The Norias of Hama

Giant wooden wheels set on a horizontal axle in the river. The buckets dip into the water, fill as the wheel comes round, and empty at the top into the aqueduct. The power source is the current itself; there is no motor, only the river. The largest of the surviving wheels are over twenty metres across.

Getting there

On foot from the centre of town. The riverside walkway passes both of the largest wheels and carries on along the aqueduct.

How long it takes

An hour: walking the bank, going down under the wheels and seeing where the aqueduct begins.

What is there

Wheel, stone base and aqueduct, the three of them together. The moment the buckets tip is best seen from below. The wheels have been maintained since the Mamluk period and their timber is renewed at intervals, so the wheel you are looking at is old and its wood is new.

What most people miss

The sound. The axle turns on wet timber and gives out a low, continuous groan; it is worth stopping in the middle of the city to listen. When the water drops some of the wheels stand still, and that is usually late summer.