Syrian Officers' Pool

2010-07-03

Updated: 2012-01-24

A visit to one of the many Syrian officers' pools the are scattered over the Golan Heights. The pool itself is a rectangular rough concrete bathtub, built with ease of construction in mind rather than finesse. It is filled with water from a nearby reservoir. People from the area come here with grills and have little barbeques, an experience which has a slight tinge of oddness about it when you see the minefield warnings surrounding the area. I had no time to try out the pool, but maybe if I'd filtered out the playing kids and the partying families I would have had felt a little like a Syrian officer. Of course, if you want the really authentic Syrian officer experience, you should finish the bath by dropping an artillery shell on yourself.