Things to see and do Coastline & Orontes River

Other point of interest, meghazel, which are monumental funeral towers. They will return to the fourth century B.C. Imposing dimensions, the two towers still proudly erected facing the sea were part of a whole forming a necropolis. They both have a recorded that is reached under the tower by a stair of stairs (a torch torch is indispensable). In Persian style, the highest of the cylindrical towers adorned with lions'landforms. Further south (1 km to the right on the Homs Road) is another funeral monument of the same type: the Bourj el-Bezzak.

Al-Maabad ("the temple" in Arabic) is dedicated to the Phoenician god Melqart associated with the Egyptian Echmoun and the Hercules of Greeks. A sanctuary is high in the centre of a basin. The square pillars are égyptisants, while merlons (parts full of a deux parapet between two niches) of baja (inner and central part of a temple) are mesopotamian influences. The telling of the primitive city is located right next to the temple. On the other side of the Wadi, the traces of a stadium are distinguished. The stands are clearly visible, and the track is tufts of herbs and pebbles. Back to the temple, return to the paved road, through the dessinés paths. We see the towers through barbed wire.

Another visit can come to complement that of krak. The convent dedicated to Saint George was very frequented during the feast of the Holy day on 6 June, and on 14 September, on the occasion of the Feast of the Cross. Devoted to the Greek Orthodox cult, this massive building of 52 rooms was held in the time of Emperor Justinian, in the life of the century in B.C., and is inhabited today by a small dozen monks. One of them will take you to the chapels. Donation possible. Two superimposed chapels deserve a visit. The oldest, on the ground floor, dates back to the th century and presents a beautiful ebony wooden iconostasis depicting the life of the saint. Beautiful Damascus tiles are hidden under red curtains. The second chapel, built in 1857, just above the first, also includes beautiful icons accompanied by a collection of objects of worship.

Access. The convent is located 11 km from the Krak des Chevaliers, near the village of Mamarita. On the road, ask Al-Houmayra or Deir Mar Georgis, Arab appellations of the convent. You can also charter a taxi from the krak or your hotel, about 200 LS the return (one quarter of an hour).

To have a complete view on the fortress and its beautiful situation on the outskirts of the village, stop on the road from Hama. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, a Swiss organization founded in 1988, finances the restoration of the castle. First, the ramparts have to be crossed. The entrance hall is certainly, with the walls, the best preserved part of the castle. Another interesting piece: the central dungeon. As the crusaders did not have time to wear their claw, it remains a valuable example of Arab military art probably dating from the ayyoubide period.

The round of round on the ramparts of the castle reveals the dense composition of the city and the harmony of the seafront of the town of Tartous. Some elements of the castle would come from the fortress of the th century.

To complete this historic vision, observe the fort at the beautiful angle towers (visible from the boat).

A huge building for an informative. Nothing except plans.

This is a Syrian-phoenician temple, the typical plan of which is used by both the Syrian, Roman and Mesopotamian world. The current remains that are Roman (around the th century) occupy the location of a cult sémito-cananéen in honour of Baal who was assimilated to Zeus Baétocécien. The sacred perimeter was surrounded by an imposing enclosure. Today, the north side of the temple is particularly well preserved (note the gigantic proportions of the stone blocks reminiscent of Baalbek in Lebanon). Situated at the centre of the sacred perimeter, the sanctuary of the divinity is evident, especially through the steps intended to drive it. It was in this particular place that sacrifices were made, in the open air. Take a look at the door, learn little by little from the wild herbs. On his lintel, an eagle surrounded by two male allegories is still visible. One is the evening star and the other is the morning star. A Greek inscription of 171, on the door is, records the dedication of the whole by the premises. Right across the road, right across the road, lies the ruins of what seems to have been an auxiliary temple, which has become a monastery.

