If you are into castles – and I most definitely am fond a castle or twenty – then Jordan has some treats. Not so much in number, but in variety.
The river Jordan was about as far as the Crusaders were able to push eastwards, but from time to time they held land in what is now modern Jordan. Two important castles remain from that era – at Shobak and Kerak.
We went to Shobak on the day with the worst weather we had during our time in Jordan. We were staying in Petra, but that isn't a good visit in the rain, as it can flood quite dangerously, and is quite exposed. So we took a taxi to the castle down the road. The stop there wasn't as long as we would have liked, but it was too cold to hang around and we had agreed with the taxi driver that he would wait one hour.
Shobak is the modern name, for what was originally le Chateau de Montreal. It's in a relatively poor state, with earthquakes and local plundering of stone leaving it quite ruined, and in any case the original crusader castle had been built over by later owners. But it was definitely worth a visit.
I've never seen a castle where they attempted to put in as many defences in such a small space. It's a long site, but quite narrow and they put in three curtain walls. That left the outer and middle wall only about 3 metres apart, which is odd to say the least.
The coolest thing about the castle though was that it has two tunnels that run down a long way underground and reappear at the base of the (quite large) hill. We sadly didn't have time to go to the end of them, but a person with more time is able to. It's not for the claustrophobic.
The other major crusader castle at Kerak (or Karak) we visited in the second last day before we left. It is on a high point where the easiest route up from the Dead Sea goes up through the highlands.
Built by Crusaders, it was later slightly remodeled by the Mamluks, but large parts of the Frankish castle remain and the overall shape was not changed. It is in quite a ruined state, but some of what remains is spectacular.
The castle runs along a ridge, and the ends were the easiest to attach and got the most defensive works. Both ends still have extremely high walls (possibly the highest I have seen not over an actual cliff) over cut rock moats. The view from the top of these walls is vertiginous.
Quite a lot of the glacis remains, which is unusual.
But the best bit was the fact that much of it was underground and many of the vaulted passages and rooms are still there. I presume these underground works were because it was cooler in the heat.
There was also a part of the original double vaulting from the Frankish era. I know that many keeps were several layers vaulted this way, but not many have so much of it remaining from the earlier eras, due to remodeling or damage.
It must have been a very impressive work when it was first built.
We also went to Ajloun castle, which was built under the orders of Saladin to hold the route south from Damascus. It has suffered some damage from recent earthquakes, but is in a remarkably good state. It is also unusual in that it was largely built in a short period of time, so doesn't have the mix of later additions that can disguise the original medieval forms.
I have no idea if all Islamic castles of the time were like this, but it is quite different to the European equivalents. It was very squat, very high and was mostly enclosed internally, rather than having a keep and curtain walls. Only a few light wells penetrated from the top. It must have been very cool in summer and protected from the wind in winter.
Unusually for Jordan it was extremely well explained throughout the interior. Definitely one of the best castles I have ever been to.
We also did a day trip out to see some of the eastern "castles". It was as much to see the desert itself as the castles really.
The desert is flat and mostly pretty much lifeless for large expanses (the road takes the traditional route via the few oases, so is greener than most of it, and it's not green at all). Towards Iraq the land is covered in small black granite rocks on top of the ubiquitous yellowy limestone of Jordan, which gives it an extra dead look.
The castles out there were mostly really semi-fortified points for camel caravans to rest where there was some water, and as a somewhere for officials to meet locals and store any valuables. They had little military value, and the one at Azrak was like a castle built by someone who had seen a castle once but had never had it explained how they work, because it was militarily very dodgy. Lawrence of Arabia stayed there, and we cannot have been told that more than a dozen times by our guide.
Qasr Al Karaneh was very sweet though, and almost pristine.
It was a good day out. We did it with a car and a driver who had a bit of local knowledge, which help keep it cheap and fun. There are some outfits that do it in a bus, but they are much more expensive.
The river Jordan was about as far as the Crusaders were able to push eastwards, but from time to time they held land in what is now modern Jordan. Two important castles remain from that era – at Shobak and Kerak.
We went to Shobak on the day with the worst weather we had during our time in Jordan. We were staying in Petra, but that isn't a good visit in the rain, as it can flood quite dangerously, and is quite exposed. So we took a taxi to the castle down the road. The stop there wasn't as long as we would have liked, but it was too cold to hang around and we had agreed with the taxi driver that he would wait one hour.
Shobak is the modern name, for what was originally le Chateau de Montreal. It's in a relatively poor state, with earthquakes and local plundering of stone leaving it quite ruined, and in any case the original crusader castle had been built over by later owners. But it was definitely worth a visit.
I've never seen a castle where they attempted to put in as many defences in such a small space. It's a long site, but quite narrow and they put in three curtain walls. That left the outer and middle wall only about 3 metres apart, which is odd to say the least.
The coolest thing about the castle though was that it has two tunnels that run down a long way underground and reappear at the base of the (quite large) hill. We sadly didn't have time to go to the end of them, but a person with more time is able to. It's not for the claustrophobic.
The other major crusader castle at Kerak (or Karak) we visited in the second last day before we left. It is on a high point where the easiest route up from the Dead Sea goes up through the highlands.
Built by Crusaders, it was later slightly remodeled by the Mamluks, but large parts of the Frankish castle remain and the overall shape was not changed. It is in quite a ruined state, but some of what remains is spectacular.
The castle runs along a ridge, and the ends were the easiest to attach and got the most defensive works. Both ends still have extremely high walls (possibly the highest I have seen not over an actual cliff) over cut rock moats. The view from the top of these walls is vertiginous.
Northern end of Kerak, showing the original entrance
Quite a lot of the glacis remains, which is unusual.
But the best bit was the fact that much of it was underground and many of the vaulted passages and rooms are still there. I presume these underground works were because it was cooler in the heat.
There was also a part of the original double vaulting from the Frankish era. I know that many keeps were several layers vaulted this way, but not many have so much of it remaining from the earlier eras, due to remodeling or damage.
It must have been a very impressive work when it was first built.
We also went to Ajloun castle, which was built under the orders of Saladin to hold the route south from Damascus. It has suffered some damage from recent earthquakes, but is in a remarkably good state. It is also unusual in that it was largely built in a short period of time, so doesn't have the mix of later additions that can disguise the original medieval forms.
Unusually for Jordan it was extremely well explained throughout the interior. Definitely one of the best castles I have ever been to.
We also did a day trip out to see some of the eastern "castles". It was as much to see the desert itself as the castles really.
The desert is flat and mostly pretty much lifeless for large expanses (the road takes the traditional route via the few oases, so is greener than most of it, and it's not green at all). Towards Iraq the land is covered in small black granite rocks on top of the ubiquitous yellowy limestone of Jordan, which gives it an extra dead look.
The castles out there were mostly really semi-fortified points for camel caravans to rest where there was some water, and as a somewhere for officials to meet locals and store any valuables. They had little military value, and the one at Azrak was like a castle built by someone who had seen a castle once but had never had it explained how they work, because it was militarily very dodgy. Lawrence of Arabia stayed there, and we cannot have been told that more than a dozen times by our guide.
Qasr Al Karaneh was very sweet though, and almost pristine.
It was a good day out. We did it with a car and a driver who had a bit of local knowledge, which help keep it cheap and fun. There are some outfits that do it in a bus, but they are much more expensive.
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