An unceasing sound, like the creaking of a bullock cart, rises from the river banks to permeate the narrow streets and pervade the whole town - it is audible even as far away as the citadel. This is the noise made by the norias of Hama - a "cry" almost, like the muezzin’s call to prayer, harsh, plangent and timeless.

A noria is an undershot Virtuvian waterwheel which raises water from a pool or a well to a channel or a cistern above. It is a very ancient technique.

Its yield is, of course, pitifully small, compared with modern hydraulic installations, but being powered by the flow of the river itself the noria is cost-free and lasts for ever.

These ancient waterwheels are depicted on stone, papyrus and mosaic (one of the latter, found at Apamea, is on display in the National Museum in Hama). Even today these wheels are still used - sometimes fitted with great earthenware pots to collect the water - in Spain, Portugal, Greece and in Egypt. None can compare with the norias of Hama. Here the smallest is ten meters in diameter, and there are some as big as twenty meters. But their size is not the only thing that makes them impressive - nor the robust complexity of their construction. They have a rustic beauty indeed, but it is their blind power and apparent timelessness that really capture the imagination. They seem churn up the waters of the Orontes, but it is of course the Orontes that is causing them to turn, day and night, unceasingly.

Although these actual wheels are no more than two or three, perhaps four, hundred years old, their groaning and splashing - like that of the river itself - seems to go back to the very beginning of time.

They have a charm that it takes some times to appreciate. It simply can’t captured by the tourist who makes a hurried stop to photograph "his" first noria. Especially since, in all probability, this will be the noria near the aqueduct by the Serial bridge, in the gardens in the middle of the town - near the Tourist Office, opposite the scenic café on a jetty in the river.

It needs more time and patience than this to get a true impression of Hama.

Not one noria, but ten

Of the citadel - the Qalaat - of Hama, there is not a stone left standing. It stood on a tell which excavations have shown to consist of at least ten distinct archaeological layers, from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages.

Every single stone of the medieval fortress was carries off and used in other buildings. But the hull on which, like all other Syrian strongholds, is still there and has been developed as public gardens from which, at sunset especially, there is very good view of the whole town. The winding course of the Orontes, between its banks of greenery, is laid out beneath us as if on a map. We can easily make out all the well known norias. There are at least ten of them, two or three are no longer working. Those farther out from the center of the town, often half-hidden among gardens, are difficult to locate from the river level itself.

A new circular road around the foot of the citadel hill makes it easy to find the group of norias that are furthest downstream; they are almost concealed by the luxuriant gardens that lend to Hama something of the atmosphere of an oasis. A rustic bridge on which there is a mill crosses the river at this point. The highest waterwheel, which dates from the 14 century, is known as the Al Mouhammadiya; it supplies water to the Great Mosque a hundred and fifty meters away, marked by an elegant octagonal minaret with a double lantern and wooden balcony. This mosque was built on the site of a Roman temple, later occupied by a Byzantine church; many re-used ancient capitals indicate its earlier history. It contains the mausoleum of two princes of Hama who reigned at the end of the 13^th century; their cenotaphs of ebony inlaid with ivory are marvelous examples of fine woodwork.

Following the Orontes upstream, from the bridge with the mill and the Mouhammadiya, keeping to the streets near the river we come to the other norias and the main buildings of the town.

On the bend of the river, as it winds round the north of the citadel hill, a bridge leads across to a small mosque; beside it stands a short squat minaret, built of large blocks of white stone underlined by narrow bands of black. A little dome, bare of all ornament, marks a tomb adjacent to the mosque. Here lies Abu al Fida'a (or Abi Fidaa), King of Hama from 1310 to 1332, who was famous above all as an historian and geographer. The mosque is sometimes called Jami al Hayaat, "the snake mosque", from the interlaced designs around one of its windows, which look like snakes intertwined.

White domes and charming minarets

At the very foot of the citadel, but in the south-east of the town, there is another mosque that is worth visiting: Al Nouri, with little ribbed domes, over which rises a fine square minaret, the bands of darker stone half-way up give it its typically Syrian character. The minbar (pulpit) inside in the prayer hall is another fine example of the taste and skill of the craftsmen of Hama; it is made from rare woods finely carved in geometric patterns. The delicacy of this decoration contrasts particularly well with the reflective sobriety of the courtyard with is simple arcading which harmonizes perfectly with the white domes close by. There are three inscriptions worth noting, on the outside wall: the first, in Greek, praises the bravery of the inhabitants in the face of the Roman invaders; the second, framed within a finely sculpted border, records, in Arabic, the name of the builder of the mosque, Sultan Nour ad-Din Zanki, and the date of its construction, the 558^th year of the Hegira (1129); the third, also in Arabic, notes that students used to gather here to work and that their expenses were paid by the municipality.

