The Ain al-Fijah Spring

The water that runs from a tap in Damascus comes out of this valley. Ain al-Fijah is a town on the Barada river in Wadi Barada, north-west of the capital; the spring it is named after rises at the foot of Jabal al-Qal’a and supplies most of the city’s drinking water on its own. The name says as much: Fijah comes from the Greek pege, meaning spring.

Getting there

Twenty kilometres from Damascus, about forty-five minutes. The Wadi Barada road follows the line the river cut, and the town sits at around 890 metres. The same valley continues up to Zabadani, and Ain al-Fijah belongs to the Zabadani district administratively, so the two are easy to put on one route.

What to see

The spring itself is inside a fenced waterworks and closed to visitors; what you see is the valley. The river runs in a narrow bed with fig, walnut, pomegranate and olive orchards on either side. On the slopes above are vines and fig trees watered by rain alone, a system known locally as baal. Other springs in the town, Ain Harush and Uyun al-Rayhan among them, irrigate the gardens too.

What not to miss

A Roman temple once stood at the spring head, where offerings were made to the deities of the water. Its statues are now in the National Museum of Damascus, so a stop at the museum after seeing the valley gives you both ends of the same story. There are also remains of an old water tunnel in the valley, which local tradition attributes to Zenobia and her attempt to carry Barada water to Palmyra.

Where things stand

The building housing the spring was struck in airstrikes on 23 December 2016 and piped water to Damascus was cut off for weeks; the United Nations commission of inquiry recorded the incident. The plant has been repaired and the city is supplied again, but war damage is still visible in the villages along the valley. Ask about road and access conditions before you go: this is first of all a working waterworks, not a visitor site.