Hama

Hotel Cairo is where we ended up in Hama. Neatly parked outside were two other motorcycles, both from Germany. We chatted with the couple riding them a few times. Hama is an interesting little town. A little known fact is that in 1982, the former president Assad had most of the old town leveled during what only can be described as a civil war. Details are hard to come by, and the official tourist brochure describes the now demolished citadel as a "heap of dust". Curious country this is.

The big attraction in Hama are the waterwheels (Nourias), huge structures which scoop up water from the river and deposit it into a maze of aqueducts, used to irrigate the fields. All in all there are 14 or so. The wheels make an incredible noise. It's impossible to hold a conversation in their vicinity.

For the rest, Hama is a nice town, it feels pleasant and like Aleppo, is frightfully hot during the day. We took most of these pictures before 10 am and it must have been high 30's C by that time.