Blogs from Krak des Chevaliers, West, Syria, Middle East - page 2

We left Palmyra as scheduled and headed for the village of Al Husn, about 225 km from Palmyra in the western part of the country. The village itself has nothing much to offer but is dominated by the Krak des Chevalier, likely the world's largest and most intact Crusader Fortress. It was built in the 12th century and has had a succession of tenants who added onto it; however it was only ever captured once. During the drive we got to know our new friends Laurent and Anne a bit better. By consulting both our travel guides, and having taken advice from the New Zealanders we met the day before, we decided on the Baiber Hotel, a tiny little inn with a view of the Krak. The Castle is at an altitude of about 1300 meters, ... read more

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 ... read more