Damascus
Damascus is arguably the oldest inhabited city in the world, although Aleppo also claims this title. The city is located in a perfect position as the first stopping point for travellers from the East. Syria’s capital city is a contrasting bustle of ancient and modern where donkeys vie with cars and tower blocks loom over traditional houses. There is still a street called Straight, albeit with wires and television aerials, a labyrinthine souq, a superb national museum, which pulls together the complex array of peoples who have inhabited the area and endless cafes in which to drink coffee and play backgammon. The old part of the city exudes history and culture and also manages to sustain a notion of the Orient as it is filled with hectic bazaars, mosques, minarets and blind alleys.
Boutique hotels are beginning to flourish in parts of the ancient city and restaurants are starting to display signs of refinement with what is one of the world’s most complex cuisines.
To the south of Damascus lie the impressive Roman remains of Bosra while the region to the north of the city is a bastion of Christianity with the hillside town of Maaloula and a handful of remote monasteries.