Middle Eastern Marvels – 2 – 13 Days Tour

Meeting at the airport according to the schedule of your arrival.
Transfer to the hotel.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure towards Beit Eddine and visit of the Palace.
Continue to Sidon. 

Sidon (or Saïda): Port city of the Lebanese coast, mentioned to in many documents since the fourteenth century.It was, for a long time, a very active shopping center.
Dominated by a citadel and open to a port, the third in Lebanon, it continues, as in the past, to be surrounded by vegetable gardens, banana and lemon trees. And while its old quarters still retain their medieval charm, its main streets are lined with modem shops where all kinds of goods and pastries accumulate.                                                                              

Continue to Tyre.                                                                              
Originally built on an island, Tyr, the Phoenician, was the queen of the seas.
Her wealth was derived from her colonies scattered on the shores of the Mediterranean, but especially from the purple industry. Thus, it was the focus of the great conquerors of antiquity, including the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar and the Macedonian Alexander the Great.                                                            

To Beirut.

Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure to Byblos                                                                                 
Located 40 km north of Beirut, Byblos is one of the oldest cities in the world. Human presence has been registered on this same site, since about 9000 years ago.                                                                                      

Continue to Tripoli.                                                                                    
The second largest city in Lebanon after Beirut. Its name comes from the confederation of three Phoenician cities (Tire, Sidon and Arwad in Syria) that were established there in the fourth century BC. It is for this reason that the Greeks called it Tripolis.
Cross the border into Syria and continue to the Crac des Chevaliers, the most famous fortress of the Middle Ages.                                         

Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Visit the Crac des Chevaliers.                                                                                       
Crac des Chevaliers: Famous Fortress of the Middle Ages. It is the symbol of an era of bloody struggles between Muslims and Crusaders. The crusaders made it the basic element of their system of strongholds on the coast.                                                                                   

Continue to Apamea.                                                                                 
The city of Apamea was founded around 300 BC by Seleucos I and named in honor of his wife Apama. It became a flourishing city and great figures of history stayed there: Cleopatra, Mark Antony, Septimius Severus and Emperor Caracalla.                                                                                               

The city is distinguished by its long ramparts and its main artery lined with twisted columns. As well as its Roman theatre, one of the largest known ancient theatres, whose scene is more than 145 meters                                                                                                                                                                        

Continue to Aleppo.

A flourishing metropolis since the 3rd millennium BC, Aleppo fighting with Damascus for the title of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. The old city has undoubtedly the most beautiful souks of the Middle East.
Lunch during the visit.                                                                                                      

The citadel stands in the middle of the city and dominates it from the height of its fifty meters. It has admirably designed towers and is distinguished by its entrances made with perfection to prevent any enemy intrusion and its iron gates.                                             
Caravanserais: They were intended for the accommodation of traders on the move and their goods. They are famous for their decorated facades, high arched entrances and huge wooden doors that closed at nightfall.                                                                                                    

The Souks: The old souks covered with Aleppo are distinguished by their coffered vaults and their enormous cupolas. Most date back to the 15th and 16th centuries. These are real living museums that offer usa true image of what were the commercial districts and the animation that reigned in the Middle Ages.

Each souk specializes in selling a type of product. ln the charming souks you can also find authentic Bedouin handicrafts, as well as rugs, fabrics and many varieties of delicacies to enjoy, such as the famous Aleppo pistachios, honey-based pastries, almonds and fruits. dry that will satisfy the greediest. You will do the best shopping in the Orient …
Aleppo museum.
Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure towards Saint Simeon.                                                                                      Saint Simeon – City dedicated to the hermit at the column. The cathedral built in his memory is considered one of the most beautiful in the East.

Palmyra: The one that the Romans baptized Palmyra (the city of palms), and that the Syrians call Tadmor (miracle in Aramaic), is the most important oasis of the Syrian desert.
Located 240 km from Damascus, Palmyra is the city of all superlatives. It arises in the midst of golden sands that extend to infinity. An oasis of columns, remains and palm trees that testifies to the splendour of this city that made, one day, tremble Rome … 

The temple of Bel: It was for the Palmyrenes what Zeus was for the Greeks. Its temple is the largest and most majestic building in Palmyra, a unique example of fusion between Greco-Roman and oriental-inspired architecture.
The theatre and the big colonnade: It crosses the city on more than one kilometre, by which the caravans arriving from the desert, passed.
Tombs: including tombs towers, tombs dug, tombs temples or individual tombs.                                                                                       

Continue to Damascus.

Breakfast at the hotel.
Guided tour of Damascus.

