We have had requests for a tour to Syria for several years, and are pleased for the first time to present this 11-day program including flights on Royal Jordanian via Amman. Since we are in the area, it seems a good opportunity to offer an optional extension to Lebanon as well. We’ll travel overland and then return home from Beirut on Easter Sunday. Spring is the most desirable period to visit this area with its hot summers and cold winters.

We’ve all learned about the cradle of civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. On this tour we will stay on the banks of the Euphrates at Derezzor, while exploring Halabiya, Raqqa and Rassafa enroute to Aleppo. We’ll visit five UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites in Syria: Aleppo, Citadel of Salah Ed-Din, Damascus, Krak des Chevaliers and Palmyra.

Perhaps images of Crusaders castles are your first association of Syria. You might also know this area as the Levant – the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. With its ethnic, religious and linguistic mix, as well as strategic location, the Levant grew wealthy during the Venetian period as a commercial center, both as a producer and transit center.

On this trip to Syria we will wander through time beginning with the great Mesopotamian city of Mari founded in the third millennium BC as an upstream trading post. We’ll stroll through the covered bazaar of Aleppo, the oldest in the word according to UNESCO. World travelers who have visited Iran will be interested to see a bazaar that predates even the souks in Tabriz. The Guinness Book of world records records the strange and wonderful, and you’ll find no one exceeds St. Simeon who spent forty years at the top of a column in the fifth century.

Continue on a five day extension to Lebanon where in Beirut we’ll see the Synagogue under construction, a testimony to Lebanon’s commitment to religious respect.

Lebanon carries a travel warning from the U.S. Department of State and it is printed in this brochure, however we expect our groups to be welcomed with traditional friendship and hospitality. We are working with excellent counterparts that are accustomed to taking good care of American guests. Please join our small group of no more than 15 travelers plus our escort and guide.

Gwen Erwood

President, Travel Concepts International

We have had requests for a tour to Syria for several years, and are pleased for the first time to present this 11-day program including flights on Royal Jordanian via Amman. Since we are in the area, it seems a good opportunity to offer an optional extension to Lebanon as well. We’ll travel overland and then return home from Beirut on Easter Sunday. Spring is the most desirable period to visit this area with its hot summers and cold winters.

We’ve all learned about the cradle of civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. On this tour we will stay on the banks of the Euphrates at Derezzor, while exploring Halabiya, Raqqa and Rassafa enroute to Aleppo. We’ll visit five UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites in Syria: Aleppo, Citadel of Salah Ed-Din, Damascus, Krak des Chevaliers and Palmyra.

Perhaps images of Crusaders castles are your first association of Syria. You might also know this area as the Levant – the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. With its ethnic, religious and linguistic mix, as well as strategic location, the Levant grew wealthy during the Venetian period as a commercial center, both as a producer and transit center.

On this trip to Syria we will wander through time beginning with the great Mesopotamian city of Mari founded in the third millennium BC as an upstream trading post. We’ll stroll through the covered bazaar of Aleppo, the oldest in the word according to UNESCO. World travelers who have visited Iran will be interested to see a bazaar that predates even the souks in Tabriz. The Guinness Book of world records records the strange and wonderful, and you’ll find no one exceeds St. Simeon who spent forty years at the top of a column in the fifth century.

Continue on a five day extension to Lebanon where in Beirut we’ll see the Synagogue under construction, a testimony to Lebanon’s commitment to religious respect.

Lebanon carries a travel warning from the U.S. Department of State and it is printed in this brochure, however we expect our groups to be welcomed with traditional friendship and hospitality. We are working with excellent counterparts that are accustomed to taking good care of American guests. Please join our small group of no more than 15 travelers plus our escort and guide.

Gwen Erwood

President, Travel Concepts International