01 July, 2005

HawaKEE!

yupkee!! I was in a visit to Karak yesterday benefiting from my dad starting a new project in there, i just woke up, went to Abdali, took the We7dat Urban-Bus, got into a KarakEE bus from the southern Bus station .. & Here We GO!
hehe,when My father called us around 12 PM as usual, at a moment he stopped the speech & said: “Hey! YOU ARE IN FRONT OF ME!” Hehe!

Getting to the point, this whole post is about my visit to the Karak Castle, which took most of the time of my visit.

1st of all: Entrance Fees.. 0.15 JD!!!!!!
yup, only 15Qirsh! 22 US Cents, 18 Euro Cents!
I've never been to a touristic place in this whole wide world paying only 15 Qirsh ! inclusive the entrance to the Castle Museum!!! ever!

& don't worry non-resident visitors, its only 1 JD for you, which is the Minimum fee of entrance in any other touristic place in jordan for Jordanians !!!!!

The nice thing in this cheep entrance thing is that U'll be asked to write Ur name & info down in a guests book at the entrance (or only 1 person if U R a family, which was our case) after which the KaraKEE employee smiles & says: “Ya Hala BalDhaif” & simply refuses to take the 15 Qirsh/Person fees !!!!!!! we simply got in for free!

It was windy yesterday in Karak, So at the castle we had a good fresh windy treat being on the top of a mountain between open deep valleys, the speed of wind was maybe over 60 Km/h, especially that wind blowing from the western valley with the Dead-sea appearing at its end..... oooh! I still feel the wind blowing into my mind!
actually this wind is the motivation for this post's subject.

It's like, I Know everything about this castle & about the history of Karak, but being there yesterday simply made me (Live The Experience!). The castle, for those who don't know, was the center of Leadership for the City of Karak. Karak, as a town was actually a fortress! the ancient city of Karak was built on the top of the “Castle Mountain” if i can call it so, which is nowadays “the Old Karak” that was developed in the Ottoman times. This mount was surrounded as a whole by Great walls beside the natural surrounding of Valleys. so it wasn't just the castle as many people think, but the whole city was a magnificent big Fortress.

Being on location, I really got impressed by 2 things: How the castle was built, & how it was captured By Salah El-Deen with all those capabilities it had! there R too many underground levels so that i've forgotten to count them! really an impressive building.

getting down to the Museum, which is in one of those managed underground levels, another guests-book is waiting for you in here at the reception, the museum shows & discusses not only the history of Karak & the Fortress, but the whole area along all eras of time.

I don't wanna get it longer in this post, it's just a final note that the Castle site is surrounded by many well-managed touristic services, The Castle restaurant is very good, & suitable even for big groups or events (this's upon My Father's review since they had the Contract signing ceremony of their project in it) .... & he says they have Excellent KarakEE Mansaf ;) along with all other kinds of food.

All My respects for the Municipality of karak, Ministry of Tourism in Karak & the Karak Re-Building Project. & Hey, if U go to Karak don't forget to pass by “Karak Panorama” in the Marj area.

ENJOYKEE!!

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