I visited Syria during troubled times, when no other tourists dared to enter the country. As a result I visited the main sites, usually crowded with tourists, having them only for myself. Serjilla was one of the cases and I didn't even pay for the entrance as the ticket office was closed.
It's not easy to get here, and even more difficult to visit several of the Dead Cities in the same trip. There is no obvious public transportation although a local may find his way with the complex network of minivans and shared taxis. A car is a must but right now is not advisable at all to rent a car and explore alone. So we hired a taxi driver to drive us from Aleppo, passing in Serjilla, Crak des Chevaliers and spending the night in Palmyra, returning to Aleppo at noon next day, and for the whole thing we paid 160 Eur.
Serjilla was the first stop of this trip. Unfortunately the driver rushed us a bit and gave us 30 min for the visit. Geez... I could use a couple of hours, and when I returned to the car, 45 min later, I was a feeling a bit frustrated. Anyway, it was GREAT and one of the best moments of the trip to the Middle East.
From Wikipedia, about the Dead Cities: (
visit link)
The Dead Cities (or Forgotten Cities) are a group of 700 abandoned settlements in northwest Syria between Aleppo and Hama. They date back to before the fifth century CE and contain many remains of Christian Byzantine architecture. Important dead cities include Qal'at Sim'an, Serjilla and al Bara.
The Dead Cities are situated in an elevated area of limestone known as Belus Massif. These ancient settlements cover an area 20–40 km (12–25 mi) wide and some 140 km (87 mi) long.[1]
Dead Cites were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, under the name of "Ancient Villages of Northern Syria".[2]
Chris Wickham, in the authoritative survey of the post-Roman world, Framing the Early Middle Ages (2006) argues that these were settlements of prosperous peasants which have few or no specifically urban features. The impressive remains of domestic architecture are the result of the prosperity of peasants who benefited from a strong international trade in olive oil at the end of Antiquity.
The other arguments are that these were prosperous cities that flourished as they were located along major trade routes in the Byzantine Empire, and not merely prosperous peasant settlements. When the area was conquered by the Arabs, the trade routes changed and these towns lost the majority of the business that their economies depended on.
The settlers eventually abandoned their towns and headed for other cities that were flourishing under the Arabs and the Umayyads as increasing urbanisation took its toll.
The majority of the dead cities are very well preserved and tourists can access the sites quite freely despite the ongoing archaeological excavations and some restoration work, though some of the Dead Cities are quite difficult to reach without a guide.
Relatively few of the Dead Cities have any type of archaeological excavations taking place, and unfortunately the majority of people living in close proximity to them have no understanding of their importance. However, the local inhabitants are always welcoming to visitors.
Most sites are now easily accessible and within the last two or three years many roads have been asphalted. There is a guidebook with a detailed map that is extremely useful for finding the lesser known sites: " The Church of St. Simeon Stylites and Other Archaeological Sites in the Mountains of Simeon and Halaqa" (Arabic Text by Abdallah Hadjar, Translated by Paul Amish).
From Wikipedia, about Serjilla: (
visit link)
Serjilla (Arabic: ????????) is one of the best preserved of the Dead Cities in northwestern Syria. It is located in the Jebel Riha, approx. 65 km north from Hama and approx. 80 km southwest from Aleppo, very close to ruins of another "dead city" of Bara. The settlement arose in a natural basin and prospered from cultivating of grapes and olives. A bath complex indicates the wealth of the community. Unusually, it was built in 473, already during the time of Christianity. In 1899 an archeological team from the Princeton University discovered a large mosaic on the main hall floor but it had disappeared when the team returned six years later. Traces of now destroyed murals were found on the walls as well. Next to the baths stands an andron, a meeting place for men. Further east there was a small church but not much remains of it. Among ruins of numerous residential houses it is worth to mention a two storey villa which still stands today. In two lower rooms one can still see an arch which would have supported the ceiling. This feature was typical in the Dead Cities. Behind the villa there is a sunken building with an olive press.
Like most other of the "Dead Cities", Serjilla was abandoned in the seventh century when the Arabs conquered the region and discontinued merchant routes between Antioch and Apamea.