Umayed Mosque in Damascus: This mosque is one of the four most important mosques in Islam – behind those of Mecca and Medina, but vying for next in order of precedence with Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock. Quite simply it was the first of the great mosques. Before my visit the oldest mosque I had visited was that of Ibn Tulun in Cairo; the Ummayad mosque predates Ibn Tulun by some 150 years. And they could not be more different! Abandone all your pre-conceived notions about mosques: Damscus’s pride and joy has to be seen to be believed!
Citadel of the aleppo: The remarkable Citadel really is a double-take experience. You certainly cannot miss it. At the eastern end of the old city a 30m wide dry moat surrounds a huge oval mount. The 50m tall steeply sloping walls are faced with limestone blocks, making the entire construct look artificial. However, this towering island is a natural outcrop. Remains of a sanctuary to the Semitic sky god Hadad, only recently discovered, date use of the site to the middle of the third millenium BC. It formed the acropolis of the fledgling city under the Assyrians, Persians, Seleucids and Romans, by which time the worship of Hadad had become that of Zeus. Following the Islamic conquest Nur ad-Din continued to fortify the citadel, making it a near impregnable fortress and prison in the war against the Crusaders. What the visitor sees today largely dates from the work carried out by the Mamluks during the 13th-15th centuries.