Jordan is home to a great number of castles. Most of these date back to the time of the Crusades.

We visited Kerack castle back when I was still with the group. During the Crusades, this castle housed one Raynald of Chantillon. He was famous for his particular method of prisonor defenestration. He would afix boxes around their heads so that they wouldn't pass out from shock, thus making the eventual impact more painful in that final second or so... nice guy! Mind the window at the end of the hall...


My visit to Shobak was already after parting ways with the others.


This castle was known for its inhabitants being able to withstand siege for unnaturally long times. Turns out, they had an escape tunnel dug through the hillside that allowed them to sneak out for supplies and soforth. This hall here isn't the tunnel.. more on that later.


Finally, Qusayr Amra isn't actually so much a castle, as a "little palace", as its Arabic name describes. Nonetheless, it's located in the same general area as a bunch of actual castles, so it's lumped in with them in most guidebooks... and in this blog.


Amra's interior is decorated with pretty impressive (though not entirely preserved) frescoes. The one above shows various stages of work of different tradesmen (the blacksmith's row is most visible in the photo). Below is a domed roof that was decorated with the zodiac.