Karak Castle and Dana Village

By Ali Karim
This post is part of a series called Jordan Nov 2013
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On the way to Amman from Petra, we stopped at Karak Castle and Dana Village

Karak castle is an ancient Crusader castle in a decently preserved condition; one of 3 in the Middle East, the other 2 being in Syria. It is located in the town of Al-Karak as you can see below.

Al-Karak is a much older town, inhabited since the Iron Ages. The Castle was built by the Crusaders when they invaded in the 1100’s AD, and is located about 1000m (3300ft) above sea level. It has a commanding view of the valley beneath it and the Dead Sea in the distance.

Scenery on road to Al-Karak on Dead Sea side

Karak Castle on top right

Plaque at Karak Castle

View of the valley from Karak castle

Ramparts of the Karak Castle

Road leading away from Al-Karak

Dana Village vistas

Rest stop at small local restaurant in Dana

 View of the steep Gorge from Dana village

Gorge from Dana village

Interesting view in Dana of another Gorge

Dana village mosque

Meat and cilantro; roadside butchery

Curious friendly young lady

Rest stop on the Desert Highway for delicious Falafel Schwarma, which were very cheap

Random town, in a fertile area

Old town in the middle of the desert

Drove to Amman, and caught our flight to Dubai the next day. All in all, we found the Jordanians to be the friendliest people we have interacted with; with many people giving us free food/coffee and taking us themselves to where we wanted to go.

Wonderful & delightful experience of the people, that matches the terrific cultural history of this area for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, together with the ancient Nabateans. Well worth visiting.

This entry was posted in Jordan, Jordan Nov 2013, Middle East

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