aquatic playground, the city of Aqaba on the Gulf of Aqaba, almost the most southern point of Jordan. Aqaba is famous for its diving and snorkelling because of the coral reefs and the varieties of fish in this particular area. Aqaba attracts visitors from across Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The late King Hussein's family has a retreat in Aqaba (according to Queen Noor in the book, Leap of Faith,
which I am currently reading). I suspect that his son Abdullah II visits in Aqaba often. I also suspect that we will not be seeing his home this time.
It was in Aqaba we realized that the stores close from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the day for 'lunch'. I suspect that this has something to do with the scorching heat we were experiencing during the day in Aqaba.
While in Aqaba we visited the ruins of a Crusader castle and a nearby Museum.
We also participated in the atmosphere of a 'beach city', complete with a very active night life of many people visiting the town's hotspots.
The hotel we stayed in was in the middle of the hustle, bustle of the town. Initially, when we found our hotel room for 19 J.D. ($28.00) we thought that the air conditioning and fan in the room were somewhat 'overkill'. It did not take long for us to realize that these options were valuable. We were able to minimize our use of the airconditiong and fan by leaving our balcony door open during the evening allowing the breeze to cool the room and to be lulled to sleep by the coastal revellers which we could observe from our very large balcony. We could also wash some clothes and hang them out to dry within hours. There were many interesting restaurants, nut, gold, watch shops in the town to explore.
This morning we caught the minibus at 7:00 a.m. to begin our journey north towards Syria. We arrive in Karak at 11:00 a.m. On the way to Karak the landscape was very dry and rocky for miles without any green in sight, only the occasional Bedouin home.
We were stopped at check points three times. We did not take a picture of the Toyota truck with a rifle mounted on the roof, with a solider ready to shoot, if necessary. We did not feel it would be an appropriate gesture on our part. The locals knew exactly what to do each time i.e., show their cards and we followed suit by showing our passports.
In Karak, we found a nice room for 16 J.D. ($23.00) in an old hotel called Towers Castle with breakfast. Our bathroom is huge, huge. After settling into the room, we proceeded into town to find some food to eat. This is always an adventure because we like to eat where the locals eat. This afternoon we found a restaurant and ordered one lunch plate. Our lunch plate for one consisted of so much food that we wrapped some of it to take away for supper.
This afternoon we visited the ancient Crusader castle of Karak. It became a place of legend during the 12-century battles between the Crusaders and the Muslim armies of Saladin. This castle is among the most famous of the castles built by the Crusaders stretching from Aqaba in the south to Turkey in the north.
The fortifications of the castle still dominate the modern walled town of Karak. The vastness of space that the castle occupies, the height of the walls and stone structures and the complexity of the buildings is breath-taking.
This afternoon we also investigated our options for leaving tomorrow towards Damascus. We were told the bus leaves at 5:00 a.m. However, since there does not appear to be a 'formal' bus station' we are not certain whether this is reliable information or not. We will need to explore this more this evening.
1 comment:
WOW! great narrative and fabulous pictures. that castle looks amazing! love it. :-) Annie
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