A day from Idlib to Jabal Barisha: the museum and three dead cities

The order for seeing the Dead Cities runs through the museum: what came out of the sites is kept in Idlib, and on the ground there is only stone and soil. This day takes the museum first and then three sites on Jabal Barisha. 116 kilometres in all. None of the three sites is signposted, and a driver who knows where they are is half the plan on its own.

The route

Start with the museum at the Mihrab junction, on the eastern approach to Idlib. Ask at the door which halls are open: the building opened in 1987, was badly damaged in the war, and reopened in 2018 with two halls. From there head north. Kirkbize lies a kilometre north of Qalb Lozeh; the house church sits inside a Roman house, and you should look for the altar platform at the east end and the sarcophagus north of it. Then cross to Babiska, south of Bab al-Hawa: two churches, the one building in the region taken for certain to be a bath, and a market building dated 547. The last stop is north-east of the town of Turmanin; describe the ruin to your driver, not the town.

Timing

Be at the museum at 08:00, since school groups come through during the day; the hours change, so confirm before you set out. Reach Kirkbize before noon — the ground between the olive trees is green and cool in the morning and the shadows of the stones are still long. Put Babiska at the start of the afternoon: the door inscription of the west church is at eye level and reads in side light. Leave Deir Turmanin to the end. The facade was built around 480 and a single piece of stone is left of it today; the lower mouldings only show when you come close, and late light helps.

Take care

None of the three sites has a sign or a guard; your driver needs to know the places, so talk it through before you leave. The stones are unsteady and the ground is uneven, so wear shoes with a firm sole; the last stretch to Kirkbize is a dirt track and turns to mud after rain. The remains at Deir Turmanin stand among planted fields — do not walk on the crops. Dar Qita and Baqirha are 3 kilometres west of Babiska if you want to stretch the day. There is little shade, so take water and a hat.