Travel Guide Deir Ez-Zor

Here no antique column planted in the middle of the city or a monument, but an opportunity to discover one of the most unknown facets of Syrian society: rural life. The city's main interest is its colourful souk, investing in the early morning to see the Bedouin in the tattooed face and watching the men in full trictrac, a glass of tea by hand. A stage that carries the visitor in another time the time of a morning and allows to explore the mysteries of Abu Church, Vaud-Europos and Mari. From Palmyra or Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor is the only city with hotel facilities worthy of this name. On the evening, a walk or, better, a dinner on the Euphrates River are especially marked to forget the extreme temperatures of the day and enjoy peace of the millennium.Located on the Euphrates, 120 km downstream from Simoen, Deir ez-Zor is a crossroads between the route of Palmyra, that which serves the north-east and that of Baghdad to the south; it has the only bridge on the river between Simoen and Abu Kamal. This city of 182 500 inhabitants develops in the th century, while the large cities, Aleppo or Damascus, see their production (especially crafts) decline. The Ottoman government installs its administrations and sends its soldiers gradually to the desert in the hands of the large Bedouin confederations, such as the Anézé on the right bank and the Chammar on the left bank. Families are sédentarisent. The city gradually became the capital of Bedouin Syria. A souk develops there, a link between the desert, the countryside and the rest of the world. The progress of agriculture is now adding to the recent discovery of high-quality oil deposits. Syria has appealed to Western societies for drilling and exploitation. The influx of personnel from other regions is giving a new face to this city.