Demo site — Arsu Tours is not a real company. Nothing here can be booked. What this is

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Credits

Every photograph, and who took it.

Each image below was downloaded and visually checked before it was used. Captions on stock sites are written by uploaders and are frequently wrong — a search for Palmyra in Syria returned a photograph of Petra in Jordan, and a search for Krak des Chevaliers returned two châteaux in France. Neither was published.

Unsplash

Used under the Unsplash Licence and hotlinked from Unsplash's own CDN, which is what they ask publishers to do.

Crowds under the barrel-vaulted iron roof of Souq al-Hamidiyya in Damascus
Crowds under the barrel-vaulted iron roof of Souq al-Hamidiyya in Damascus.
Photo by Mahmoud Sulaiman · Unsplash Licence
Trays of dried fruit, nuts and spices in a Damascus market street
Trays of dried fruit, nuts and spices in a Damascus market street.
Photo by Mahmoud Sulaiman · Unsplash Licence
A minaret of the Umayyad Mosque rising above the arcade, Damascus
A minaret of the Umayyad Mosque rising above the arcade, Damascus.
Photo by Obada Kabbani · Unsplash Licence
Mamluk stonework with muqarnas corbelling on a tower in Aleppo
Mamluk stonework with muqarnas corbelling on a tower in Aleppo.
Photo by Ahmad Sofi · Unsplash Licence
A vaulted stone passage with pointed arches in the Aleppo souq
A vaulted stone passage with pointed arches in the Aleppo souq.
Photo by Ahmad Sofi · Unsplash Licence
A narrow stone lane running under an arched passage, hung with bougainvillea
A narrow stone lane running under an arched passage, hung with bougainvillea.
Photo by Fadi Alagi · Unsplash Licence
The Great Colonnade at Palmyra in low golden light
The Great Colonnade at Palmyra in low golden light.
Photo by Wietse Jongsma · Unsplash Licence
The Palmyra site looking across fallen masonry toward the castle hill
The Palmyra site looking across fallen masonry toward the castle hill.
Photo by Aladdin Hammami · Unsplash Licence
Columns of the Great Colonnade at Palmyra, with their projecting statue brackets
Columns of the Great Colonnade at Palmyra, with their projecting statue brackets.
Photo by JOE Planas · Unsplash Licence
A turquoise bay below a forested headland on the Syrian Mediterranean coast
A turquoise bay below a forested headland on the Syrian Mediterranean coast.
Photo by Fadi Alagi · Unsplash Licence
Maaloula built into its cliff, with the monastery of Mar Sarkis on the rock above
Maaloula built into its cliff, with the monastery of Mar Sarkis on the rock above.
Photo by Wietse Jongsma · Unsplash Licence

Wikimedia Commons

Used where Unsplash has no free, correctly-identified photograph of the place at all — a search for Bosra returns zero results. Self-hosted, because Commons discourages hotlinking. Each is credited to its photographer with its licence.

An illustration of a Palmyrene limestone relief: an armoured rider on a camel, carrying a spear, with a small round shield on the saddle and a crescent carved above
An illustration of a Palmyrene limestone relief: an armoured rider on a camel, carrying a spear, with a small round shield on the saddle and a crescent carved above.
Photo by AI-generated illustration (not a photograph of a real object) · Illustration made for this demo
Illustration, not a photograph. Drawn from the description of the Dura-Europos relief of Arsu the camel-rider (Yale University Art Gallery, YFE 1935.44, c. 100-200 CE).
An illustration of a Palmyrene relief showing two riders — one on a camel in armour, one on a horse in civilian robes — with a priest making an offering at a burning altar between them
An illustration of a Palmyrene relief showing two riders — one on a camel in armour, one on a horse in civilian robes — with a priest making an offering at a burning altar between them.
Photo by AI-generated illustration (not a photograph of a real object) · Illustration made for this demo
Illustration, not a photograph. Drawn from the description of the paired Arsu and Azizos relief dated by inscription to 113 CE, National Museum of Aleppo.
The concentric crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers on its ridge
The concentric crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers on its ridge.
Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
The Roman theatre at Bosra, built of black basalt, seen from the seating
The Roman theatre at Bosra, built of black basalt, seen from the seating.
Photo by Lubomir Mihalik · CC BY 3.0
A noria — a large wooden waterwheel — standing on the Orontes at Hama
A noria — a large wooden waterwheel — standing on the Orontes at Hama.
Photo by Frank Kidner · CC BY-SA 4.0
A crowded passenger boat arriving at Arwad island off Tartus
A crowded passenger boat arriving at Arwad island off Tartus.
Photo by Raki_Man · CC BY 3.0
The limestone ruins of Serjilla, one of the Dead Cities of northern Syria
The limestone ruins of Serjilla, one of the Dead Cities of northern Syria.
Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
The facade of the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites, with two figures walking toward it
The facade of the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites, with two figures walking toward it.
Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
The Great Colonnade at Apamea running across open green country
The Great Colonnade at Apamea running across open green country.
Photo by Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0

Where no photograph was used

Homs city: No free photograph of the city itself could be verified. The Homs card uses Krak des Chevaliers, an hour west, which is what travellers actually go there for.

A photograph of the wrong place is worse than no photograph, so where nothing could be verified, nothing was used.

How the rest of the site was checked →