Sites visited:
The National Museum – Worth a visit as it provides an overview of the civilizations that have succeeded on Syrian soil. The museum contains statues, seals, jewelry, masks, mosaics, tablets and weavings from the most important sites in the country                                                                                                    

The Umayyad Mosque: Located in the heart of the Medina, the mosque is distinguished by its prayer room, its courtyard and its walls covered with mosaics.                                                                                         

El-Azem Palace: Not far from the Great Mosque, in the labyrinth of the souk is the palace EI-Azem. lt is considered as the sumptuous model of the Damascene house, whose exterior simplicity and sobriety, do not suggest anything about a beautiful and rich interior, with many varieties of flowers, fruit trees and water jets.                                                                                              

Saint Ananian Church: lt is of particular importance because it is attached to the memory of Saint Paul. Before his conversion to Christianity, he had a vision here that blinded him for several days and gave him an unshakeable faith.                                                                                      

The Souk Al-Hamidiye -The most beautiful souk of Damascus. Its shops display all sorts of goods, especially clothes, fabrics, pastries and handicrafts.                                                                                              

Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure towards Bosra.                                                                                           
Bosra – A very ancient city, mentioned in the inscriptions of Akhenaton in the 14th century BC. The most important of its monuments is the famous Roman theater which dates back to the 2nd century AD. With a diameter of 90 meters and a depth of eight meters, it’s stands can accommodate 17000 spectators.                                                                     

Continue to Jerash.                                                                                        
The second largest tourist site in the country after Petra, Jerash became a very important city from the Roman conquests (64-63 BC), becoming one of the largest cities of the Decapolis towards end of the 1st century AD. The city reached a considerable level of wealth, the impressive public works remains and monuments are still visible today and are the most eloquent testimony to their achievements.                                                             

Continue to Amman. 

Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure by the “Route des Rois” towards Madaba.
In the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George of Madaba you can admire the mosaic map of Palestine.

You will then join Mount Nebo.                                                             
Mount Nebo is the most revered site in Jordan since Moses was buried there after contemplating the Promised Land. ln the sanctuary of the death of Moses, and in the church of Saint Lot and Saint Procope, are mosaics in perfect state of conservation.                                                                                            

Last step of the day, the Dead Sea                                                                                              
Many times, cited in the Old Testament, it has a deep spiritual and historical heritage
because it is believed that it was on its shores that the important cities of Sodom, Gomorrah and Zebouin were built.    

The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth, and its high salt level means that visitors will float effortlessly atop the water. You can lather yourself with the mud, which is said to have healing properties and a high concentration of minerals for a completely free spa treatment.   
The peculiarity that will not fail to surprise you, is that it is almost impossible to sink in its waters, four times as salty as ordinary seawater …                                                                        

Overnight at the Dead Sea.

Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure towards Kerak.                                                                                            
Perched on a hill that dominates the whole area, Kerak has grown inside its walls. lts ramparts allowed it to preserve itself throughout the Ottoman period, protecting itself from the Bedouin raids.                                                                 
Continue to Petra.
Overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel. Site visit. Lunch during the visit.                                                                                         Petra: Petra was the capital of the Nabataeans, a Semitic people from Arabia. They settled in this place from the sixth century BC. The site, consisting of about 600 monuments carved in the rock, extends over an area of about 6 km by 3 km. Petra is one of the magical places as there are few in the world. This “chaos of rocks” (meaning of Petra in Greek) shaped by the wind, the sand and the water is at the origin of a mixture of extraordinary colors.

The “Treasure” (Al-Kanaz, in Arabic): This is a gigantic royal tomb that measures 30m wide and 43m high. It is dug out of the rock and has fuelled the imagination of many artists and novelists. It was built by the Nabataeans in the 1st century BC It is inevitably the culmination of a visit to Petra.

Siq: It is a narrow canyon, with a width of 3 to 11 meters, and deep in places up to 100 meters. It was dug by the grains of sand carried by the wind and which eroded the very friable rock.

The Royal Tombs: The Tomb at the Urn, which takes its name from the small urn located at the top of the pediment of the colonnades. The Tomb of the Silk, which owes its name to the veins of the rock and the soft colors of the sandstone. The Tomb of Sextus Florentinus, erected in honor of the Roman governor of the province of Arabia in the year 130.

El Deir: The biggest monument of Petra. It is reached by a staircase of 800 steps carved into the rock. The Lions Tomb, so called because of two lion sculptures that guard the entrance.

The Theatre: It was dug in the time of Christ by the Nabataeans and then enlarged by the Romans.  

Departure towards Wadi Rum

Breakfast at the hotel..                                                                                

Wadi Rum is associated with the memory of TE Lawrence, who settled there with the Arab Revolt troops in 1917. Lawrence of Arabia left marvelous descriptions of this “open-air cathedral” in his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.                                                                                                     

Back to Amman.

Departure from Amman
Transfer to the airport according to the time of your scheduled flight.

Group minimum 06​​

Rates:
EUR1985 Per person sharing 
​Accommodation in Double/Twin rooms, increment 1 single room.