Ain al-Barda ( ar, عين الباردة; ALA-LC: ''‘Ayn al-Bārdah'', which means "cold spring") is a village in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, located 55 kilometres west of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

and 200 kilometres northwest of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. Nestled on the Sayeh mountain, at 850 metres above sea level, the village overlooks the

Wadi al-Nasara Wadi al-Nasara ( ar, وادي النصارى / ALA-LC: ''Wādī an-Naṣārá'', Greek: Κοιλάδα των Χριστιανών, ''Koiláda ton Christianón'', which both mean "Valley of Christians") is an area in western Syria, close to the ...

valley. Its inhabitants are predominantly Greek Orthodox Christians. The village has a Greek Orthodox Church.

Climate

Ain al-Barda has a Mediterranean climate. It snows on the mountain slopes several times in winter.

Main sights

The village is a common stopover for tourists on their way to the nearby Krak des Chevaliers; most of them visit the church of Saint Elias in the village. John Gardiner Kinnear described the village in an account of his journey throughout the Middle East in 1839:

Last week T—— and I rode up to a beautiful secluded spot, some three or four hours from Beyrout ic It is, as the Arabic name implies, a fountain of delightfully cold water, which, issuing in copious stream from the rocks, is received into a stone basin under the shade of a magnificent carob-tree. There is no village near it; but within a short distance are one or two lonely cottages among the vineyards and mulberry gardens. It is on the upmost verge of the cultivated part of the mountain; below are gardens and pine woods; and above, the wild rocks and pine woods; and above, the wild rocks and tangled shrubbery. The air is clear, cool, and refreshing after the sultry atmosphere of Beyrout; and the view over the lower heights covered with vines and olives mingling with the dark pine woods, to the wide expanse of the blue Mediterranean, is one of the most beautiful I ever beheld.Kinnear, ''Cairo, Petra, and Damascus in 1839: with Remarks on the Government of Mehmet Ali and on the Present Prospects of Syria'', 294.

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayn Bardah Populated places in Talkalakh District Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Syria Christian communities in Syria