Lying at the head of the great rift valley out of whose African extremity our forefathers first walked upright, and of the fertile basin between Tigris and Euphrates; before the Greeks arrived in Greece, before men discovered the use of iron, Greater Syria, of which the modern republic is but a fraction, was the nursery of western civilisation. Here the first great empires met

and contended – Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Hittite. Here were fashioned the legends of great men – Alexander, Tamburlane, Saladin. Our tour, which takes fourteen full days punctuated by overnight half-board accommodation in a series of four and five star hotels, carries us over a thousand miles in comfortable stages through five thousand years of history.

We fly from the UK to Damascus and transfer by coach to our hotel in the city.

Once we have had a bit of a rest after the long flight, we will explore Damascus, possibly the oldest continuously inhabited city on our planet. Already a place of some significance in the 3rd millennium BC the city subsequently attracted the attention of successive Empire builders - Hittite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian and Roman, not to mention more recent incursions of Mongols, Muslims and Mameluks. We walk down “the street which is called Straight” and visit the churches associated with the conversion of St Paul. We “put off our shoes from off our feet” to enter the Omeyad Great Mosque, one of the earliest buildings of the Islamic world, decorated with Byzantine mosaics from the 8th century. We also visit the National museum which houses finds from all over the country, and the Azem Palace. One of many private palaces of 17th and 18th century Damascus, the Azem Palace became the seat of French colonial government under the Sykes-Picot agreement and has since been converted into a museum of popular art and traditions. Finally, we will spend some time in the fascinating souks of this great city.

Today we make our way to Tartous, breaking our journey at Maaloula, the last place on earth where Aramaic – the language in which Jesus expressed himself – may still be heard; at the spectacular crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers, described by T.E. Lawrence without the slightest exaggeration as “the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world”; and finally at the great Norman cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa, in Tartous itself where we spend the night.

Between Tartous and our next overnight stop at Aleppo, we inspect the Neolithic site of Ugarit which flourished as a cosmopolitan metropolis between 1450 and 1200 BC; a second great Crusader fortress named after Saladin who took it from the Franks in 1188, and the extensive and richly ornamented ruins of the Roman city of Apamea.

We spend this morning exploring Aleppo, its famous citadel, the souks, the Omeyad mosque, the 16th century Christian quarter; and make an excursion out into the surrounding countryside to the ruined 5th century basilica (in its day, the largest church in the world) surrounding the pillar from which St Simon Stylites takes his name.

Today we make our way from Aleppo to Derezzor, breaking our journey three times: at the Jaabar Castle built on top of a mountain in the 12th century, but occupying since the construction of the Tabqa Dam in 1968, a picturesque promontory on the shores of Lake Assad; at the ancient city of Sergiopolis - now known as Resafe – deserted after devastation by the Mongols in the 13th century; and finally at Halabiya, a fortified outpost on the Euphrates whence the Palmyrans defended the marches of the Roman Empire against the Persians.

From Derezzor we make our way this morning to Mari (which flourished as the most westerly of the Sumerian city states between about 3000 and 1700 BC) and thence to Graeco-Roman Doura Europos an Hellenistic foundation of the late 4th century BC which, fortunately for us today, was abandoned after a successful Sassanian seige in the mid third century AD, leaving the fascinating vestiges of its daily life conveniently undisturbed. Our journey ends this evening at Palmyra.

Palmyra, pearl of the desert, is the object of our attention today – her colonnaded streets, her temples of Bel and of Baal, her theatre, her baths, and the tower tombs of her illustrious dead. At the end of this day at the centre of the ill-fated Empire of Zenobia, self-styled queen of Egypt, we return to Damascus for the night.

Our destination this morning is Baalbek across the border in Lebanon, a cultic centre for the worship of local gods (notably Baal and Tammuz) which antedates by several centuries the very conspicuous ruins for which it is justly famous, where we will visit the richly ornamental remains of the temples of Venus and of Bacchus, and of the temple of Jupiter, the scale of which beggars belief even to the visitor of the 21st century.

This morning we make our way via the wonderfully preserved Roman theatre at Bosra over the border into Jordan to the spectacular Roman site of Jerash, Biblical Gerasa, whose prodigious state of preservation has entitled it to the misleading soubriquet of the “Pompeii of the Middle East”, on our way to Amman where we will spend the night.

After breakfast this morning we head off to the Dead Sea, to explore the peculiarities of this curious natural feature 1300 feet below sea level and to visit Madaba, famous for its ancient mosaic map of the Holy Land, and Mount Nebo where Moses stood in communion with God, looking down on the land of Gilead, the distant Jericho, and Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain.

We set off down the King’s Highway this morning. Our ultimate destination will be the rose red city of Petra, but on the way we will pause at Kerak, another of the staggering Crusader fortresses that beetle down from the heights above the rift valley at strategic intervals from Aqaba to Anatolia. The remains of the day will be spent in Petra itself, exploring the rock-cut tombs and temples of the Nabateans.

After a second visit to Petra, we set off south for some rest and recreation on the seaside at Aqaba.

For any who are not interested in swimming, sunbathing, snorkelling and the like, there will be an optional excursion this morning to the dramatic landscape of Wadi Rum, described by T.E. Lawrence as “vast, echoing and God-like”, returning to Aqaba for the afternoon.

After breakfast we transfer to Aqaba airport for our return flight to London.

• Accommodation -
  • 14 Nights half-board in a series of 5 and 4 star hotels in Damascus, Aleppo, Tartous, Dorezzor, Palmyra, Amman, Petra and Aqaba.
  • Lunches will be included and taken in local restaurants
• Excursions as outlined in the itinerary.
• Entrance fees to all places mentioned in the itinerary
• Services of an experienced lecturer/tour leader -
• Local guide where required by local legislation
• All tips and gratuities

• Insurance
  • It is a condition of booking that you have adequate travel insurance to cover your needs when you travel with us. This will need to cover a missed departure, any emergency that may arise while you are travelling with us, and should also enable you to claim back from the insurance company any monies already paid to us or due to us in the event of your having to cancel the tour after booking and before the departure date.
    
    If you have difficulty finding cover due to your age, it may be of help to know that there are at least two companies who provide Travel Insurance to those over retirement age:-
    • Age Concern - Tel 0845 601 2234 Click here for Website
    • Saga - Tel 0800 559 3231 Click here for Website
  
  
• Walking - Most of our tours involve a good deal of walking.
• Sites and Museums - Archaeological sites in some countries can be rough and uneven underfoot and do not always conform to western standards of health and safety.