Crusader Castle
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
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156
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Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Hamah, Syria
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Hama, Syria
We missed out on seeing Saladin's Castle near Lattakia, but we are in Hama now with the purpose of taking a day trip to the castle of all castles in the Levant: the Crac Des Chevaliers. T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) called the finest castle in the world. We took a mini-van here from Lattakia for 200 SP. We are staying at the Riad Hotel for 700 SP which is a very good place to stay. Not because the rooms are all that great, but the manager, Hamud, is. Often we are the only foreigners in our hotels, but here there is a steady flow of backpackers who we meet in the lounge. Almad set us up with a driver who will take us on day tour to see Crac Des Chevaliers as well as a couple other sites for 2000 SP.
November 22, 2007
Hama, Syria
Our driver picked us up at 9:30 AM and drove us first to see the Citadel of Masyaf (entrance fee for two 150), then to the St. George Church and finally to the Crac des Chevaliers (entrance fee for two 250 SP). We couldn't find any documentation on the Citadel of Masyaf, but it probably has a similar history as the Crac. The Crac goes by several different names. When the first fortress was built here in 1031 AD by the Governor of Homs, he stationed a Kurdish garrison there so it was called Hissan al-Akrad or the Castle of the Kurds. The Knights Hospitaler captured the Castle of the Kurds in 1110, and built a new fort on its ruins.
November 23, 2007
Hama, Syria
If you've been to Hama or know anything about it you are probably wondering why we haven't mentioned the "norias". A "noria" is a wooden waterwheel used to lift water out of the river and into aqueducts which drain it to the fields for irrigation. We found our first noria on the first night we were here; it is not far from the hotel. Today we went out to see how many of the dozen norias, which we were told remain in the city, we could find. We also climbed the hill upon which the Citadel of Hama once stood.
Tomorrow we'll take a bus to Tripoli in Lebanon.
