Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
100 Places
The Phoenician Walls of Arwad Island
Giant stone blocks facing the open sea on Arwad’s west shore: what an 1853 survey measured, the rock-cut ditch, and what can still be seen of the wall today.
Tartus · Phoenician (exact date unknown)
Amrah: an Ancient Basalt Village near Shahba
North-east of Shahba: a temple of Athena-Allat, church inscriptions dated from 473 to 667 and a Roman-era house with a three-storey tower, all in dark basalt.
As-Suwayda · Nabataean — Roman — Byzantine
Church of Saint John of Damascus
A small Greek Orthodox church in Bab Touma, 100 m from the Mariamite Cathedral, built after 1856 on basalt piers, with an iconostasis carved by Damascene craftsmen.
Damascus · Ottoman (after 1856)
Riblah, the Biblical Army Camp on the Orontes
A cemetery-covered mound on the Orontes south of Homs: Riblah, where Necho II and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon camped. Near the Lebanese border; access unverified.
Homs · Iron Age — Roman
Turba al-Takritiyya, Salihiyya
A Mamluk tomb on the street of madrasas in Salihiyya, Damascus, built for Taqi al-Din al-Takriti, an official of Sultan Qalawun. Neglected, but still standing.
Damascus · Mamluk
Tomb of Mehmed VI, the Last Ottoman Sultan, in Damascus
Mehmed VI Vahideddin, the last Ottoman sultan, lies in the cemetery of the Takiyya al-Sulaymaniyya in Damascus. Why he was buried here and what the grave shows.
Damascus · Post-Ottoman — buried 1926
Lady of the Valley Statue, Valley of the Christians
A 30 m statue of the Virgin Mary on the 980 m summit of Jabal al-Sayih above al-Nasirah, in the Valley of the Christians near Krak des Chevaliers. Opened in 2009.
Homs · Modern — 2009
The Jewish Quarter of Damascus
The south-eastern quarter of Old Damascus: Farhi family mansions, three synagogues and al-Amin Street. What remains of Jewish life that lasted here until 1992.
Damascus · Ottoman
Holy Cross Church, Damascus
A twin-towered Greek Orthodox church just outside Bab Touma, in Al-Qassaa, built between 1927 and 1932. Patriarch John X was enthroned here in February 2013.
Damascus · French Mandate (1927-1932)
Souq al-Sagha, the Goldsmiths’ Souq of Damascus
The goldsmiths’ souq opposite the south gate of the Umayyad Mosque: once the shoemakers’ market, half open, half covered, with a few shoe shops still among the gold.
Damascus · Ayyubid — Mamluk
Qalaat al-Riba (Riba Castle), Salamiyah
A semicircular fortification on a basalt hill 12 kilometres north of Salamiyah: dry-laid basalt blocks, a single gate on the west and Roman-era tombs on the slopes.
Hama · Disputed: Middle Bronze Age or Hellenistic
Graves of the Ottoman Aviators, Damascus
Three Ottoman airmen killed in 1914 lie in the courtyard of Saladin’s tomb in Damascus: Fethi, Sadık and Nuri. The graves are just north of the Umayyad Mosque.
Damascus · Ottoman (1914)
