Shobak Castle also known as Montreal was built by the Crusaders and expanded by the Mamluks during the 12 Century.
The castle dominated the main passage from Egypt to Syria.
I went to the castle twice, the first time it was so windy that they had to close it.
To get to the castle you have to park near the bottom of the hill and then walk up.
During the crusades the castle used to have 3 protective walls. Currently there is only one.
There hasn’t been a lot of restoration done to it. They have not fully excavated the ruins either, so it feels very authentic.
When you walk around the you notice that there are some holes in the floor covered by planks of wood. Some interior wall are held together by scaffolding . This is not a bad thing, it feels less like Disneyland.
The people that work here try to keep it in good conditions. Its clean and you see the efforts to make it safe.
I do not know if I was lucky, or people don’t really visit.
I was pretty much alone the whole time.
I was able to walk around, climb structures, really enjoy my time there.
In some areas of the castle you needed to be more careful …… you could fall and die.
Something fun to do while walking around, is finding all the different types of arches – three pointed, flat, horseshoe, etc.
The rooms left in the castle have small protective windows, very appropriate for a crusade fort.
During the 14th century, there was a renovation. The towers and walls were decorated with carved inscriptions.
Around the castle there are hills with very interesting diagonal patterns. People built houses in them, sometimes is hard to finding because they blend so well.
On my way back to the car I decided to take a little detour while walking, because I found a baby goat.
The Baby goat then led me to his/her mother.
I kept following them until a man appeared and started yelling at me. There was a bit of a language barrier so I left pretty quickly.
The goats finally found their family.
and they let me to this place, a small rural cemetery.
Overall a very successful trip.
