A 10 day journey through ancient and biblical Syria
Including a day visit to Syrian Antioch in Turkey

Led by The Rt Revd Dr David Hope KCVO

All are invited to join me on this fascinating pilgrimage through ancient and Biblical Syria. Lying on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean it has been a meeting place and a cross-roads where for centuries civilisations flourished and where different peoples, cultures and empires met.


In addition to visiting the great classical sites of Palmyra, Aleppo and Crak des Chevaliers we will walk the street called Straight street where St. Paul was lowered from the walls; Visit the beautiful Omyyad Mosque that houses the shrine which reputedly holds the head of John the Baptist.; the wonderful 5th century church of St. Simeon Stylites who, for 38 years, lived on top of a pillar and preached. A unique day trip into Turkey to visit Antioch, the second most mentioned city in the Acts of the Apostles.


Until comparatively recently Syria’s doors have been closed to visitors from the West. Today Syria is slowly liberalising and cautiously awakening to the outside world. There are still comparatively few visitors and the country has not been spoiled by tourism. There is a tremendous amount on offer with probably the richest historical heritage in the Middle East, including numerous Roman, Byzantine, Islamic and Crusader monuments and sites. Syria’s living heritage is equally fascinating offering a unique insight into Islamic and Arab culture with a strong sense of the continuity, which exists from the past into the present.


Syria’s people are perhaps the most generous, friendly and hospitable to be found anywhere in the Middle East.

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Day 1, Tuesday 11 October

London to Damascus We meet our Lightline representative at London Heathrow airport to assist us with check-in procedures for our flight to Damascus. On arrival in Damascus we will be met and transferred to our city centre hotel for dinner and an overnight stop.

Day 2, Wednesday 12 October

Damascus Our tour of Damascus begins at the peaceful precincts of the Omayyad Mosque. Constructed in 705 AD on the site of a C9 BC Aramaean temple, a Roman temple and then a Byzantine cathedral, it contains the tomb of John the Baptist. Just outside is the Mausoleum of Saladin, in its pleasant garden setting. This formidable adversary of the Crusaders died in Damascus. The city has many associations with St. Paul, and we will visit Straight Street, the Church of Ananias, and Kaukab Hill - scene of Paul's conversion.

Day 3, Thursday 13 October

Qanawat, Bosra, Ezra Today we make an excursion to the south first to visit Qanawat where the C2 Roman ruins are set in a beautiful grove of oak trees. Two basilica-shaped buildings were adapted for Christian purposes in the fourth and fifth centuries AD. Next we visit Bosra, the second most important site of the Roman period in Syria, primarily because of the magnificent and exceptionally intact Roman theatre. Finally on the way back to Damascus we will visit the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, largely unaffected by changing fortunes since it was founded in 515 AD.

Day 4, Friday 14 October

Damascus to Palmyra Driving almost due east into the desert, we have a full day for a thorough exploration of Palmyra, one of the world's greatest historical sites. Built on an oasis, this C2 AD city covers some 50 hectares. Home of the heroic Queen Zenobia, one of the chief attractions is the massive Temple of Bel, the closest surviving example of what the Jerusalem Temple looked like at the time of Jesus. To the south of the city are the funerary towers of Umm el Qais, containing coffin niches on up to five levels and decorated with cornices and friezes. We also visit by jeep Qalaat Ibn Moan, an Arab castle offering a panoramic view of Palmyra.

Day 5, Saturday 15 October

Palmyra, Rasafa, Aleppo Before leaving Palmyra we visit the amazing tower tombs. Today we have the long drive to Aleppo which takes us past Lake Assad, a product of the dam on teh Euphrates finished in 1973, which necessitated archaeological rescue digs to investigate or save many threatened sites and monuments. We come to Rasafah, mentioned in the Bible and in the Assyrian Annals. The remains are of a Byzantine walled city situated in the middle of nowhere. The walls are well-preserved and constructed from brilliant white gypsum. Inside are the remains of the Basilica of St. Sergius, who was martyred there c.205 AD. Then on to our hotel in Aleppo, our base for the next three nights.

Day 6, Sunday 16 October

Aleppo - Qalaat Samaan This morning our guide will take us first to the Citadel, a mediaeval fortress isolated from its surroundings by massive fortifications, followed by a visit to the Great Mosque with its minaret dating from 1090. We will visit the fabulous covered souks (bazaars) and khans (caravanserais) which form the heart of Aleppo around which all else of interest is found. To quote from the Syrian Guide Book: "You will be delighted with all the noise and clutter, especially when the sunlight breaks through and makes a glitter." Syria was a very important area for the development of early Christianity This afternoon we will visit Qalaat Samaan where the monk Simeon Stylites lived on top of a pillar for 40 years, preaching daily and saying Mass twice a week. Pilgrims came from all over the world to see him until his death in 459 AD when a massive octagonal church, the well-preserved ruins of which we will see, was built around the pillar. Around this area are villages composed of houses of characteristic north Syrian beehive shape.

Day 7, Monday 17 October Antioch (Turkey)

This morning we leave Aleppo after an early breakfast and drive west to the Syrian border with Turkey and on completion of cross-border formalities we continue to Antioch. First to preach here were St.Paul and Barnabas whose extensive efforts proved to be very fruitful for Christianity. Antioch was the base for Paul's missionary journeys, where Jesus’ followers were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26) and where the Gospel of Matthew was probably written. Antioch hosted a number of church councils, developed its own characteristic school of biblical interpretation, and produced such influential Christian figures as the martyr-bishop Ignatius of Antioch and the pillar-saint Simeon. Highlights include the museum (which houses a superb collection of mosaics from Antioch, Daphne and Seleucia Pieria, St. Peter's Grotto, the cave church came to be known as the meeting place of the early Christians. We return back across the border to our hotel in Aleppo for dinner and overnight stay.

Day 8, Tuesday 18 October

Krak des Chevaliers - Sednaya We leave Aleppo and drive to ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), once the most important city on the Mediterranean coast. We will see the remains of its Canaanite palaces, temples, fortifications, streets, drainage systems and tombs. In its library the famous texts were found written on clay tablets, using the earliest known alphabet from which all modern alphabets are derived. The largest temple is that of Baal, the infamous Canaanite god mentioned frequently in the Bible. We continue to journey south viewing Crusader Castles, Qalaat Marqab and Qalaat Saladin and in the afternoon comes one of the highlights of the tour, a visit to the mightiest of all Crusader fortresses, Krak des Chevaliers. Remarkably well-preserved, it is a fortress within a fortress which even Saladin found to be impregnable. Completed in 1170, it housed a garrison of 4,000. Close by is the monastery of St. George which will visit if time allows. We continue to Sednaya where we can enjoy a peaceful evening at our Sednaya hotel.

Day 9, Wednesday 19 October

Sednaya, Maalula to Damascus This morning we visit Sednaya, a place of pilgrimage second only to Jerusalem during the Middle ages. The monastery houses an icon said to be executed by St. Luke before which both Muslim and Christian women pray that they will become pregnant. In the afternoon time will be spent in Maalula, a village of some charm, its tempered houses piled up on the lower slopes of an escarpment rising sheer above the village. Here Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken. There are Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches, the former having elements going back to the Byzantine period and the chapel may have been constructed before the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. We return to our Damascus hotel for our final evening.

Day 10, Thursday 20 October

Our journey home We leave our hotel after breakfast for Damascus airport and our return flight to London. We plan to arrive back at Heathrow at around 2:00 pm in the afternoon.