A twelfth century castle on the way to Petra, Shawbak enjoys a superb location in the midst of sharp rock ridges, well protected from any invading forces that might arrive. Nowadays the castle is in poor repair, but receives scarcely a visitor, despite its beautiful setting and the opportunities to walk alone through the imposing remains.
Although Karak grabs the headlines, Shobak Castle, a short way further south, was in fact the Crusaders’ headquarters in Jordan, and the first castle they built in the region. Known then as Montreal – or the Royal Mountain – Shobak dominates the folded, semi-arid hills on the approaches to Petra.
The legacy of widescale rebuilding work in the 1290s, under Mamluke
control, is everywhere, most notably in the carved stone panels adorning
the external walls and towers, which feature strikingly beautiful
Arabic callligraphy. Roam the ruins to discover the original Crusader chapel, a palace complex and even a set of secret passages, one of which heads down a flight of steep and crumbling steps into blackness, eventually emerging through a small gateway at the base of the castle hill.
