Description: Overhead views of Aleppo reveal one distinguishing feature amidst the dun huddle of buildings that comprises the city today. The remarkable Citadel really is a double-take experience. You certainly cannot miss it. At the eastern end of the old city a 30m wide dry moat surrounds a huge oval mount. The 50m tall steeply sloping walls are faced with limestone blocks, making the entire construct look artificial. However, this towering island is a natural outcrop. Remains of a sanctuary to the Semitic sky god Hadad, only recently discovered, date use of the site to the middle of the third millenium BC. It formed the acropolis of the fledgling city under the Assyrians, Persians, Seleucids and Romans, by which time the worship of Hadad had become that of Zeus. Following the Islamic conquest Nur ad-Din continued to fortify the citadel, making it a near impregnable fortress and prison in the war against the Crusaders. What the visitor sees today largely dates from the work carried out by the Mamluks during the 13th-15th centuries.

There is only one way in. From the ticket office in the first gatehouse (entrance is 150 SYP) a narrow, graceful bridge stretches over the moat on high arches. Shallow steps lead up over the abyss. You pay for entrance at the gatehouse (150SYP) before you cross the bridge towards the bulky square keep. It looms threateningly above any visitor. The main gate is not directly ahead, but instead on the right-hand side of a recessed porch (thereby preventing any attackers utilising a battering ram). The lintel of the gate is decorated with Arabic calligraphy, and a pair of entwined double-headed dragons pretzeling around each other, seemingly much more Celtic with their swooping curves. Once inside the way switchbacks to and fro around five right-angled turns, presenting more sets of steel-plated doors. The first pair is decorated with horseshoes – unlike in British tradition, in the Islamic world it is considered lucky for the horseshoes to be hanging points down, as this shows the horseman riding forward to war rather than retreating – there is one horseshoe pointing the other way however. The next gates are framed by a pair of cheeky lions with Cheshire Cat grins.

Emerging on to the plateau is a bit of a disappointment really. It is mostly ruins. The Ayyubid Sultan Ghazi built a pleasure palace up here, but it burnt down on his wedding night. Under the French mandate some restoration and archaeological excavation was done here, but really all there is now are some free standing walls and gateways and a couple of 12th / 13th century mosques. You can descend stairs to a a cistern / prison or head off to a reconstructed hammam complex, complete with wax dummies. There is also a reconstructed dish-shallow amphitheatre, still occasionally used. But most of the ruins are out of bounds. There are some great views over Aleppo though, principally from the far north end of the mound by the great mosque and a café sited in Ottoman-era barracks (with toilets).

Leaving the Citadel you backtrack through the keep, through the restored grand hall of the palace, a symphony of Damascene woodwork and delicate stained-glass windows, centered around a fantastic eight-pointed chandelier. The exit is through a secret door in the floor.

Really, the remains of the Citadel on top of the mount are a bit disappointing – mind you they would have been hard-pressed to live up to the sheer theatre of the wide-moated sloping mound with its elegant stepped bridge. But still I find it hard to imagine any tourist visiting Aleppo and not wishing to gain access to the fortress that confounded the Crusaders. It is the most recognisable image of Aleppo for a reason.Close