Our 3 hours trip from Halab to Latakia or Lazaqiah in the local dialect was a little bit bored. We could see nothing! The scenery was blanketed by the chilly dark night of the Northern Syria and the journey was thrilled by the hilly and winding East-West highway. At one juncture, we lost our way due to the improper signage system of the new non-gazette highway. Hesam informed us that, his brother has reminded him about the new uncompleted road but alhamdullillah, we managed to find the right track after about 15 minutes of wandering in the dark. Finally we arrived at Latakia around 23:35 hours and we decided to go straight to our home-stay near the beach besides the popular exclusive Le Meridian. The agent showed us two town-house types of houses and finally we decided to stay at the one with three rooms and nine beds – at 00:23 hours! Thanks to Amir for his splendid negotiation skills. I slept around 02:00 hours in the morning amid my tired muscled and drained out energy.
The photo below – was our awesome home-stay equipped with basic facilities that satisfied our needs – the Backpackers needs and it cost us USD 50. We woke up relatively early and after we had our brief breakfast, we moved out from house around 10:15 hours. 
A little bit history about Latakia: In Arabic, Al Lazaqiah is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages. Consisted of Sunnis, Alawites and reek Orthodox Christians, its population in 2009 was 700,000.Though the site has been inhabited since the second millennium BCE, the modern-day city was first founded in the 4th century BCE under the rule of the Seleucid Empire. Latakia was subsequently ruled by the Romans, then the Ummayads and Abbasids in the 8th–10th centuries. Under their rule, the Byzantines frequently attacked the city, periodically capturing it before losing it again to the Arabs, particularly the Fatimids. Later, Latakia was ruled by the Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, and Ottomans. Following World War I, Latakia was assigned to the French mandate of Syria, in which it served as the capital of the autonomous territory of the Alawites. This autonomous territory became the State of Alawites in 1922, proclaiming its independence a number of times until reintegrating into Syria in 1944.
There are beaches, mountains, archaeological sites and many relics of the Crusaders, all within a few hours from each other. It is well-provided with accommodation, and is well-placed as a base from which to explore the coastal regions of the country.
According to Hesam, in summer, there will be many people populates the town and thus, a good opportunity for all hoteliers and restaurants owners.
There are beaches, mountains, archaeological sites and many relics of the Crusaders, all within a few hours from each other. It is well-provided with accommodation, and is well-placed as a base from which to explore the coastal regions of the country.
According to Hesam, in summer, there will be many people populates the town and thus, a good opportunity for all hoteliers and restaurants owners.
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