Down the Euphrates: two days from Qalaat Jaabar to Deir ez-Zor

The Euphrates crosses Syria end to end, and the buildings on its banks answer the same question in different centuries: who holds the river. This route takes that line in two days. It begins at a castle left standing in the middle of a lake and calls at a gate of Abbasid brick in Raqqa. Then comes the museum in Deir ez-Zor, which gathers every excavation in the valley under one roof, and the walled city where the river narrows. It comes to 306 kilometres. A car is essential and two days are needed, because the second one is long.

The route

Day one is at Qalaat Jaabar. The castle sits on an island in Lake Assad, joined to the shore by an artificial causeway; you walk the last stretch. Coming from Aleppo you reach it by way of Tabqa. From there it is 60 kilometres east to Raqqa, where you spend the night. Day two is long: first Bab Baghdad on the eastern edge of the city, then 189 kilometres to Deir ez-Zor along the south side of the river. After the museum, turn back northwest — Halabiye is 57 kilometres behind you, on the right bank of the Euphrates at the head of the Halabiye gorge. You return the same way to Deir ez-Zor in the evening.

Timing

Put Jaabar in the afternoon; the light over the lake softens then, and from the minaret the water reads from shore to shore. In Raqqa get up early. The front of Bab Baghdad faces east and its brick frieze only reads in the morning, while in the afternoon the gate falls into its own shadow. Be at it by 08:00; twenty minutes are enough. You will reach Deir ez-Zor towards midday, and seeing the museum before the sites is the right order, because it is there that you learn what the valley holds. Go out to Halabiye in the afternoon. The hill at the western corner faces the river at sunset, and that is the best hour on the site.

Take care

The distances are long and fuel is not available everywhere; fill the tank in Raqqa. At Qalaat Jaabar the ground is not sound throughout, because tunnels were cut under it — stay on the marked path. Around Bab Baghdad there is rubble and dug-over ground; the mosque that stood beside it was blown up in 2014. On the climb to the citadel at Halabiye the stones are loose and you need firm soles. Ask a day ahead whether the museum is open; the state of the collection is not regular. Entry fees vary, so carry cash. The valley is very hot in summer, so come in spring or autumn. If you stay in Deir ez-Zor, the river downstream is a separate day: Dura Europos and Mari lie that way.