' guidance in the 13th Century and took on a more defensive character because the Cathedral lies just outside the main wall of the fortress of Tartous. The Cathedral is now a museum which contains objects from Syro-Phoenician, Greek, Roman and Islamic epochs. Take a walk through the old part of the city to see the remains of the fortress. Continue to Marqab: The Crusader castle (Margat) lies at 45 minutes (30 km) drive from Tartous via the city of Baniyas. Located at the point where the coastal plain narrows to a precarious passage between the sea and the mountains, Marqab controls the access connecting Asia Minor with the Holy Land. Taken from the Arabs by the Byzantine in 1104 but passed to the Principality of Antioch and was maintained on their behalf by a local prominent family. Sold by the family to the Knights Hospitallers in 1186, it was avoided by Saladin in his sweep up the coast in 1188 after his victory over the Crusaders in Hattin in 1187, consistent with his strategy of probing only weak points of the crusaders fortresses. Finally, the Sultan Qualaun took it in 1285. Continue to Saladin Castle (Margat), a huge fortress built by the crusaders on top of a mountain. It was the most powerful castle of the Antiochia kingdom until the Sultan Saladin overtook it after few days of siege in July 1188. Lunch en route. Then continue to Apamea: One of the four cities founded by Seleucos I Nicator at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The name Apameia was adopted to commemorate his Persian wife. It enjoyed the advantage of rich pasture to provide a breeding centre for the army horses. In 64 BC, the Romans under Pompeii took Apamea and its citadel was razed. Under Roman rule, it was further developed as a military base. The theatre, baths, temples and villas were constructed during the town's peak prosperity on 2nd century AD. The colonnaded main street was completed in its present form during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Apamea remained a centre of considerable importance into the Byzantine period. It was made the capital of "Syria Secunda" province in the early 5th century and was the seat of a bishop. The Persians sacked and burned the city in 573. The Persians held it again from 612 to 628 and the Byzantine "liberation" came just in time to see its falls to the Arabs a decade later. The town was under crusade control from 1106. In 1149, Nur Al-Din retook it. In 1157 a major earthquake destroyed the town. Drive to Hama. Dinner and overnight in Hama.
Day 5 Depart to Maarat El Nouman and visit one of the richest paleo-christian mosaics museum in Syria showing the most beautiful church mosaic floorings found in the area. Continue to Serjella, one of the most striking Byzantine in Northern Syria with its roman bath, olives press, a church, a 2 stories villa and a building thought to be a “man’s café” called “andron”. Continue toward St Simeon in the North with a stop near Sarmada where a fierce battle between the Seldjoukes and Crusaders took place in 1119. Chroniclers of the epoch called the area “ager sanguinis” (bloody fields) because of the tremendous number of dead among the crusaders. Visit St. Simeon cathedral, where St. Simeon stayed for 40 years on top of a column in the fifth century. When Simeon died on 24 July 459 his body was transferred to Antioch then to Constantinople. Emperor Zeno ordered the building of a cathedral, which was terminated in 491. It was then the biggest church in the world until St Sophia was built in Constantinople in 532. Drive to Aleppo. Dinner and overnight.
Day 6 The visit of the most “oriental” city of Orient includes the archeological museum, the famous 12th century Citadel and the superb bazaar: a complex of not less than 20.000 shops in the old city. Under the Seleucid Greeks, Aleppo grew from a village to a true urban centre that was given the Macedonian place-name Beroia, and was laid according to a Hippodamian grid pattern. The old Agora was transformed in the 6th Century into a cathedral dedicated to St Helen, named in honour of the mother of Byzantine Emperor Constantine. In 715, the Umayyad Caliph, Al Walid, ordered the building of a Mosque (Aleppo Great Mosque) in the garden area of the cathedral. The cathedral of St Helen was used for Christian worship long after the construction of the mosque in the garden. It was only in 1124 that it was among six churches seized by Muslim ruler of Aleppo and reconstructed as a madrassa (Madrassa Halawiya) in retaliation for the atrocities against Muslims committed by the Crusaders. One can find today in the prayer hall some columns that are believed to be those used to build the cathedral. A cross remains in a corner stone at the main entrance of the Madrassa. After lunch, visit the Christian neighbourhood of Jdeideh with its splendid houses dating from the 17th century and the 40 martyrs Armenian Church. Dinner and overnight in Aleppo.
Day 7 Early departure to Eastern Syria toward Ressafe (Sergiopolis): Although associated essentially with the Byzantines the site of Ressafe was mentioned in earlier sources, both in Assyrian texts and in the Bible. The Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruled from 284-305, established here a frontier fortress to meet the Sasanians threat. A Roman soldier serving as a court official Sergius was martyred here during Dioctetian's persecution in 305 after refusing to sacrifice to Jupiter. His cult attracted followers from throughout Syria. The Byzantine Emperor, Anastasius I (who ruled from 491 to 518) officially renamed the city Sergiopolis in honour of its patron saint. A large basilica was constructed. On the 6th century the town became a focal point of Justinian's great program of military works in Syria and later succumbed to the greater Persian campaigns of the early 7th century. Ressafe became part of the Umayyad domains and was for a time favoured by the Caliph Hisham (724-43) who restored its facilities and erected a palace. The tomb of Hisham was destroyed by the new Abbasid conquest in 750. A serious earthquake at the end of the 8th did further damage. Century. The city continued to support a token population, including a sizeable proportion of Christians, into the 13th century and was depopulated by Baibars (1260-77). Continue to Derezzor. Dinner and overnight in Derezzor.
Day 8 Departure to Palmyra and visit the site including the museum, the temples of Bel, Baal Shamin and Nebo, the Roman Bath, The Tetrapylon, Diocletian's Camp & the Tomb's Valley. Lunch in town. Dinner and overnight in Palmyra.
Day 9 Departure to Southern Syria via Damascus (no stop). First stop at Ezraa, 80 km south of Damascus. The Greek Orthodox church of St. George is one of the oldest churches still in use in Syria, and its architecture has been remarkably unaffected by its changing fortunes. The inscription dated 515 over the middle portal of the W entrance says: «what was once a lodging place of demons has become a house of God. Where once idols were scarified, there are now choirs of angles; where God was provoked to wrath, now he is propitiated». Continue to Bosra and visit one of the most important site of Syria after Palmyra. Its theatre is exceptionally well preserved. The visit includes also the Decumanus, the Nabatean Gate (Bab Al Hawa), the Agora, the Cathedral and Hammam. Continue to Sweida and visit its archeological museum, then Qanawat: Founded in the first century BC, Qanawat was a subject of conflict between Antonius and Herodes the Great, the first wanted to give back the area to the kingdom of Cleopatra. Christianity flourished in the 4th and 5th centuries and it becake the seat of a bishop. Visit the “Serail” consisting of two basilica-shaped buildings around an atrium. These buildings were reoriented East West and adapted to Christian purposes. On can admire the quality of the classical masonry. Continue to Shahba, the city where the Roman Emperor Philip the Arab was born where you can find its mosaics in-situ museum, the bath and its theatre. Back to Damascus. Dinner and overnight at Damascus.
Day 10 Departure to Damascus International Airport. End of services.

Wishing you a very happy journey to Syria