Al –Fijeh… Attractive Tourist Destination

(ST)- The word Fijeh dates back to an old Greek, which means ‘spring’.
Al –Fijeh Spring is the source of life to the people of Damascus and neighboring areas. It is located in the west of the capital, Damascus, near Barada River. It comes out of the foothills of the mountain and provides the city of Damascus and its suburbs with fresh water.

Al –Fijeh town, close to the Zabadani area, is deeply rooted in history. Antiquities indicated that the area was inhabited thousands of years ago. An ancient Roman temple was found at the spring. The Romans were presenting the offerings to the gods of the fountain, which was in the temple and now in the National Museum in Damascus.

The spring is one of the richest springs where its profusion reaches in spring about 30 cubic meters per second in addition to the purity of the water. Tests have proven that al -Fijeh water is one of the purest water in the world and the limestone, which stores this water, is far from sources of pollution, in addition to that the water is free of parasites and germs.  

Remains of an old tunnel were discovered at al –Fijeh Spring and Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, conducted the water of Barada River through this tunnel to Palmyra across the Syrian Desert.

By the year 1800, there were no signs to the population in al –Fijeh town. Later, people began coming from different areas of the cities in Syria and some of the various Arab countries to live in it. It is an important destination for tourism and known for a long time in the Zabadane area.

 It is distinguished by its mild climate and abundance of water in addition to the beauty of nature where restaurants, orchards, attractive scenery and parks are spread around the Barada River. A railway line passes through the town and links between Damascus and Lebanon.

Sharif al -Khatib