Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
100 Places
The Tomb of Imadaddin Nasimi
Where the poet Nasimi lies in Aleppo: a walled tomb in a small Sufi lodge on the lane named after him in al-Farafira. Its repair came back on the agenda in 2025.
Aleppo · Mamluk
The Matbakh al-Ajami Palace
A 12th-century palace on the street from the Aleppo Citadel to the Great Mosque, under the largest surviving Ayyubid dome. It held a folk museum from 1967 to 1975.
Aleppo · Zengid — Ayyubid
Kilaniyya Bridge, Hama
A Mamluk stone bridge across the Orontes in central Hama: early 14th century, 5 arches, 40 metres long, with the al-Nuri Mosque at one end and the norias beside it.
Hama · Mamluk
Qastun and Tell Qastun
A town and its mound on the east bank of the Orontes in the northern Ghab Plain: the Aramaean Iron Age town of Qatan, a 16-hectare ancient site and a medieval fort.
Hama · Iron Age (Aramaean) — Roman — Ayyubid — Mamluk
Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Homs
The largest church in Homs Old City, a Melkite Greek Catholic cathedral built in 1970. Badly damaged by 2014, restored in 2016-2019, known for its dome and roof.
Homs · Modern — 1970, restored 2016-2019
Jesuit Monastery in Homs and the Grave of Frans van der Lugt
The Jesuit monastery in Bustan al-Diwan, Homs Old City, where Dutch priest Frans van der Lugt refused to leave during the siege, was killed in 2014 and is buried.
Homs · Modern (founding date not documented)
The Al-Hamawi Mosque
An Ottoman mosque of 968/1560 below the north-east side of the Aleppo Citadel, with its own school, fountain and tomb around it. Entry is free, at prayer times.
Aleppo · Ottoman
Khan As’ad Pasha al-Azm, Hama
An Ottoman caravanserai on al-Murabit Street, Hama, built in 1738 by As’ad Pasha al-Azm: a black-and-white stone portal, a later upper floor. Restoration began 2026.
Hama · Ottoman; upper floor from the French Mandate
The Mevlevi Lodge of Aleppo (Mawlawiyya Takiyya)
A 16th-century lodge of the whirling dervishes outside Aleppo’s north-west walls, with a hall for the sema, a square laid out in 1834 and a past as the order’s seat.
Aleppo · Ottoman
Al-Aqaba Quarter, Aleppo
The highest ridge inside Aleppo’s walls and likely its first settlement: the lane north of Bab Antakya, a Hittite stele in a mosque wall and a minaret above a door.
Aleppo · Hittite traces — Ottoman buildings
Mausoleum of Amat al-Latif, Damascus
A small domed tomb in Salihiyya, Damascus, for Amat al-Latif: Hanbali scholar, author, founder of madrasas and adviser to Saladin’s sister Rabi’a Khatun.
Damascus · Ayyubid
Abu al-Darda Mosque, Damascus
A small prayer hall set into the north wall of the Citadel of Damascus, with a shrine to the Companion Abu al-Darda. The tomb is Ottoman; it opens at prayer times.
Damascus · Ottoman (shrine 1733)
