Public transport between the cities is well organised. But to reach outlaying historical sites it's easier and faster to take one of the many cheap taxi's around the country,
Me and my family did it in style and chartered Hassan and his 1952 Pontiac for some days. It costs us some 35euro/50USD per day, fuel and driver included!
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2. First stop, dusty Masyaf, 50 kilometer west of Hama.
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Masyaf castle dates back to the Byzantine era. It served to protect the trade routes to cities further inland such as Banyas. The castle itself stands about 20 meters above the surrounding plain.
Evidence suggests that the lower layers and foundations of the castle are of Byzantine origin. Later levels were added by the Nizari Ismailis, Mamluks, and Ottomans. Masyaf and the surrounding town functioned as the capital of a Nizari emirate from the middle of the 12th century until the end of the 13th century. Saladin besieged it in May of 1176 but the siege did not last long and it concluded with a truce. Current research indicates it was held by the Assassins at that time.
Restoration funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Historic Cities Support Programme began in 2000. (Wikipedia)
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7. We continue in the direction of the Libanese frontier.
8. And we pass the Monestery of Saint George.
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10. But the final destination of this day is the famous Krak des Chevaliers!
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Krak des Chevaliers is a Crusader fortress in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval military castles in the world. In Arabic, the fortress is called Qal'at al-Ḥiṣn (Arabic: قلعة الحصن), the word Krak coming from the Syriac karak, meaning fortress. It is located 65 km west of the city of Homs, close to the border of Lebanon.
Krak des Chevaliers was the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades. It was expanded between 1150 and 1250 and eventually housed a garrison of 2,000. The inner curtain wall is up to 100 feet thick at the base on the south side, with seven guard towers 30 feet in diameter.(Wikipedia)
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17. The day after we're heading north.
18. In the direction of Apamea, the western counterpart of Palmyra.
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Apamea was a treasure city and stud-depot of the Seleucid kings, was capital of Apamene, on the right bank of the Orontes River. Its site is found about 55 km to the northwest of Hama, Syria, overlooking the Ghab valley. It was fortified and enlarged by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC, who so named it after his Bactrian wife, Apama. In pursuance of his policy of Hellenizing Syria, it bore the Macedonian name of Pella. The fortress was placed upon a hill; the windings of the Orontes, with the lake and marshes, gave it a peninsular form, whence its other name of Cherronêsos. Seleucus had his commissariat there, 500 elephants, with 30,000 mares, and 300 stallions. The pretender, Diodotus Tryphon, made Apamea the basis of his operations. Located at a strategic crossroads for Eastern commerce, the city flourished to the extent that its population eventually numbered half a million. It was one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis. (Wikipedia)
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20. Highstreet once was 2,5 kilometer long!
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25. Once a metropolis, now a simple village...
To be continued....to the Cities of the Dead!....