Cultural Tour in Syria & Lebanon

16 Days / 15 nights

Day 1: Arrival Beirut:
Arrival to Hariri Int. Airport. Transfer if applicable, meet and greet, hotel check-in. Lebanese welcome dinner ( Karam Restaurant in Down Town of Beirut: including Soft drink. Water, Coffee or Tea. Overnight at the Coral Beach Hotel Beirut.

Day 2: Beirut / Qana Deir Al Qamar & Beiteddine / Beirut
Breakfast. We head south to Qana, where Christ 'had' to perform His first miracle at the request of His Mother,then we visit Deir El Kamar, former capital of Mount Lebanon,Visit the Notre Dame church and Fakhreddine mosque dating from the 17th and 18th Centuries. After a short stop, proceed to Beiteddine to visit the magnificent Palace of Emir Bechir known as a masterpiece of Oriental architecture and which today has become the summer residence of the Lebanese president. Dinner at Mounir Restaurant at Broumana Soft drink. Water, Coffee or Tea. Overnight at the Coral Beach Hotel Beirut.

Day 3: Beirut/ Douma / Byblos / Beirut
Breakfast. / Drive north to Douma, visit St John The Baptist Monastery of the 5th. Century. On to the coast to visit Jbeil (Byblos) - the Phoenician city known arguably as the oldest continually inhabited town in the world. In Byblos, we would visit the Crusaders castle, the Phoenician temples, the Roman Theater, the Royal Necropolis and enjoy a lovely promenade through its port. Dinner & overnight at the Overnight at the Coral Beach Hotel Beirut.

Day 4: Beirut/ Dog River / Jeita Grotto / Beirut
Breakfast. Drive north to the Cedars, most beautiful scenery, visit to Gibran's Museum. Drive
back to the Jeita Grotto, this is an enormous cavern with stalactite and stalagmite of every Imaginable shape and size, one of Lebanon's most unusual tourist attractions. Then a short drive to the Dog River where history's great conquerors left 19 inscriptions carved on the cliffs to immortalize their glories Overnight at the Coral Beach Hotel Beirut.

Day 5: Beirut
We are going to The Ashrafieh for the Sunday Liturgy. We will visit the Al Hamra commercial district, Martyr's Square and the Al Rouché to look at and admire its most famous rock, shopping, dinner at Hotel. Overnight at the Coral Beach Hotel Beirut.

Day 6: Beirut/ Baalbek / Zahle' / Damascus
Breakfast. We cross the mountains into the fertile Bekka Valley to visit Baalbek. This is one of the largest and best preserved examples of Roman architecture in the world and we'll visit its three massive temples dedicated to the gods; Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. On to Zahle, "the bride of the valley", where poets imaginations run wild,we stop for photo opportunity where the ancestor of early migrations to North America started. We then cross the border to Damascus. Damascene welcome dinner. Overnight at Cham Palace.

Day 7: Damascus / Chahba /Bosra/ Izraa/ Damascus
This is a full day excursion to the Roman capital of Arabia. Some Egyptians records mentioned Bosra in 1300 BC. We will visit the 6th century Church of Ezraa, the Roman amphitheater of Bosra, the mosaic museum of Shahba and the ruins of Byzantine Qanawat. Back to Damascus. Dinner & Overnight at Cham Palace.

Day 8: Damascus
Breakfast.(walking & shopping day) We are now in the oldest inhabited city in The World. We start with Souk Al Hamidieh, the 300 years old first fully roofed shopping mall in the world, passing lots of shops of oriental arts and fancy fabrics, passing the Umayyad Mosque and The Azem Palace of the Ottoman,the largest in Syria, keep walking to Souk Al Bzourieh ' The hot spot for herbs 'then to the biblical street called Straight on the way to visit the Patriarchate of Antioch Cathedral, keep walking On to Bab Sharqi, home to St Paul's Window and the St Ananias Chapel which is the first known church ever built. Dinner & Overnight at Cham Palace.

