The walled Old City is the heart of any visit to Damascus. Roughly oval and 90 hectares in area, it is enclosed by largely Roman-era walls with seven gates and contains an extraordinary density of historic buildings — the Umayyad Mosque, the Citadel, two major souks, dozens of Ottoman khans and courtyard houses, the Christian quarter around Bab Touma, the Jewish quarter to its south, and innumerable smaller mosques, madrassas and tombs.
It has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1979 and added to the "List in Danger" in 2013. The medieval street pattern survives almost intact, though sections of the walls have been built over and the western quarters were rebuilt after a 1925 fire.
A first walk through the Old City should start at the Citadel, go east along the Hamidiyah Souq to the Umayyad Mosque, south through the Buzuriyah Souq to Khan As'ad Pasha, then back via Madhat Pasha Souq and Straight Street into the Christian quarter at Bab Touma. Allow at least half a day.