A glimpse of the Orient as it used to be

Less than a hundred meters from the Al Nouri mosque there is a scene that might have been taken straight from an old print.

Here the Orontes flows over a weir and then under a gray, arched bridge near which a noria creaks away, hard up against a house by the riverside. A cluster of domed houses with projecting verandahs supported on great beams, overlook the blue-green waters. Their sharply-angled walls rise in succession straight out of the river and give a fortress-like air to the whole scene. The only access to this quarter is across the bridge and through a pointed archway whose heavy doors looks as if it could once again be closed against the world, were the need to arise. From there, dark gateways , winding passages, irregular courtyards, tiny culls de sac and mysterious stairways finally lead one out onto the single street, lined with dwellings which could be princely or could be hovels.

The tallest of these houses, its terrace splashed with water from the noria, did in fact belong to a noble family, one of whose sons became one the most venerated saints of Islam ….

Syrians indeed often make the point that Hama, even today, is famous for the piety of its citizens. The visitor will no doubt already have noticed how much more common it is to see men wearing the traditional costume, and completely black-veiled women, in Hama, than in the rest of Syria.

On the other bank of the Orontes a tall lantern dome above the trees marks the Azem Palace. This splendid building was the residence of the Governor, Assaad Pasha el-Azem, who ruled the town from 1700 till 1742.

The Azem Palace is reached from the bridge by a narrow street along the right bank of the river, between the wall of the Al Nouri mosque and the imposing stone pier of a former noria. The palace, which has been converted into a National Museum, is open every day except Tuesday.

The first shaded flowery court yard has all the charm of a little secret garden, with its tiny fountains and open summer salon under the north-facing iwan.

There are ancient sculptures scattered about; there are more in the rooms to the sides, and displays of coins, glassware, and weapons. There are Roman, Hellenistic and Byzantine remains, from the time when Hama was called Epiphania. But there are older and more precious things too, reminders of those distant times when Hamat was one of the main Aramean kingdoms. It was also at this time that, allied with its neighbors, it made war on its Assyrian invaders and halted the troops of Samalnasar at Qarqar-over’Orontes, north of the town, in 853 B.C. Unfortunately another revolt, in the following century, failed, and in 720 Sargon II deported the whole population.

In another room enormous photographs illustrate a more recent revolt - the one against the foreign occupants.

A staircase leads from the gardens to a courtyard terrace and the first floor of the palace. The facade is preceded by a portico and the enormous central room is roofed by the red dome that we saw from a distance.

The displays on this floor exemplify an art of living of great refinement and delicacy. Windows of stained glass and alabaster, marble paving, carved woodwork, deep-piled carpets and mosaic and marquetry all combine to create an atmosphere that is both stifling and yet subtle, the beloved Orient of so many nineteenth-century romantics. The richness of it all is almost too much, but soon, as one manages to concentrate one’s eye upon one object at a time - a vase, a chandelier, a painting, or a miniature then satiety is overcome and it becomes ever more tempting to linger.

Restaurants in a park

Continuing along the left bank of the Orontes we arrive at the center of the town, the place de la Liberty and the Serial bridge, crossed by the Damascus-Aleppo highway. It is easy and pleasant to spend an hour or so wandering through the public gardens, noisy with the sound of water cascading down from an aqueduct or to linger by the norias - perhaps at the same table in the café where Maurice Barrés heard the charming medieval fable that he told again in his "Garden over l’Orontes".

But times have changed since Barrés was here. The din of traffic often drowns the sound of the norias and modern white buildings loom over the pines and cypresses. So it would perhaps be a good idea to continue our walk quite a bit further upstream, to the place called "The four Norias of Bishriatt" (or al Maqsaf), some twelve hundred meters from the bridge, Here is another riverside garden, much more peaceful than the one we have just left. In the evenings craftsmen woodworkers come here and use the stream as it flows down a small channel, to turn their lathes, dimly lit with just a single lamp. At the end of the gardens two pairs of norias turn unceasingly. Until nightfall urchins play there, clinging to the blades of the wheels and then when they reach their highest point falling into the churned-up waters. It is a pleasant place in which to spend the evening twilight: the enormous waterwheels seem to grow to giant proportions in the shadowy dusk and their insistent sound becomes ever more unreal.

There are other norias too, outside the town, among the orchards and the market-gardens.

