The coast and the Jebel Ansariye travel guide

Background

The Jebel Ansariye has historically acted as a barrier, with the Homs Gap, to the south of Tartus, providing the only easy access between the coast and the interior. As a result, the coast is culturally very distinct from inland Syria, its development linked to events in the Mediterranean basin rather than the Fertile Crescent or desert to the east. The success of the Phoenicians, who established a string of important city-states along the coast during the second to first millennium BC, was based firmly on maritime trade throughout the Mediterranean and indeed, all along the coast, wherever its natural features allowed for even the smallest of harbours, settlements have existed since ancient times. It was along this coast that the Crusaders established their foothold in the region during the medieval period, building castles up in the mountains to protect the corridor formed by the coastal plain and so allowing them to move between present-day Turkey in the north and Jerusalem, their ultimate goal and reason for coming to the region, in the south.

As well as presenting a natural barrier separating the coastal strip from the interior of Syria, the mountains have also served as a place of refuge for religious minorities facing persecution. Indeed, they take their name from one such group, the Alawis, also known as the ‘Nusayriya’ or ‘Ansariya’. Similarly, the Ismaili Assassins took refuge here during the 12th century, consolidating their military strength by building a series of castles in much the same ways as the Crusaders.

Getting around

Travelling up and down the coast is easy and straightforward, but the mountains present more of a challenge. Tartus and Lattakia make good bases from which to explore the Jebel Ansariye; the major places of interest (Krak des Chevaliers, Safita, Qala’at Marqab and Qala’at Salah ud-Din) can all be reached fairly easily by public transport. Bus and minibus services also operate to more remote areas but tend to be pretty erratic. Having said that, if you have plenty of time and patience, it is certainly possible to get around the mountains using a combination of public transport, hitching and the odd bit of walking.

In order to explore this area in detail, however, you really need your own transport. Even then, the greatest challenge is actually finding your way around. An intricate web of tiny roads criss-cross the region and navigating them is made all the more difficult by the absence of any really accurate maps or consistent signposting. The best available map is in the Ministry of Tourism free handout entitled The Coast. This covers the whole coastal strip along with the Jebel Ansariye, extending as far east as the Al Ghab plains (thus including Masyaf, Apamea, Jisr al-Shuhgur, etc). Unfortunately, however, in places the sheer density of tiny roads makes it very difficult (and in some cases, impossible) to read. Even if you follow our route descriptions carefully, your chances of getting lost are quite high. On the other hand (as always in Syria), you can be sure of plenty of help if you need it.

Over the last few years, the quality of the roads in the mountains has improved dramatically, with many of them having been widened and resurfaced. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of extremely narrow and heavily pot-holed roads (or worse still, sudden changes from one to the other). Together with the steep gradients and endless sharp twists and turns (not to mention the hazards of playing children or wandering animals), this makes for some extremely demanding driving conditions in places.

Ins and outs

Getting there and away

Both Lattakia and Tartus are well connected by public bus from the main inland centres of Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. There are also some decent train services, with the Aleppo to Lattakia route being an excellent alternative to the bus.