Desert Castles

Desert Castle
Originally uploaded by pollhup

Each of the desert castles east of Amman in Jordan has its own unique characteristic to make it worth seeing. Yesterday Nathan took me out for the day to explore three of these castles - Qala'at Al-Azraq, Qusayr Amra and Qasr al-kharana. I have to say that the first was by far the most fun to explore. One of the joys of traveling outside of the "Western world" is that you are not as limited in where you can go within a particular location. The rule seems to be just don't be stupid enough to get yourself hurt or into trouble. I must admit that Al-Azraq provided plenty of places where I could have easily fallen to the ground, but luckily the gods of balance were with me yesterday. Al-Azraq is an old castle that is built entirely of black basalt. And I mean entirely - roof included. I'm often amazed at the constructions earlier period could complete. Natural stone arches supporting a fully stone ceiling. Oftentimes it appeared that the ceiling stones could just to come dropping down at any moment, but I guess that there enduring placement is proof enough that they are well wedged in. The highlights of this fort? The basalt door at the main entrance. Each side constructed from a single stone, they had rudimentary hinges comprised of an extra protrusion on the top and bottom which fit perfectly into shallow bowls and on which the door could swing. I found myself surprised that I could move such a heavy door with a single hand (of course the more modern addition of grease probably helped a bit). What a piece of work! More fun though, were the staircases on thin air. Seriously. I felt like I was walking up to the sky with very little support. The ingenious construction involved long pieces of stone anchored into the construction of the wall, jutting out over the ground. Each step separate from the others, and often a bit of a long reach, the reassurance of the wall to grasp was an appreciated presence. But clambering up them did make me wonder if perhaps this is what a stairway to heaven would look like. In any case, the desert castles of Jordan are well worth a day trip to see.