Not far from Aleppo are ruins and historical sites collectively called the Dead Cities—ghost towns that date to the Iron Age, and late-Roman and Byzantine times. Some are more remote than others, and getting to them usually requires hiring a taxi for the day from Aleppo or Hama.
The most frequently visited sites are Serjilla (a Byzantine city with remains of several houses, a church, tombs and public baths), Bara (an impressive collection of several churches, monasteries and tombs, spread over a wide area), Ain Dara (remains from the neo-Hittite period, as well as from Seleucid, Greek and Arab periods), Dana (several tombs with pyramid-shaped roofs, dating back to the third or fourth century), Qalb Lozeh (a beautiful early-Christian church from the mid-fifth century) and Bamuqqa (Roman villas from the fifth century in a beautiful setting).
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