Crac de Chevaliers

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Crac de Chevaliers, home of Richard Lionheart, in the middle of Crusader country. Doesn't that just bring back memories of all those good (and bad) movies about knights, crusaders, arab wars and the attempts to control Jerusalem in the middle ages...

Well, it's all that you could imagine it to be!

We turned up the night before we were to go into the castle after a particularly partying, singing, drinking truck ride, and rocked up to our banquet dinner very merry already. And we had a fantastic night eating great Syrian food, drinking bad local wine and very moreish Raki - the local spirit which is very like ouzo and has a definite kick - and singing various Australian and Kiwi songs when we could remember the words. Loads of fun, and our hotel had beautiful views directly over the castle, so it didn't get much better.

The next morning was perfect castle weather, grey, damp and spooky. Walking up to the castle one could almost see the ghosts of Couer de Lion and his knights at the ramparts, claiming their right to the Holy Land, and hear the shouts of the attacking arabs... Unreal.

Inside the castle, you couldn't wish for more. Secret passages, decorated gothic rooms, ramparts, boiling oil holes, narrow windows for archers, lookouts and even the remains of the round table for the knights to sit at. Really!

We had several hours exploring, both with a great informative guide and then on our own, so we had the best of both worlds in terms of appreciating it. And then lunch in the princess' tower itself! It may have been a tourist gimmick but it was still a very cool feeling. Gotta love castles!

And there is no such thing as OSH laws here, no edges were fenced off, no areas to dangerous to go to, just go where you want... Plenty of chances for accidents but we managed to get everyone out alive and uninjured.

Though castles in the UK are very cool, Crac de Chevaliers takes the cake, and is now top of my best castles list!

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