Water Wheels in Hama

After the clean air of the mountains we spent a night in the port city of Tripoli before crossing back into Syria to the city of Hama.

Hama was in the news in 1982 when the then President Assad brutally put down a rebellion in the city against his rule by shelling the place with the loss of thousands of lives. Of course this is not heavily publicised today, but for obvious reasons the memories are still there. We met a restaurant owner who had lived in Russia for 14 years. When I asked him about 1982, he was naturally reticent. He said that the young people had forgotten or been encouraged to forget, but those who were there will never forget. He left it at that.

Hama is a beautiful city with the river Orontes running through the middle . The river has steep banks which made irrigation difficult, so the locals constructed a system of wooden water wheels which are turned by the current, gathering up water and depositing it in aquaducts along the banks. You hear the wheels well before you see them as they constantly creak and groan on their wooden axles. At night they are lit up and are the centrepiece of the town, attracting promenaders and families, as well as the handful of tourists who make it to this beautiful city.