Desert Castle's
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2011
1
5
15
Trip End
Ongoing
Azraq, Amman, Jordan
Thursday, November 24, 2011
The first 1 situated just off the road in the desert was call Al-Kharaneh, it is definately a castle of sorts but by it's layout and location it was doubtful that it was actually there to defend anything, more of a stop of route for the caravans many years ago.
Next it was on to Qasr Amra which is the most famous of the desert castles, the building that's left is just a small part of the actually castle but they are restoring it and it has some good examples of early islamic art (when it was secular) decorating the insides. Being only small it didn't take long to look around but we did stop with some bedouin for tea by the fire and were encouraged to try and drum along (poorly) to the radio :D
We finished the tea and then to Qasr Azraq which was my favourite of all of the castles. Azraq was an oasis until not long ago and was the only fresh water fresh water in approximately 12,000 square kilometres of desert so this clearly deserved a bit more defending. This castle was fun as lots to climb to get to different bits and the largest intact castle out of all of them. Our driver then suggested we go to an all-you-can-eat buffet in Azraq for lunch and I was pleased to see cans of beer available for the first time since being in Jordan. However he never warned us it would be 10JD a head for the meal and 3JD for each 330ml can of beer. I'm very glad i mounted the plate up high and ate lots but it didn't really compare to the 0.3 JD I was paying in Amman for Falafel wrap with free side salad!
We went to an old bath house next which wasn't anything more than a small abandoned bath house but the remains of the final castle, Al-Hallabat, were next to it.
Al-Hallabat really is more ruins than castle but does have some nicely preserved mosaic floors and the reconstruction is underway to make it look similar to it's former self. I imagine it would have been quite and impressive castle when it was build but alas we will have to wait to see if it is put back together to see if this is true.
Enough desert and castles for one day, back to Amman not to eat dinner after the expensive lunch and to rest for getting the bus to Jerash the following day.
