Apamee

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. Right before we arrived to the village I saw many tanks in a shed (it was the first and only time in the trip). I wanted to take a photo, but the guide stopped me, telling me it was not safe. Other than this, I was told that right when the war started, many mosaics were taken indoors and locked (and the photo I am adding might not seem much, but this is the place where they are kept). From my photos the length of columns still standing was reduced, but I can't tell if this happened after Michael or Thomas' visit. Last but not least, probably the most striking image was that of goats that were roaming freely among the fragments of columns.

Afamia was much affected by the civil unrest in Syria and basically closed to visitors until summer 2022. We had the place for ourselves. It is not on the program yet of tour operators. The modern town of Afamia is badly damaged and very few people have returned. You need a private car and guide to reach the place and pass the security checks. But the huge Colonnade of almost 2 kilometers is an impressive sight, and one of the longest in the Roman world. Not much destruction, a great relief. Best to walk the whole length. No entrance fee. 

In May 2009, I visited the Great Colonnade at Apamea, one of the longest streets in the Roman world. During this trip, I stayed in room 203 of the Baron Hotel, Aleppo, the oldest hotel in Syria, the same room where Agatha Christie wrote the first part of "Murder on the Orient Express." The Baron Hotel organized a car and driver to take me and another guest on a day tour to visit Serjilla and Al-Bara, two of the Dead Cities, and Apamea.