Syria’s crusade for tourism

It is more than 900 years since the Crusaders captured Krak des Chevaliers overlooking the valleys of central Syria – lugging blocks of limestone up the steep hillside to build a fortress that still looks pretty impregnable – so lunch under the Gothic arches of its great hall is a treat that packs a powerful historical and culinary punch.

Saracens and Christian knights played by bored-looking villagers from Hosn, beneath the ramparts, line up for a photogenic joust in the courtyard while we lucky guests tackle a mezze of hummus, vine leaves and kibbeh – before a main course of friki (roasted green wheat, chicken and almonds) that leaves us staggering across the cobbles afterwards.

Catering manager Marla is explaining in Arabic and French why she drew the line at serving grilled kebabs as well. “People spilt their blood to defend this place,” she says grumpily. “It’s just not appropriate to be doing so much cooking here.”

Kebabs or no kebabs, the banquet in the castle was one of the high points of this month’s Silk Road festival, showcasing Syria as a “bridge between east and west”. Latter-day “caravans” – sadly minibuses and coaches rather than the camel trains of yesteryear – criss-crossed the country for a week to take in its sights and a dazzling display of culture, food, music and folklore.

It’s an ambitious marketing exercise the government hopes will boost the already rising numbers of foreign visitors to what is still a fairly unusual destination in a volatile and unforgiving region. Tourism is helping bring this country in from the cold.

Krak des Chevaliers is a magnificent example of Syria’s many attractions – and of the difficulties of promoting them. Seized from the Arabs in 1099 and expanded by the Crusaders, it is – as the young TE Lawrence (of Arabia) argued before the first world war – the finest specimen of dozens of castles that mark two centuries of European domination of the Holy Land and surrounding area.