Two "khans", the Assaad Pasha el-Azem and the (more recent) Rustom Pasha, figure among the more minor attractions of Hama, with gateways and courtyards built of stone in alternating colors. They are near the souks, in the rue Al   Murabet, the second street on the left as you leave the palace de la Liberty in the direction of Damascus.

Hama, a good base of exploration

Hama, which for a long time only had one hotel, now has a comfortable, modern establishment called the Apamée Cham Palace. Hama, makes a good base from which to explore a large number of interesting sites. Apamea, Crac Des Chevaliers, Misyaf, Maaret en Nouman, Homs, Palmyra and Shaizar.

Shaizar. The Orontes, which from Hama has flowed broad and calm towards the north-west, suddenly runs up against a high reddish cliff and, as if exhausted by the shock, wanders off in several separate streams before gathering itself together again to go on and bring fertility to the Ghab Plain.

To cross the streams and connect the islands, an old hump-backed bridge, spans the river on twelve piles of bricks packed round with stone to protect them from floods and earth tremors.

From the top of the cliff, a fortress carved out of the red earth still seems, to dominate the valley and to stand on the lookout for the enemy.

In the Middle Ages, the fortress belonged to the Banou Mounqueth, a family of Arab nobles. These princes, who against all odds had defended it from the invading Franks, were not able to save it from the terrible earthquake that wreaked destruction in the Hama region in 1157. They too perished under the ruins. Oussama, the sole survivor, wrote his memories entitled "Al I’Itibar". The manuscript, now conserved in the Escorial Library, has been translated into many languages including French.

The site is in fact virtually impregnable. The citadel occupies a narrow spur detached from the nearby plateau and the ridge that connected it to the plateau has been dug away by human hand so as to make its isolation complete. Entry, in the Middle Ages, was across a draw-bridge spanning the ravine and resting on two arched platforms; later, it was replaced by a narrow steeply sloping stone bridge. A great vaulted entrance, bearing a long inscription in Arabic above it and formerly equipped with a portcullis, leads through to a great square tower.

A tall keep towers over the defense works. Its flat roof looks out over an immense panorama.

Centuries have gone by with the endless squeaking of the noria downstream from the bridge, which continues to play with the waters of the Orontes.

Rastan, on the Homs-Damascus highway (26km south of Hama) stands on a promontory overlooking the Orontes, on which there is a dam at this point. Its houses are built of Basalt but frequently plastered in various bright colors.

On the road to Misyaf, at Deir Sleib, the monastery of La Croix ( 25 km west of Hama), there are some semi-ruined Byzantine buildings. To the south-east there are Salamiyeh and Qalaat al Shemamis. Salamiyeh, is scattered around its National Agriculture College and its horse-breeding center. The mosque and most of the houses are built of black basalt. The whole region bristles with small volcanic cones. One of these, 4 km north-west of the town, is crowned by the fortress of Shamois (or Shamamees), the "Castle of the Sun," an Arab building restored in the 12^th century. Its ditch is cut out of solid lava and its curtain wall encloses the crater at the top of the hill. To the north-east lie Qasr ibn Wardan and Al Andareen, castles and a stronghold which today stand isolated out in the desert.

A road for motor vehicles passes through the villages of Taybet al Turki and Al Hamra, with their characteristic sugar-loaf style houses. 55 kilometers from Hama the ruins of Qasr Ibn Wardan come into sight, on a terraced hillside. The ruins of several buildings, a palace and a church show their original construction of brick and lava stone, with limestone and marble decoration. Dates on two of the facades, 561 and 564, place the buildings during the region of Justinian, Christian Emperor of the East.

Finally, 15 kilometers further along this same track brings us to the ruins of Ancient Androna, present day Al Andareen. The enclosing wall, two churches, a great square building with walls 80 meters long which was used as a barracks, and a vast cistern are all easily recognizable. The town was supplied with water through underground channels or "qanats", whose ventilation shafts are still visible across the desert. Like her neighbors, Andorna did not long survive the loss of Northern Syria by the Byzantine Empire. The poet Amr ibn Kalthoum wrote of the decline of this city around the year 600.

The ancient palace of Esriyeh is even more isolated; among these splendid ruins of a former Roman mansion there are walls still standing supported by engaged columns with Corinthian capitals. Esriyeh marked the crossing point of the tracks Emesa (Homs)-Rasafah-Raqqa and Tadmor (Palmyra)-Aleppo. Lying as it does 80 kilometers north-east of Salamiyeh (110 km from Hama) it is essential to have both a vehicle equipped for desert conditions and a local guide in order to visit it.