We had left Damascus early in the morning and the small village of Maaloula/Maalula was the only first stop. From there to Krak des Chevaliers Castle at an elevation of 750m/2,460′. These ruins are considered the best preserved medieval military Castle in the world. This trip to Syria took place in March and you definitely needed jackets in the morning and sometimes throughout the day. Beautiful, sunny and clear though.

The original fortress was built in 1031 for the Emir of Aleppo but the Knights Hospitallers rebuilt it during the crusades. Eventually, Krak des Chevaliers was expanded into the largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land with a 3m/10′ thick outer wall, seven guard towers and held up to 2,000 foot soldiers. The fortress was part of a defensive network on the Crusader state borders and controlled the road to the Mediterranean.

the Crusader Castle of Krak de Chevaliers, Syria
The only interesting sight in Hama is the waterwheels called norias dating from the 14th century. There are 17 waterwheels on the Orontes River with the “Four Norias of Bechiriyat” (waterwheels) clustered together near the center of town. These wooden wheels slowly creak and groan as they turn at different speeds strictly for show as motorized pumps are now used to irrigate the fields and gardens. All of these norias were owned by the four great families who ran Hama into the 20th century.

Hama water wheel, Syria
There is a minimum of crime or terrorism in Syria because of Syria’s President, army and secret police. The infamous reason? In late 1970, an Islamic group began terrorist attacks on public officials with the uprising primarily based in Hama. President Assad solved the “problem” by sending the army to Hama, pounded the city with guns for two days, entered this Islamic stronghold and dynamited it until nothing was left standing. It is said that 20,000-30,000 people were killed. All but impossible not to notice the posters and portraits everywhere in Syria of el supremo Hafiz al-Asad and if it escaped your notice, they were pointed out by the local tour guides.

posters everywhere of President Assad, Syria
The Saone/Sahyun Crusader castle was known by that name until re-named after Saladin to commemorate his capture of it in 1188. The big photographic and historical draw here is a man-made needle of stone, greater than as obelisk! This one stone supported a drawbridge over a channel.

Sahyun’s Rock Needle in Syria