What a lovely night's sleep with no superheated stoves, loud music, mobile phones and bright lights. Unfortunately when we woke there was quite a lot of rain, so much so that it kept me in bed until 10:30am.
Hama is famous for its Norias; huge wooden water wheels up to 20m in diameter. There have been Norias in Hama since the 5th century AD and although having been constantly rebuilt they still turn during the spring and summer, which sadly is not now. Spotting a break in the rain we left the hotel to have a look at them and to then have a walk through what remains of the old town.
Much of the old town was destroyed during the 1982 bombardment, when government forces moved in to quell an uprising by the 'Muslim Brotherhood'. By the time the bombardment was over, up to 25,000 people had been killed and many mosques, churches and archaeological sites had been destroyed. What remains of the old city is a short but attractive alleyway which contains the beautiful Azem Palace.
The Azem Palace is the former residence of Asaad Pasha al-Azem who was governor of the city from 1742. The Ottoman house has now been turned into a museum where once again the building is the star. It has to be one of the nicest buildings we have walked round for a while.
The break in the weather didn't last, so after a coffee we headed back to the hotel to look at our travel options in Syria.
We have decided not to ride our bikes to the ancient city of Palmyra. The city is a two day ride there and then a three day ride onwards to Damascus, with little in between. Listening to various people we have been told that contrary to what might be written, you don't need more than a few hours to look at the ruins. Add to this the fact that the town is allegedly swimming with touts and the prices are higher than anywhere else in Syria. Therefore, a bus or private car looks like a better option.
Via the hotel, we arranged a trip out to Qasr ibn Wardan (a sandstone palace) and the beehive villages for this afternoon; tomorrow we have a trip to Krak Deschevaliers (a former crusader castle) and then onwards to Palmyra.
The journey to Qasr ibn Wardan took just over an hour, during which time the weather thankfully improved.
The palace, built in the 6th century AD as part of a defensive line by the Byzantine emperor Justinian, makes for an interesting sight, with its black basalt and yellow stone, banded walls. What makes it look even stranger is that it seems so out of place in the barren landscape, Debs says it reminds her of a liquorice allsort! It was certainly an interesting place to have a look round and well worth the trip.
From the palace we stopped at a beehive village to have a look round some of the strange mud-brick conical buildings. Most of the remaining ones are now used for storage, instead of homes. Given the choice we would choose the beehives, over the ordinary looking square concrete buildings that have sprung up to replace them.
With the sights seen and the skies darkening we returned to Hama in time to buy more chicken for dinner. We have an early start tomorrow, let's hope the weather forecast is correct and we wake to a better day.
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