5-Day Syria Cultural Tour with Damascus, Maaloula and Palmyra

Day 1: Arrival in Damascus

Heading to the hotel and resting for the night.

Day 2: Visit of Damascus

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Guided tour of Damascus.
• The National Museum: Its visit provides an overview of the civilizations that have succeeded on Syrian soil. It contains statues, seals, jewelry, masks, mosaics, tablets, and weavings from the most important sites in the country.
• The Umayyad Mosque: Located in the heart of the Medina, the mosque is distinguished by its prayer room, its courtyard, and its walls covered with mosaics.
• El-Azem Palace: Not far from the Great Mosque, in the labyrinth of the souk, is El-Azem Palace. It is considered a sumptuous model of the Damascene house, whose exterior simplicity and sobriety do not suggest the beautiful and rich interior, with many varieties of flowers, fruit trees, and water jets.
• Saint Ananian Church: It is of particular importance because it is attached to the memory of Saint Paul. Before his conversion to Christianity, he had a vision here that blinded him for several days and gave him an unshakeable faith.
• Souk Al-Hamidiye: The most beautiful souk of Damascus. Its shops display all sorts of goods, especially clothes, fabrics, pastries, and handicrafts.
• Day 3: Damascus - Maaloula - Crac des Chevaliers - Al Mishtaya
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Departure towards Maaloula, a village famous for its houses dug in the rock like beehives and especially because it still speaks Aramaic, the language of Christ. Lunch.
• Continue to Crac des Chevaliers, the most famous fortress of the Middle Ages. The Crusaders made it the basic element of their system of strongholds on the coast. It is so vast and so impregnable that it has become the symbol of a whole era of bloody struggles between Muslims and Crusaders...
• Al Mishtaya - dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 4: Al Mishtaya - Palmyra - Damascus

• Head to visit Al-Mishtaya, a village in northwestern Syria, located west of Homs. It is characterized by its charming landscapes and beautiful climate.
• Palmyra is an ancient archaeological site in Syria. The architecture of Palmyra mixes Greco-Roman, Persian, and Arabic styles.
• Palmyra: The one that the Romans baptized Palmyra (the city of palms) and that the Syrians call Tadmor (miracle in Aramaic) is the most important oasis of the Syrian desert. Located 240 km from Damascus, Palmyra is the city of all superlatives. It arises in the midst of golden sands that extend to infinity. An oasis of columns, remains, and palm trees that testifies to the splendor of this city that once made Rome tremble...
• The Temple of Bel: It was for the Palmyrenes what Zeus was for the Greeks. Its temple is the largest and most majestic building in Palmyra, a unique example of fusion between Greco-Roman and oriental-inspired architecture.
• The theater and the big colonnade: It crosses the city for more than one kilometer, along which caravans arriving from the desert once passed.
• Tombs: Including tower tombs, underground tombs, temple tombs, or individual tombs.

Day 5: Departure.