5th March: Castles made of sand

We started our day with an excellent breakfast at the Jordan Tower Hotel, before being led down to meet our driver for the day. He was extremely friendly and informative, one of the best guides we've had so far. The rain had vanished and the sun was shining as we headed towards the desert to the east of Amman.

Our first stop was on the outskirts of the city, the cave of the Seven Sleepers, one of the supposed locations for this Quranic story. Clem was modestly dressed and even had a scarf with which to cover her head, but was nevertheless asked to wear a full length, hooded robe to enter the cave. Next door was a large, modern mosque. The cave was small and cool, with one shaft allowing in fresh air and daylight. We were followed in by a few pilgrims from the Gulf, one man wearing a white robe and two burqa-clad women.

Hooded Clem in front of the Cave of the Seven Sleepers

Resting place of the Sleepers

Continuing on our way through the desert, our driver had many interesting stories for us. He was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, and had to stop his studies in 1967 to fight in the Six Day War (which he said was really only a six hour war, it fell apart so quickly for the Arabs). Over the next few days he made his way over to Amman, swimming the River Jordan. He was then arrested and detained for a month before being released and gradually beginning to build a new life.

He told us that in Jordan men are permitted up to four wives at any given time, so beyond that limit they must divorce a wife if they want a new one. Remarriage for women is almost impossible, so they are forced to behave. Usually the happy couple agree prior to the marriage on an amount to be paid to the woman if she is divorced. He also talked to us about Syria, continuing tension between Jordanians (a tiny minority in the country) and Palestinians, the King and his English mother and beautiful Palestinian wife, and the influx of 25,000 Saudi men every weekend for women and booze.

The desert landscape was bleak and barren, a flat expanse of pale yellow sand and gravel as far as the eye could see. The clouds were back, but without the rain thankfully. We passed a US military base, used to train recruits for the Iraqi security forces (and more recently Libyan recruits as well). Good business for Jordan. We were told that the road was closed for two hours every morning for use as an airstrip, flying recruits to and from Iraq. Next door was a US prison; whether it is used for naughty recruits or suspected terrorists captured in Iraq/Afghanistan is anyone's guess.

View of the desert from the car window

Our first stop in the desert was at Qasr al-Kharana. This 7th-8th century AD "desert castle" was built by the Umayyads, the caliphate that ruled from Spain to Afghanistan. Although the building seems to be fortified this is something of an illusion: the towers are solid and the slits in the walls would have been useless for archers. Archaeologists apparently believe that it was used as an inn for passing Umayyad nobility. The complex was deserted except for a handful of men working on a path to the castle. We entered through the main gate and spent half an hour exploring the 50 or so rooms, arranged on two levels around a central courtyard. Our aspirations to make it up to the ramparts were frustrated by a sign warning of "danger".

Qasr al-Kharana

Looking down at the main courtyard

Inside the "castle"

Men at work

A little further along the road to Iraq we found Qusayr Amra, another of the 8th century AD Umayyad jewels in the desert. The only complete buildings standing were the audience hall and the bathhouse, but the complex used to be much larger, an important caravan stop on the trade routes between west and east. Entering the audience hall, we were confronted with the beautiful frescoes for which Qusayr Amra is justifiably famous. They were not in great condition, but were still impressive given their venerable age. Faded mosaics decorated the baths, which started to make us think about a possible trip to the hammam in Amman.

Iraq or Saudi Arabia, your choice

The audience hall and bathhouse of Qusayr Amra

Apparently 8th century bears were more musical than their descendants

Frescoes in the audience hall

Who or what is beneath the shroud?

More frescoes

Heading on towards Azraq, an oasis at the junction of the roads from Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, we passed by more US military camps. After half an hour or so we arrived at the grand basalt castle of Qasr al-Azraq. This now-ruined fort was built by the Romans, rebuilt by the Ayyubids (the dynasty founded by Saladin) in the 13th century AD, and home for a week to Lawrence of Arabia in 1917, on his way to attack the Ottomans in Syria.

Entrance to Qasr al-Azraq

We entered through the stone gateway, whose doors consisted of two huge blocks of basalt weighing more than a tonne each. Sadly the castle was devastated by an earthquake in 1927; some parts still stand in their original form, but much has been rebuilt. We started our tour in the room where Lawrence stayed for a week. Here at least the arrow slits appeared to be functional. Making our way back down the steps, we looked around the barracks, stables, and a small mosque with a niche in the direction of Mecca. Above our heads the basalt was singed black from centuries of fires to keep out the desert's cold winter nights. Although the walls stood only a third of their original height, enough remained for us to imagine the former glory of this desert stronghold.

Lawrence's room was above the arch on the left

The courtyard inside the castle

Castle garrison

We stopped for a buffet lunch at a touristy place nearby; not ideal, but we were hungry and the food was pretty good. Our driver explained that usually the lunch was more expensive, with a sizeable cut going to the driver, but he considered this dishonest so refused to take the commission.

After lunch we took the road north towards Syria, stopping well short of the border at Hallabat. As we entered the village a flock of sheep crossed the road in front of us; there didn't seem to be much in the way of grazing. We stepped out of the car briefly at Hammam as-Sarah, an 8th century AD Umayyad bathhouse. The site has been rather too heavily restored for my tastes, but at least it gives a good idea of what the original building looked like.

The thoroughly restored hammam

Our final stop for the day was Qasr al-Hallabat, a couple of kilometres up the hill from the village. It was first built by the Romans, was subsequently converted into a monastery in the 7th century AD, and in the following century was returned to military use by the Umayyads. An old man with his beard dyed bright orange showed us around the castle and the mosque next door. Dark basalt blocks were piled high, inscribed with what we were told was Byzantine script. Some of the walls were a mixture of basalt and sandstone blocks, presumably a sign of reconstruction work to which a tall crane nearby further attested. From Hallabat we were driven back to Amman, where we spent a quiet evening at the hotel.