The church west of the palace, built under Justinian, is a beautiful complex complex of domes, despite an austere exterior appearance due to its rectangular shape. The staircase, located in the north-west part of a square tower, gives access to the first level supported by two of the columns marking the nave. The decoration of the two buildings is made up of rows of basalt separated by brick foundations. All the vaults are carefully furnished bricks, while window jambs are a limestone block. There is nothing left of the barracks, once located south of the palace, or of the double enclosure that complemented the whole. Take advantage of this visit to discover the many types of Byzantine cross as well as the very fine sculptures of the entrances of the two monuments.

Place of worship dedicated to the life of the local saint, whose celebration is celebrated on 6 February. A unique son of a family of notables from Emesa to the Roman Emperor's balance, Eliân converted to Christianity. A decision that his father does not like. In the middle of the third century, followers of the new religion were persecuted. After attempting to fléchir his son's faith, the father must resolve to sacrifice him. Saint Eliân will be martyred in Homs in 285. The edict of Milan, 28 years later, was going to establish religious freedom through the empire. The worship of the saint could then burst into the great day. In 1970, during the restoration of the church (whose existence was not mentioned before the th century), a set of frescoes was discovered in what is considered a former martyrium. Some would be dated th or th century and would replace mosaics of the century. In the centre, Christ Pantocrator is surrounded by the right of the Virgin Mary and Marie-Madeleine, while on his left is Saint Jean Baptiste and an unidentified character. Four apostles are embedded in two niches: on the left, Luc and Jean and, on the right, Marc and Matthew. Finally, various medallions represent prophets and apostles. As a result of this discovery, the interior of the church was painted entirely by religious scenes with vivid colours. They were completed in 1973.

Today, the church is the former seat of the Syrian Catholic Patriarchate. The place would not be of any particular interest if, in July 1953, there was not a piece of cloth, below the altar, which passes to be a belt of the Virgin Mary. The keeper of the place will show you the belt, a piece of white cloth stuffed in a stone tank. It is 74 cm in length, 5 cm wide, 3 cm thick and is probably silk and linen. Its authenticity would be attested by the existence of a th century chapel under the present church. The whole lay under the altar, returning to this place by those who discovered it first, the men entrusted with the restoration of the church in 1852. The objects surrounding the belt at the time of its discovery are displayed in a church chapel: the stone tank in which the belt has been found, the copper disk which covers the tank and a metal cylinder containing a fragment of human bone with no great relation to the rest. On the details, very good brochure in English.

A Muslim sanctuary recognizable by its grey metal domes that reflect on the sun. Today, a very respected place of worship, it offers visitors an unusual spectacle: the crowd of the faithful carrying out his duty, pressed by the accelerated pace of urban life, mingled with young cireurs of shoes proposing a quick cleaning the time of prayer.

The glimpse of the mosque is confined to a part of the tomb, the prayer room hidden with the eyes of women. In 1908, the primitive mausoleum was demolished and rebuilt in Ottoman fashion. It passes to contain the tomb of Khaled ibn Al-Walid, the Arab conqueror of Syria. It was he who finally ended the Roman stranglehold on the country at the Battle of the Yarmouk in 636. He died in Medina. His wood cenotaph is exhibited at the Damascus National Museum (Room 2). The prayer room is square and surmounted by a dome. In front of the mosque, the old cemetery in the garden shows some antique pieces. The tomb of the protector of the city was an obligatory passage of processions which, until 1950, led the city. During seven consecutive Thursday and until the Orthodox Thursday of the Orthodox people, the city, devoted to the sacred spring, saw a parade of Sufi sheikhs followed by their followers preceded by the banner of Khaled ibn Al-Walid.

The Greater Homs Mosque. The building would be, if one sticks to the permanence of the location of places of worship, at the place of the former temple of the Sun, which was then converted to Saint John Cathedral. The site map would thus be the same as that of the Great Mosque in Damascus. An entrance allows you to access the prayer room by the souk. The central mihrab is decorated with a golden mosaic representing a vine. The courtyard is equipped with a stage with black and white tiles. The few blocks in which there are dates of previous places of worship. The mosque, like the whole old town, incorporates reuse materials. The square minaret, characteristic of homsiotes minarets, dates back to 980. C.C.