The journey here through the vast desert steppe is long and arduous with the monotony of the beige stony plains only broken by tiny, forlorn villages that somehow hang on in the heat and dust. Rising majestically out of the emptiness is the enormous walled city of Rasafeh, a lonely ruin where you’re likely to be the only visitor. On reaching the Euphrates the landscape suddenly comes alive, as this ancient river nurtures the surrounding land and the river’s banks erupt in a riot of greenery, with fields of cotton and corn. The blue waters of the Euphrates were historically an important medium for trade, a fact marked by the extensive ruins that can still be found beside it.
To the northeast is the Jezira (literally ‘island’ in Arabic) region; home to most of Syria’s one million Kurds. This area encompasses ancient northern Mesopotamia, and outside its bustling dusty market towns lay the nondescript mounds and tells that have yielded so much information as to humanity’s first steps towards civilization.
Get tips from your friends! or register to see the favorite places of your friends in Euphrates River and the Jezira
Euphrates River and the Jezira information
Sources:
Background
Background
The Jezira region is of enormous importance in archaeological terms, forming part of the Fertile Crescent, which played such a central role in the origins of settled agriculture. Extensive excavations at sites such as Tell Brak and Tell Halaf (ancient Guzana), archaeologists have found remains of some of the earliest settlements in the Near East and many more tells await excavation.
The incredible spawning of culture in this region is thanks to the Euphrates (al-Furat in Arabic) which rises in Turkey’s eastern Anatolian plateau and flows southeast through Syria, dividing the desert from the rain-fed plains of the Jezira. This region gave birth to the ancient city-states of Mesopotamia (‘the land between two rivers’ – the Euphrates and the Tigris), most of which extends into present-day Iraq.
Although all the main towns in the Jezira and Euphrates region can be quite easily reached by a mixture of Pullman bus and microbus journeys, getting to the surrounding sights can present some difficulty. With a lot of time (and patience) the major sights can be visited by a mixture of microbus and walking (and maybe some hitching) but those with less time would be better off hiring a car or driver. Even travellers with time up their sleeve would do well to consider this option during the summer months when the heat here is stifling and walking a few kilometres to a site becomes a gruelling chore. With a car, you could cover the main sights in this region (Dura Europos, Mari, Qala’at Jaber and Rasafeh) in two days with an overnight in Deir ez-Zor.
The main towns in the region all have decent bus services connecting each other and Damascus and Aleppo to the west. Most buses heading to/from Damascus stop in Palmyra on the way. The train network is improving slowly with a new express service now running from Aleppo to Deir ez-Zor via Raqqa, as well as the excruciatingly slow overnight service from Aleppo to Qamishle via the main regional towns. Both Deir ez-Zor and Qamishle have airports with regular flights to Damascus.
1Create your personal travel guide:
Give a title and description about where you plan to go and what you plan to see throughout your trip!
2Plan and organize your trip:
Browse tripwolf and click the (+ add to my trip) button next to any location that you find appealing. Add sights, restaurants, bars, hotels - whatever you like! Arrange the location in any order by dragging and dropping them.
3Print and share your guide:
Finish planning and download your personal printable PDF guide for your trip and share it with your friends. (Soon you will also be able to download your trips to your tripwolf iPhone application!)
