Aleppo

On the 1st of May 2024 Syria started issuing e-visas on condition the application went via a travel agency (otherwise the payment wouldn't go through) and this is how I spent my trip in the country a week later - with a guide/driver that would make sure we passed all the checkpoints.

To complement Triath's review, the citadel was open to visitors and the biggest visible damage was not from the war (those parts had been reconstructed), but from the earthquake that shook the area the previous year (as in the photo). Other than this, Hotel Baron had been recently closed (the guide, who was a local, had not been aware of this).

And last but not least, Aleppo gave probably the most famous kebabs of Syria - the cherry kebab (which I enjoyed at Naranj restaurant in Damascus - it would be a pity to miss it, all the locals know about it) and the kebak khashkhash which I had (luckily) at Aspasia restaurant in Hama.

Visited on a group tour in April 2023.
It is a pity that this ancient city suffered twice; during the civil war there was a four-year battle for control of the city, which led to the destruction of a significant part of the historical center. And only the city began to rebuild when it became the epicenter of a terrible earthquake in February 2023. I was there a couple of months after this tragedy; it was scary to see whole blocks of ruins. But at the same time, people do not give up. It was nice to see the citizens who were walking in the central square near the Citadel, eating ice cream, listening to music. A sense of normal life in a half-destroyed metropolis.
Aleppo was located in a strategically important location, on the main route of the Great Silk Road, which led to Antioch and was further divided into sea routes.
Here, too, it turned out to be a place of constant clash of civilizations; it logically ended with the construction of the largest fortress of the Islamic world in the 12th and 13th centuries. A modern city was formed under its walls. Its old part is a labyrinth typical of Arab cities with densely built-up buildings, diluted with endless mosques, madrasahs, khans, a huge souk (more precisely, a conglomerate of niche markets), and compact quarters of religious minorities with their own temples. I would especially like to mention the factory for the production of the famous local …

Late afternoon, the first day of Ramadan, and the heat was intense. It was a blessed relief to duck into the shade of the Souq al-Attarine. The brickwork radiated coolness. The stark electric fluorescent lighting of the stalls vanishing off into the distance leant the scene a slightly sci-fi air. Each store front had its own distinct aroma: cumin from a spice stall, laurel Aleppo soap from a soap-seller, honey from where kunafa was being made on huge trays, fat from the fly-blown camel carcass hanging outside a butchers. I cruised back and forth past the souvenir sellers for a while, hoping to get called over and engaged in sales patter (I certainly wasn’t going to make the first move!). No good. It was almost 5pm and the touts and hawkers, the hucksters and salesmen had no energy for haggling. Their eyes were watching the clock, counting down the minutes until they could pull down their roller shutters and head home for their first meal, their first drink and (crucially I think) their first cigarette since sunrise.

Aleppo is – or perhaps was considering that I visited in 2009 prior to the ongoing Battle of Aleppo – an amazing city. It was the souq at the end of the Silk Road, and historically almost anything could be bought there. It also has a rivalry with Damascus about which is actually the oldest continually-inhabited city in the world.

I sat down to write this review thinking that there were …

There has always been a strong rivalry between Aleppo and Damascus. For me though, Aleppo (based on my visit in 2004) has more charm and is more relaxing. It's less touristy and has some amazing restaurants in its ancient quarter. The day trip from Aleppo to Latakia on the coast was a bit of an anticlimax... better to stay in Aleppo if you have the time.

(Visited March 1999 whilst self driving by rentacar around Syria - almost exactly 12 years before the start of the Syrian Civil War and around 13 before the Siege of Aleppo. Who could have anticipated what would happen?)

Aleppo is well worth a day of anyone’s time. With a range of buildings both monumental and everyday from between the 12th and 17th centuries it has been inscribed for its “its cohesive unique urban fabric”. Well, I don’t know about that but it did feel quite “Middle Eastern” and “Arabic” to me. The highlights are the citadel (photo) and the covered souqs. The museum has some superb Hittite statues. Although it has a population of almost 2 million the main sights are within reasonable walking distance of each other. We thought the “famed” Baron Hotel with its “period” (some would say “grotty” – though it may have been renovated since our visit) furnishings and the signature of Lawrence of Arabia in the visitor’s book somewhat overpriced – worth having a look round but there are plenty of other hotels in the area (which is certainly convenient for the historic sights).