The Norias of Hama

Various places around the world have their famous landmarks. Cairo has its pyramids, New York City the Empire State Building, and Paris the Eiffel Tower. Here in the city of Hama in central Syria it's the norias that tourists come to see (and hear). These huge wooden water wheels, as large as 60 feet in diameter, have been used in Hama for centuries to scoop water from the Orontes River and dump it into aqueducts which channel it to gardens and crop fields. There used to be thirty norias along the river but only seventeen are left. These huge wooden wheels are surprisingly noisy due to the friction as they turn, and you can hear the loud groaning and creaking as you walk along the Orontes River in Hama.