Photos

Apamea was founded by Seleucos, Alexander the Great's general, in 331 BC on a grassy plain above the Orontes valley. It is named after his wife, a Persian princess. It was an important city through Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times, but got plundered by the Persians in 540 and 612 (try being nice to them by naming your city after a Persian princess and this is what you get!) and declined further in islamic times. In 1157 an earthquake finally wiped it off the map.

In recent decades Belgian archeologists excavated the site and reconstructed the city's Roman cardo (colonnaded street), which is perfectly straight and an amazing 2km long. It's a fantastic sight to behold; walking through it from one end to the other takes half an hour and all the time you're surrounded by ancient columns of various kinds. I was almost all alone on this huge site and had one of the best days of my journey here.