Lebanon & Syria. The Middle East Demystified. 11 Days.
These days, reports the New York Times, travel to all of Lebanon is getting busier by the month, and the bustling streets of downtown Beirut are proof.
There’s a burgeoning art gallery scene here. Top-notch boutique hotels are opening left and right, and they are booking up fast.
And let’s not forget neighboring Syria.
Join us for a jaunt through Lebanon and Syria. Along the way, we take in a slew of astonishing UNESCO World Heritage sites.
To start, we base ourselves in Beirut for an exploration of Lebanon proper.
Overcome your jet lag at the lovely Four Seasons. Rested, we set out to explore the largest urban archaeological
dig on Earth. Beirut boasts remnants that reach back all the way to the Phoenicians.
On the Mediterranean coast, head for the UNESCO site of Byblos. Its castle charms, its royal necropolis intrigues.
Another day-trip from Beirut leads us along the coast to Sidon’s Crusader castle by the sea.
In Tyre (UNESCO again), the Phoenicians invented a very lucrative purple dye and then saw fit to rule the sea.
Then bid farewell to Beirut and head into the Bekaa Valley. In Baalbek (you guessed it—UNESCO), examine the colossal Roman temples of
Jupiter, Bacchus, and Venus. Imperial Roman architecture at its finest.
Wouldn’t a glass of wine be perfect just about now? Excellent timing. We enjoy a wine-tasting and lunch at Château Ksara.
Before crossing into Syria, stop in the Armenian town of Anjar, where ruins date from the mighty Umayyad Dynasty (A.D. 660 to 750).
Then into Damascus, Syria’s capital. Home is another Four Seasons. Though first settled by the Aramites during the second millennium B.C., Damascus’s monuments evince later conquerors—Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Umayyads, the latter responsible for Syria’s most important mosque. In the Chapel of St. Ananias, Paul the Apostle was baptized.
Palmyra, next, an important trading post on the Silk Road. Hear about Queen Zenobia, who led a revolt against the Romans in the third century. UNESCO has named the site to its list for the ravishing art and architecture.
As the sun sets, take in excellent views of Palmyra from the old citadel of Fakhereddin Al Ma’an.
The ancient city of Aleppo, yet another UNESCO site, stands at the crossroads of several trade routes. After its
founding in the second millennium B.C., it fell to the Hittites, Assyrians, Arabs, Mongols, Mameluks, and Ottomans. You can imagine its glorious mishmash of styles.
The aesthete St. Simeon preached for 42 years from atop a pillar at the fifth-century cathedral in Aleppo that bears his name. Pay a visit before continuing on to Apamea, a treasury of the Seleucid kings, and then Hama, renowned for its 12th-century B.C. waterwheels, which until not too long ago irrigated the local crops.
En route back to Damascus, we pause at another UNESCO World Heritage site, Crac des Chevaliers, an 11th-century Crusaders’ fortress and one of the world’s most impressive medieval military castles.
From Damascus, fly home, ever so much the wiser.
More? While you’re in this part of the world, consider a bespoke tour to Egypt, Jordan, Libya, the U.A.E., or Israel with R. Crusoe & Son.
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