Before reaching the castle gate, our tour van stopped at a lookout along the highway for us to take photo of the famous Krak des Chevaliers. Krak des Chevaliers, a Crusader castle near the city of Homs, is probably one of the best preserved crusader castles in the world. Even from a distance we could already appreciate the intact outer walls and guard towers of the fortress. The strong castle was protected by two layers of fortress wall. We entered the complex through an entrance in the lower level, then passed through a vaulted tunnel, and reached the inside of the fortress walls. Another tunnel led us up to the core area of the castle where there was a church/mosque. We climbed the guard towers one by one for the outside scenery. We spent about 1.5 hour at Krak des Chevaliers, and it was certainly one of the most impressive fortresses I had ever visited.
The earlier Muslim fortress on the site of Krak des Chevaliers was captured by the First Crusaders. Later, Krak des Chevaliers was subsequently expanded and became the headquarters of Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades. In 1271 the castle was finally fell to the hands of the Muslims and the Gothic church in the complex was turned into a mosque.
Krak des Chevaliers was certainly the day's highlight. After the visit, our van headed back to Cairo Hotel in Hama. In the evening we had fried and grilled chicken for dinner again.
No comments:
Post a Comment