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Aleppo is now Syria‘s second biggest city. It has had a major role in the development of Syria’s trade especially in the early nineties. It remains a popular city for tourists who like to visit the Citadel and the Middle East’s longest covered souk. It is also famous for its architecture and intricate stonework. The Citadel is located on a partly man-made hill, about 50 metres above the city. This site makes it difficult for archaeologists to dig, but it would be surprising if settling traces there didn’t reach back to the neolithic ages. The present citadel was built in the late 13th century and replaced the older one, which was destroyed by the Mongols.

The formidable symbol of Aleppo – the Citadel – belongs to a later era. Crowning a precipitous hill in the heart of the old city, it is regarded by some travelers as the most spectacular medieval fortress in the Middle East. The hill itself is partly artificial, a prehistoric tell built up of ruins from many cultures each layered atop the last. The citadel is said to have been stormed successfully only once: by the Mongol Timur Leng (Tamerlane). More often, the fortress, with room for a garrison of 10,000, stood firm even as invaders devastated the city below.

One of the most impressive parts of the Citadel is the entrance way built on eight arches over a 70 ft deep moat. At the end of the bridge where you would expect a door, you are met by a blank facade; the immense entryway is to the right, followed by an immediate turn to the left then again to the right in a series of five bends. This innovative architectural device took the wind out of any penetrating army which once over the drawbridge. Particularly interesting in the interior are the Weapons’ Hall, the Byzantine Hall and the Throne Hall, with a restored decorated ceiling. Sayf Addawla built Aleppo’s famous citadel, and in his days the city enjoyed great prosperity and fame in science, literature and medicine, despite this leader’s military ambitions.

The town of Belogradchik (Bulgaria) is situated between both massifs Venetsa and Vedernik (Stara Planina), among the fantastic world of Belogradchik rocks. It is town amids a greatest natural environment. This is an old settlement, originated as early as 1 century when Romans build a fortress among the rocks. In 1837 during the reign of Sultan Mahmud II the fortress was finished in its present-day . In this period – Ottoman Rule Belogradchik was a small agrarian-craftsman town. In 1850 , the north Carolinian make engagement in the arcadian rebellion. After 1878, Belogradchik gradually becomes a tourist centre above all, which attracts thousands of visitors from the country and abroad.
Of the Panofs,1810 the town Museum of History is arranged in the Revival house. That in itself is an architectural monument. The Astronomical Observatory has one of the most powerful telescopes in Bulgaria. In 1868 was built St.Georg the Victorious Church.
The Belogradchik Rocks are formed from red sandstone and conglomerate- one of the natural wonders of Bulgaria. A fairy-tale stone world surrounds Belogradchik from west, south and southeast. The rocks borrow a stretch of meridian 30 km and with- 3 km. Them looklike humans and animals ,huge sponges, pyramids or castles much. Take a joke most different names had related to different legends. Falkov – Borovets group of rocks with Momina Skala, Pchelin Kamuk, Torlaka, Borovishki Kamuk etc.
Lipenitsa group is to the east of the town among which biggest interest evoke the Dinosaur and the Latin Kale. It is worth seeing the Lepenishka Cave in which charred wheat and vessels dating 2000 years age were found, and Izvozki oak-more than 1200 years old. Among the Zbegovska group of rocks to the west of the town a great impression make the Twins, the rocks in the area called Magaza, Small and Big Zbeg, which were used as fortresses, the lonely obelisk Borich and the Belogradchik stone bridge. The central group rises immediately above the town. One can see about 100m huge lonely rocks named Adam and Eva, the delicate Madonna, Komika, the Female student, Bear, the Monks…. The fantastic kale with ancient fortress walls, above which the most magic rock wonders rise.
Belogradchik Fortress is the perfect inclusion of the unapproachable rocks in the whole fortress system. There construction periods can be seen in the buildings- Roman and Byzantine, Byzantine and Bulgarian and Turkish (1805-1837) . The construction of the last period prevail in its present-day outlook. The fortress is situated at 10200 sq. m and has 5 gates, 4 of which are main.
Magura is a cave, founded near the village of Rabisha, 16km west of the town of Dimovo. It was formed about 3-4 million years ago in the Magoura Hill, 463m high. Inside one can see unique halls and formations as Triumphalnata Zala, Harmana ,the hall of the Stalactone, Glinenite PIramidi, Povaleniyat Bor, etc. The exit of the cave is though Vratach on the bank of the Rabisha Lake. Primitive men lived there. The wall drawings made with bat excrement’s are the only ones in the caves at the Balkan Peninsula. These masterpieces of late prehistoric art date back from the beginning of the Bronze Age. The cave was used by Manush Voivoda as a shelter. Magura Cave is electrified, the length of its galleries are 2500m. A minimal entry fee is paid. There is a hotel, a restaurant, pavilions and other buildings round it.
At their character and remarkable beauty Belogradchishkite rocks , Magourata and the entire universe affect the tourists of whole world.

Batak is situated 36 km. south of Peshtera, 26km of Velingrad and 156km of the capital Sofia of Bulgaria. The name of this little town is sacred for every Bulgarian. It is a symbol of martyrdom and self-sacrifice in the name of freedom.
In spite of the ruins of ancient fortresses and towns, it cannot be stated with certainty when today’s Batak originated. Its name was mentioned for the first time in 1592 on the stone embedded in the drinking-fountain at the Krishim Monastery. During the pogroms by the Kurdzhalli it was repeatedly ruined and rebuilt again. In 1819 Konstantin wrote that it was “a little timber village” with 100 houses. According to traveller Vikenel, in 1847 the village -1000 houses. And 1865- Z. Stoyanov indicated that it had 400 houses, a lot of inns a multitude of cuttings and 1500 inhabitants. The name of the town is related most of all to the April Uprising. Five thousand people died. Those who remained alive in Batak welcomed the Russian Army of Liberation on 20 January 1878.
In the first place this is the already mentioned little stone church of St. Nedelya, turned into a museum and charnel-house. Even nowadays the bones of the heroes, chopping-log, the traces of yataghans and bullets remind of those terrible and grandiose days. It is situated in the centre of the little town. The town Museum of History is located in a new building and houses over 500 exhibits of the history of Batak. The several old Batak houses restored and proclaimed as cultural monuments are of interest, too.
Batak dam lake, which was turned into a recreation and sports zone spreads out at the distance of 3km north-west of the town. The dam-lake offers superb opportunities for camping sites, water tourism, fishing, water sports, hiking, and recreation.
The Tsigov Chark Resort offering greater opportunities for accommodation and entertainment than the town itself is situated on the south-west bank of the dam at the distance of about 8km west of Batak. The complex of the Orbita Bureau of Youth Tourism is situated here with two hotels. The regularly running buses to and from Rakitovo and Velingrad stop there.
The area of the 4 dams is another magnificent site for recreation, sports, and tourism Golyam Beglik Dam, Shiroka Polyana Dam, Beglika Dam and Toshkov Chark dam. They are located along the road Batak-Dospat, in the middle of the distance, amongst the ravishing Rhodope countryside. There are a lot of established recreation, fisheries, a camping site. The conditions for hiking and water tourism, fishing, herbs and forest fruit harvesting or just recreation among the magical scenery here are more than wonderful. A whole resort originated here, which is scattered upon quite a large area amongst the dam lakes. One can find accommodation in the holiday homes or in the camping with there own bivouac facilities. There is road to all dam lakes.
The nature, the animals, the reservations and the entire cultural worth of the city, will satisfy all You interests.