Damascus Travel Guide

Damascus is Syria's largest city and its capital. Said to be the most ancient inhabited city in the history. The focal point of the city is its fascinating Old City, that surrounded by a Roman wall, in which you will find the main covered market. The fascination lies in bartering for treasures deep inside its mysterious oriental souks and the narrow maze of cobbled streets and squares all set among some of the most impressive jewels of Islamic architecture. Be sure to see the Great Mosque that towers over the city.

Damascus, the Syrian capital, is one of the oldest cities in the world ... Its existence is mentioned in the third millennium BC on Mesopotamian tablets of Mari. The city bears the marks (mainly in the old city), of great civilizations that has known: the Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans and Arabs. True city memory, Damascus is living proof that the coexistence between different cultures and religions is possible. These open and curious people will welcome you with joy. At the time of your walk in the city, you will discover monuments, which follow one another, one more impressive than the other.

It boasts an exceptional heritage, foremost among which is its mosque, called Great Umayyad Mosque, built around 705 and the first monumental work of architecture in Islamic history. It is the oldest mosque in the world, with the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which still has its original appearance. Among the other remarkable monuments, include those from the Ottoman period, such as the Azem Palace, built for the Governor of Damascus (As'ad Pasha al-Azem) as a typical Damascene house with a fountain, courtyard and lawns in the center, and many caravanserais (including The khan Assad Pacha in the souk Al Bazurye - eighteenth century), and a National Museum showing the historical and exceptional archaeological wealth of the country.

Don’t miss to Souq al-Hamidiyya, a wide street housing many tiny shops, and is accessed through columns from a Roman temple built on a site. You can get a great view of the city from Mount Qasioun. Visit a restaurant in old Damascus, bathe in a Hammam and finally relax at a Hooka cafe.