Palmyra
Palmyra is a spectacularly situated ancient Roman city.  It is located in the harsh barren Syrian Desert, about 215 km northeast of Damascus.  Palmyra, even before Roman occupation, is first mentioned in ancient documents from around the 2nd millennium BC.  This sand and sun beaten ruin was a key city on the early trade routes bringing goods from Persia to the Mediterranean.  The site now has a long colonnaded street, amphitheatre, and enormous temple reclaimed from the shifting sands that offer hours of exploring what was once a wealthy and elegant city of the ancients.  Nearby, an Arab castle stands watch over the site giving stunning views over the ruined city and the hostile desert landscape that stretches off towards neighbouring Iraq.

Krak des chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers is an intimidating Crusader fortress in the hills close to the Syrian border with Lebanon.  The Krak is one of the most important structures of medieval military architecture in the world and was the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades.  Built in 1031 and expanded by crusaders to its present impenetrable state, the fortress is monstrous with outer walls that are 100 feet thick.  Numerous sieges were undertaken to capture this strategically positioned castle by hostile Muslim armies, yet none succeeded.  There are passages leading to stairwells that descend deep into the pitch black depths of the castle.  Regular tourists and guides never venture to these isolated tunnels, watch where you step, if you make a wrong move down here it can be fatal.

Aleppo
Aleppo is a large city of 2 million people in northern Syria.  It is one of the oldest inhabited cities in history with evidence of human settlement back in the eleventh millennium B.C.  The city was an important trading place due to the fact that it is located at the crossroads of two trade routes and therefore mediated the trade from India, the Tigris, and Euphrates regions.  Aleppo has been occupied by a number of empires over its long history including the Hittites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Mongols, and Ottomans.  The city is dominated by its Lord of Rings style Citadel that towers over a huge dry moat.  Imposing and intimidating by day, at night, the fortress becomes something sinister with an eerie orange glow illuminating the structure.

Hama
Hama is the nicest and most pleasant city in Syria.  It is a welcome change of pace from the two busy cities which it is located between, Damascus and Aleppo.  Hama is located on the banks of the Orontes River in central Syria and is renowned for its 16 Norias, which are giant wooden waterwheels that creek and groan while they rotate day and night.  Historically the Norias were used for watering the gardens and irrigating crops.  Now they are mainly for show, but locals claim that a few have been turning almost constantly for over 700 years.  Hama is a great place to use as a base for key surrounding sites, and to relax and eat a dinner of falafel and cake under the shadow of the creaking Norias.