Highlights - Essential Info - Itineraries
Hama
In Hama the famous waterwheels, ‘norias’, are the main attraction. They originated in Byzantine times and are the oldest surviving wheels dating back to the 13th Century. Once there existed 100 or so waterwheels along the banks of the Orontes, used to raise water from the river into aqueducts; today only 17 of them remain, but they are no longer in use and remain only for historical interest.
Hama is also an ideal base to visit the Cities of the Dead and Krak des Chevaliers, the most magnificent and perfectly preserved Crusader Castle in the world. Built and expanded between 1150 and 1250, it eventually housed a garrison of about 2,000 men. The castle guarded the only major pass between Antioch in Turkey and Beirut in Lebanon. It held out against several attacks, but was lost to the Mamluk Sultan Beybar in 1271. The fortress was made a World Heritage Site, along with Saladin Castle, in 2006. The fortress is one of the few sites where Crusader art (in the form of frescoes) has been preserved.
Our preferred hotels include: Afamia Cham Palace
