The town of Safita is spread across two hills, one dominated by the remains of the Crusader castle and the other boasting the somewhat less attractive Safita Cham Palace hotel. Although growing rapidly around its sprawling outskirts, the old part of town around the castle is still very picturesque, with lots of old buildings and narrow cobbled streets. The population is divided roughly equally between Alawi and Greek Orthodox, the latter having settled here early in the 18th century. Safita is popular as a summer resort, attracting lots of holidaymakers from the Gulf, and during the height of the season its small roads get heavily congested with traffic. However, the streets come alive with people in the early evening, as the younger generation of the Greek Orthodox population stroll around, women arm-in-arm and men watching, each side sizing up potential husbands and wives.
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Safita information
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Background
Background
The name Safita (shortened from Bourj Safita) is the Arabic translation of the name by which the Crusaders knew it: Chastel Blanc or ‘White Castle’. Thought to have originally been built by the Crusaders in the first years of the 12th century in the course of the First Crusade and designed to form a forward defence for the port of Tartus, it was subsequently largely dismantled by Nur ud-Din, to whom it fell in 1167. After reoccupying it, the Crusaders handed over control to the Templars. (The damage wrought by Nur ud-Din, along with a severe earthquake in 1202, necessitated major rebuilding work.) The Templars remained in possession of it until 1271, when it was taken by the Mamluk sultan, Baibars, who shortly after took Krak des Chevaliers.
You can get microbuses to Safita from Homs and Tartus. During summer Kadmous run two daily buses here from Damascus. The main microbus station is near the roundabout at the east end of town.
Safita
Microbus and bus
The main bus station is near the roundabout at the east end of town. Most services are in the form of microbuses, which run to Tartus (45 mins, S£20), Homs (1 hr, S£50), Dreikish (S£20), and Mashta Helu (S£20). There’s also a very limited service to Hosn Suleiman (S£15). During summer Kadmous also run Pullman buses from their ticket office opposite the entrance to the Safita Cham Palace. There are 2 services daily to Damascus at 0700 and 1500 (S£100).
Taxi
There’s a private taxi stand next door to the Kadmous ticket office.
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