All destinationsThe centre
Hama
Wooden waterwheels groaning on the Orontes, a riverside promenade and the quietest old town in Syria.
The norias of Hama are the reason to stop: seventeen wooden wheels, some twenty metres across, lifting water from the Orontes into aqueducts since the Middle Ages. In spring, when the river is high, they turn and moan all night.
Hama itself is conservative, unhurried and friendly. The Azem Palace here is smaller than the one in Damascus and better preserved. The old town along the river is a good place for a slow evening.
Most of our routes use Hama as the overnight between Palmyra or Krak and Aleppo. Apamea, the long Roman colonnade in the fields, is an hour away.