We arrived in Karak in the evening. The town is very quiet and does not offer much. We found a hotel (of poor quality), had dinner and then played cards. The reason we stopped in this town was because of the castle of the same name.
In the morning, when we woke up, we looked for a place to have breakfast. Everything was closed and the hotel reception recommended a place located in the main street, King Hussein Road. It’s called Adl Alhabi and, at first glance it wasn’t very inviting… But we entered in and sat down. I only ordered something to drink: I don’t feel like eating bread and falafel in the early morning. Ale on the contrary didn’t want to miss the opportunity… I tried his food: it was delicious! So, I too ate Arabic bread, hummus, eggplants, falafels, all accompanied by a warm cup of mint tea. Fantastic, and also very good.
With our belly full, we started visiting the castle, a remarkable example of crusader architecture, a mixture of European, Byzantine and Arabic styles. Its walls are reinforced by rectangular towers, the long galleries with stone vaults are lit only by narrow loopholes and the whole complex is surrounded by a deep moat that completely isolates it from the rest. In the lower courtyard of the castle, there is the Archaeological Museum of al-Karak.
After the visit, we left for Mukawir, the palace of Herod, witness of the dance of the Seven Veils of Salome and the subsequent decapitation of John the Baptist. To get there, we climbed the desert mountains, until we reached a hill from which the remains of the building seemed very far away. We didn’t follow the path that led to the top, since we were satisfied by the distant view that made the building very impressive.
