The Norias of Hama

Hama's soundtrack is medieval: the norias - giant wooden waterwheels, the largest around twenty metres across - turn in the Orontes as they have since at least the twelfth century, lifting river water to aqueducts that fed gardens and mosques, and groaning as they work in deep wooden voices the city calls their singing. Seventeen survive along the riverfront - the Muhammadiyya, of 1361, was named a historic mechanical engineering landmark in 2006 - the Four Norias cluster and the great Muhammadiyya the celebrated ones, maintained by hereditary craft knowledge and turning in season for the heritage they are. Riverside cafes put the wheels' song behind tea; the old town's lanes and palace-museum round the visit.

Highlights

• The great wheels - the 20-metre Muhammadiyya and its sisters.
• The wooden song - the norias' groaning voices at work.
• The aqueduct spans - the arches the wheels once fed.
• The riverfront cafes - tea beside the turning heritage.

When to go

May to September, when river levels set the wheels turning, is the season of the song; winter shows them still and sculptural.

Good to know

At the river: the wheels are working heritage, not climbing frames - the city's affection for them sets the etiquette; restoration cycles may still some wheels any given year.

Nearby

The Orontes valley and the old town's lanes.

Key facts