Day 9: Damascus/ Saidnaya / Maalula / Palmyra
Breakfast. We head to The Convent of Our Lady of Saidnaya, built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian after a miraculous vision of the Virgin Mary. The convent today welcomes pilgrims from various Eastern Christian sects and houses an icon purportedly painted by St Luke Himself. The Monastery is very famous for its miracles to Muslims and Christians alike. We then continue to Maalula where the inhabitants still speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ. We'll visit the monasteries of St ( Takla or Thekla), ,and St Sergius, 5th century Monastery, We will continue to Palmyra: We visit the magnificent Roman oasis city of Tadmor, as it was known in pre-Roman times. It was the main host of the Camel trains of Silk trades from China and the Spices trades from India. This was the home of Zenobia, the ambitious Queen who challenged Rome. After visit The Triumphal Arch, Colonnaded Street. Ascend to Al-Maani Castle to watch the desert sunset and enjoy a lovely Arabian tent dinner at the Hotel. Overnight at Zenobia Cham Hotel.

Day 10: Palmyra / Homs / Hama
Breakfast. Visit the Tombs: Funerary Towers & Underground Tombs and the colossal Temple of Bel, The Museum.We Continue to Homs to visit St Elian Al Homsi Church, a very miraculous Saint of the early centuries and The Church of Um Elzennar, where you see the actual rope (belt) that belonged to The Theotokos. Proceed to Hama. Dinner and overnight at Apamea Cham Palace.

Day 11: Hama / Apamea / Serjilla / Aleppo.
Breakfast. This city is famous for it wooden singing Norias (water wheels) on the Orontes River. It is also famous for its glorious sweets such as Cheibeiat and Halawet Al Gibin. We will visit The Hellenistic city of Apamea, 323 BC, named after the Persian wife of one of the Generals of Alexanader the Great and razed by The Roman Emperor Pompey 64 BC. We will walk the Cardo Maxim, the main cobbled street marked by the white- fluted spired columns. We visit Serjillah: the biggest Byzantine abandoned city in Central Syria, then on to Aleppo, Dinner & overnight at the Riga Palace.

Day 12: Aleppo
After the Liturgy at the Cathedral, we proceed to the old city and visit the Citadel. This is 13th century citadel with a draw bridge and its 22 meter deep moat, was rebuilt by the Mamluks early 16th century. Then shopping at the Labyrinthine Souk whose vaulted stone ceilings are periodically open to the sky for air and sun. The narrow streets reveal 14th Century curio. Dinner & Overnight at Riga hotel.

Day 13: Aleppo/ St. Simeon/ Tartous / Wadi Al-Nasara
We travel to St Simeon The Stylites Monastery, 5th century Saint who spent 38 blazing summers and bitter winters wedded to His pillar, reposed in 459, buried in Antioch after the imperial troops took His body there.(stylites is from stylos meaning "Pillar" in Greek).We drive to Tartous, a Phoenician port, we visit most famous Church built in the 3Rd century, it houses another famous St Luke's icon of the Theotokos, and has a miraculous Alter that survived the great earthquake 2 centuries after it was built, according to Pope John II. Drive to Al Nasrah at Al Wadi Overnight at Al Khair Hotel.

Day 14: Wadi Alnasra/ Krak des Chevaliers/ Al-Wadi
Breakfast. Visit the Wadi Area & Al-Nasra. Proceed to visit the Krak des Chevaliers. Visit Al Hewash Hospital. Other sites as desirable. Dinner & Overnight at Al Kahair Hotel, Naserah.

Day 15: Al-Wadi /Tripoli/ Beirut
Drive to enter the northern border of Lebanon, stop at Tripoli for photo opportunity at El Mina, and the Archdiocese, then to the famous Balamand Monastery/Orthodox Seminary School of Antioch, a reputable university in the region. Drive to Jounieh for an ice cream stop, then to the hotel to refresh and get ready to attend a farewell dinner party at local restaurant (Khan Elmir in Zouk Mkael) Area. Including an entertainment of 2 singers , belly dancer & ALL beverages are included. Overnight at the Coral Beach Hotel Beirut.

Day 16: Beirut / Departure
Breakfast. Transfer to the airport. Assist with departure formalities.

• Drinks (mineral water, alcoholic, soft drink, coffee or tea …) excluding the 3 Dinners at Local restaurants in Lebanon, as mentioned above.
• Lunches.
• Personal extras.
• Exit tax at the Syrian Land Borders: 500 SYP pp/ approx 12 USD /pp.
• Travel and personal insurance.
• Tips for guide and driver.
• Portages at Airport.
• Lebanese Visa, Multiple entries.

Contact: Michael Alyas

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