Syria

Damascus (Dimashq) — one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with a history of settlement dating to approximately 8,000–10,000 BCE — the capital of Syria (185,180km² at the historic crossroads of Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, Arabia and Anatolia, population 21 million — devastated by a civil war that began in 2011 and caused the displacement of 12 million Syrians, with the Assad government falling in December 2024 after a rebel offensive). Check current advisories; the security situation is actively evolving.

💡 The Syrian civil war (March 2011 — present — began as part of the Arab Spring protests against President Bashar al-Assad, escalating into a multi-sided conflict involving the Assad government, the Free Syrian Army, ISIS/ISIL, Kurdish forces (SDF/YPG), Turkish-backed factions, Iranian militias, Hezbollah and Russian forces. By 2024 the war had killed approximately 500,000 people, displaced 12 million (6.7 million internally displaced + 5.5 million refugees in neighbouring countries), and destroyed an estimated 30% of the built environment, including large parts of Aleppo, Homs and Palmyra.

The Old City of Damascus (UNESCO World Heritage — one of the best-preserved historic city centres in the Middle East, with the Umayyad Mosque (705 CE — built on the site of a Byzantine cathedral, on the site of a Roman temple of Jupiter, on the site of an Aramean temple — the fourth most important mosque in Islam for Sunni Muslims), the Souq al-Hamidiyye (the 19th-century covered bazaar), the Azem Palace (the finest Damascene domestic architecture) and the Street Called Straight — mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles).

💡 The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus (built 705–715 CE by the Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I — incorporating the Byzantine Cathedral of St John the Baptist, which itself incorporated a Roman temple of Jupiter Damascenus — is considered one of the finest examples of early Islamic architecture in the world and houses the Shrine of John the Baptist (whose head is venerated there by both Muslims and Christians). The mosque has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times; the current structure dates primarily from the 8th and 11th centuries.

Palmyra (Tadmur — the ancient desert city at the oasis between the Mediterranean world and Mesopotamia — UNESCO World Heritage, one of the great archaeological sites of the ancient world: the Colonnade Street, the Temple of Bel, the funerary towers and the remarkable fusion of Greco-Roman and Oriental art — severely damaged by ISIS during their 2015–2017 occupation, with the Temple of Bel, the Temple of Baalshamin and the Arch of Triumph destroyed). Check current security for the Palmyra/Homs region before any visit.

💡 The ISIS destruction of Palmyra (2015–2017 — ISIS captured Palmyra in May 2015 and systematically destroyed the Temple of Bel, the Temple of Baalshamin, the Arch of Triumph, the Lion of Athena sculpture and executed the 82-year-old archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad, who refused to reveal the locations of stored antiquities — was described by UNESCO as a war crime. The destruction was livestreamed on social media. Despite partial reconstruction of the Arch of Triumph, Palmyra remains one of the most significant archaeological losses of the 21st century.

Aleppo (the second city of Syria, with a continuous history of 8,000 years — UNESCO World Heritage Old City — the Al-Madina Souq (the largest covered historic market in the world, 13km of vaulted souks selling soap, spices, silk and craft goods), the Aleppo Citadel (one of the oldest and largest castles in the world, at the centre of the city), the Great Mosque of Aleppo — severely damaged in the civil war battles of 2012–2016 but with reconstruction underway).

💡 The Battle of Aleppo (July 2012 – December 2016 — the longest urban battle of the Syrian civil war, lasting 4.5 years, destroying large parts of the historic city centre and displacing approximately 1 million of the city’s 2.3 million residents. The ancient covered souks, the minaret of the Great Mosque and significant parts of the residential areas around the citadel were destroyed. UNESCO and international donors have begun restoration work; the speed of recovery depends entirely on political stability.

Krak des Chevaliers (UNESCO World Heritage — the 12th-century Crusader castle in the Homs Governorate, described by Lawrence of Arabia as “perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world” — the most impressive surviving Crusader fortification, built by the Knights Hospitaller on a hilltop 650m above sea level commanding the Homs Gap, the primary pass between the Syrian interior and the Mediterranean coast — partially damaged during the civil war but structurally intact).

💡 Krak des Chevaliers (Arabic: Qalat al-Husn — built and expanded by the Knights Hospitaller between 1142 and 1271, when it fell to Mamluk Sultan Baybars after a short siege — is the most complete example of Crusader military architecture in existence, preserving two concentric rings of walls, towers, a great hall, chapel, storage facilities and all the elements of a fully functional medieval castle. Its structural preservation over 850 years is largely due to its subsequent use as a village by local Syrian families from the 14th to 20th century.

Bosra (UNESCO World Heritage — the ancient Nabataean, then Roman, then Byzantine, then Islamic city in southern Syria — with the most completely preserved Roman theatre in the world (2nd century CE, seating 15,000, built from the black basalt that gives the city its distinctive appearance), the Cathedral of Bosra (514 CE, one of the earliest centrally-planned domed churches in the world), the Old City walls and the remarkable stratification of 3,000 years of continuous urban occupation).

💡 The Bosra Roman theatre (2nd century CE — the best-preserved Roman theatre in the world, built from black basalt, seating 15,000, preserved intact because it was incorporated into a medieval Arab fortress in the 11th–13th century, whose walls protected the theatre from quarrying and reuse — was the site of annual music and drama festivals attended by 100,000+ visitors before the Syrian civil war. The fortress walls that surround the theatre are now part of the UNESCO heritage designation.

A final morning in Damascus: the Christian Quarter of Bab Touma (one of the oldest continuously Christian communities in the world, with the Church of Ananias — built in a first-century house where Saint Paul regained his sight after the Damascus Road vision — and the Chapel of Saint Paul where tradition says Paul escaped the city by being lowered in a basket over the wall), the damascene soap market (the world’s oldest continuously produced soap, Aleppo soap with laurel oil and olive oil, made in Syria for 3,000+ years) and the airport before flying from Damascus International Airport (DAM).

💡 Aleppo soap (made from a blend of olive oil and laurel berry oil in a cold-process saponification, produced in Aleppo since at least the 2nd century BCE and exported throughout the Mediterranean world by Arab traders from the 7th century CE — is the direct ancestor of all European hard soaps, the technique and formula taken to Marseille, Castile and Venice by returning Crusaders — and remains the world’s oldest commercially produced soap, made in Syria from the same basic recipe for over 2,000 years.