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 A
Journey through Syria group tour......
0845 003 2211 or 01543 258631
...with a visit to Baalbeck
Tour departures: 25th October 2010
Prices from £2795 per person, 14 nights
The tour will be lead by Andrew Allen.
Syria offers one of the most satisfying and
varied experiences for even the most demanding visitor. This was the country
where the richly-laden caravans from the lands on the Silk Route traded their
exotic goods or shipped them on to Europe from the ports of Damascus and Aleppo,
creating a prosperous place which flourished for centuries. There is serenity in
Syria which engulfs the visitor as each day unfolds - abandoned desert cities,
Crusader castles, fertile plains, mosques, and teeming bazaars are all included
on our comprehensive exploration.
What We Include
Return schedule flights to Damascus
Fourteen nights’ accommodation with breakfast
Dinner each evening
Lunch is included every day except day two
All entrance fees and gratuities
The services of our tour lecturer and a local guide
Our prices are per person, based on the shared occupancy of a twin/double room.
Supplement for single occupancy rooms: £394.
Insurance is not included.
 Flights Details
Flights with British Airways.
Depart Heathrow at 21.05 arrive Damascus at 04.30.
Depart Damascus at 10.35 arrive Heathrow at 15.20
(The flight on the return stops in Ankara but there is no change of plane
involved).
Regional departures with British Airways via Heathrow also available, supplement
on request
Itinerary
Day 1 - We fly from London Heathrow to Damascus
(arriving early the following morning local time) and transfer to the 5 star
Cham Palace Hotel where we stay for three nights.
Day 2 - This morning will be free and in the afternoon we will begin our
exploration of Damascus at the National Museum where we see displays from the
sites we will be visiting over the course of the tour.
Day 3 - We cross the border into neighbouring Lebanon for a full day expedition
to Baalbeck, once a Wonder of the Ancient World and today one of the greatest
Roman sites to be seen anywhere.
Day 4 - We stay in Damascus and visit several historic monuments and sites
including the Tomb of Saladin and the Umayyad Mosque. Time will also be spent
walking through the narrow streets of the old town which is lined with
picturesque houses with their typically Damascene gardens. There will be time to
shop in the souk.
Day 5 - We leave for Bosra which was seized by Judas Maccabeus in 163BC and went
on to become a major Roman outpost. We then drive on to Palmyra where we spend
the next two nights at the 5 star Palmyra Cham Hotel.
Day 6 - Palmyra is one of the great sites of the ancient world and one of the
most important of all the desert cities. It was the base of the power-crazed
Queen Zenobia who, having defeated the Egyptians, on to defy the Romans. There
are many finely preserved temples, colonnaded streets, a theatre and an
impressive market place.
Day 7 - Today we drive to Doura Europos, a major Greek and Roman city founded in
300BC and move on to Derezzor where we spend one night at the 5 star Fuart Cham
Hotel.
Day 8 - We make a stop this morning at Raqqa with its two impressive castles
before reaching Aleppo where we stay for three nights at the 5 star Sheraton
Hotel.
 Day 9 - Aleppo seems to capture the very spirit of the Middle-East more than
anywhere else. It is a magical and teeming city of labyrinthine bazaars and is
dominated by its massive citadel which protected the Aleppo for so long and so
effectively. We explore all this together with the Great Mosque.
Day 10 - Today we drive to the great St. Simeon Cathedral. Dating from the 6th
Century it has four huge basilicas radiating from the column on which St. Simeon
himself lived for more than forty years.
Day 11 - Leaving Aleppo we drive to the huge Crusader fortress of Saladin
Castle. We then reach the shores of the Mediterranean for one night at the
resort of Lattakia, staying in the 5 star Hotel Cote d’Azur.
Day 12 - This morning on our journey to Hama we stop at two important ancient
sites, Ugarit and then Apamea, a site of utmost beauty and rural tranquillity.
Founded in 64BC, it is one of the most atmospheric sites on our tour. We then
reach Hama for one night at the 5 star Hotel Afamia Cham.
Day 13 - Hama is a delightful town which is still dominated by ancient
waterwheels still driven by the rushing waters of the River Orontes. We pass
through the Phoenician city of Amrit before reaching the great Krak des
Chevaliers, the most famous and grandest of all the Crusader castles in Syria.
En route back to Damascus we spend one night in Homs at the 5 star Hotel Safit.
Day 14 - We continue our journey to Damascus for the final night of the tour
back at the 5 star Hotel Cham Palace.
Day 15 - We drive to the airport for the flight back to London.
Lecturers...
Andrew Allen studied the History of
Art at the University of East Anglia and obtained his MA in
mediaeval paintings. He lectured at Anglia Ruskin University and now
teaches humanities in Norfolk where he lives. Andrew Allen is a
great traveller and spends much of the year abroad. He has made a
particular study of Syria and all the countries in the Middle East
and the emerging republics which were once part of the Ottoman and
Soviet empires. Andrew Allen writes: “I have been travelled
regularly to the Middle East and have developed a great love of the
Islamic world – its peoples, languages and cultures. These countries
are a rich mosaic of all these things, none more so than Syria. I
relish the opportunity to introduce this country to those who are
visiting it for the first time”.
How to book...
Call Dave on 0845 003 2211 or 01543
258631
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