Pierre-Brice Lebrun - 2010-02-23

Drive southwards to leave Amman and take the motorway which heads towards the Queen Alia International Airport. This is Jordan’s major road, known as the Desert Highway (number 15 is its official name.) It starts at the Syrian border and makes its way down to the town of Aqaba, wedged between the shores of the Red Sea, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

 

Running parallel to the King’s Highway, which winds its way through the peaks of the Arabah Mountains, the Desert Highway follows the Hedjaz railway, passes near to the magnificent Petra - the Nabatean pearl of the Hashemite Kingdom, and then skims past the Rum desert where Lawrence of Arabia contemplated the seven pillars of wisdom. Here, you’ll have to avoid donkeys, camels, u-turning lorries and the notorious Jett buses that only seem to indicate when they feel like it and fall apart without warning.

 

It is difficult to get out of Amman: where does this city begin and where does it end? Where is its centre? It’s all a bit of a mystery.

Its seemingly identical suburbs are never ending: the glass buildings of the international banks rub shoulders with archaic tyre repair workshops, tiny restaurants and bazaars with poster decorated windows.

There are highways everywhere. Just a momentary lapse of concentration and the trip can turn into a nightmare as you find yourself working out where to find the numbered Circles, the large crossroads that act as interchanges or reference points and that give you a sense of orientation, a bit like palm trees in the desert.

This is easier said than done. Finally, at the seventh Circle, a sign written in English points the way to the airport. You breathe a sigh of relief. The Azraq road cannot be very far now.

To the right, with over-ornate villas on either side of the six lanes, the highway 40 junction appears abruptly. On one side this heads towards the Dead Sea and King Abdullah Bridge which crosses the river Jordan giving access to Palestine; on the other, after a few detours, it finally becomes the route of the Desert Castles!

Another less stressful solution is to hire a taxi for the day which often turns out to be cheaper than hiring a car. Every hotel has its own preferred drivers and pre-arranged tariffs.

 

 

Azraq is a knot in the road, lost in the middle of this huge, flat desert that extends outwards for miles and miles to the east of Jordan.

Hundreds and thousands of dilapidated, rattling trucks take the Damas to Riyadh and Amman to Baghdad roads and Azraq, an oasis surrounded by rocks, is where they cross. The drivers stop at the village (the last before the border) to take a break, tighten a few bolts and buy a few things from the many grocers who lay their merchandise out on the pavements.

 

The route of the Desert Castles is not just a tourist route. It is, above all, a vital economic arterial road for these four countries.

 

Indeed, trading has taken place in this region for a very long time. The magnificent and imposing castles which appear along the road were built in the 7^th and 8^th centuries by Umayyad Caliphs who, by hosting sublime parties once or twice a year, gained the loyalty of the nomad tribe-leaders. The rest of the time, a small garrison stayed there keeping watch over the interests of the Caliph who, from time to time, came to spend the weekend to hunt eland, organise horse races or practice falconry.

 

 

The Qasr al-Kharrana (or al-Kharaneh) to the right of the road is the first castle to appear, thirty five miles from Amman. It’s a large square and austere edifice built in 710 CE for the Caliph Al-Walid 1st.

Bedouins put up their tent in the car park. They sell postcards and a few ornaments, as well as fresh drinks and tea that you drink with them, lounging on carpets. The tea is continuously simmered over live embers and, just like their formidable but flavoursome coffee, it will stop you sleeping for a week! It’s possible to spend the night there for a reasonable fee (you can bargain for everything). The least you can say is that the atmosphere is pleasant, but don’t expect the place to offer comfortable amenities.

This castle is very different from others but it’s not known what it was used for. The fortified ground floor gives the impression of a caravanserai [a roadside inn], despite the absence of any water reserve in the surrounding area. However, the luxury of the upper floors (frescoes, bas-reliefs, columns and cavettos) make this theory unlikely. Was it a hunting pavilion? A meeting hall? It remains a mystery.

 

Further along, on the left hand side is the Qseir (‘little castle’) Amra which is not to be missed due to its wonderful frescoes, baths and wells. It was built in 711, by the same Al-Walid 1^st who built the Umayyads mosque in Damas.

 

Azraq, now a dried up oasis, is only a few kilometres away and where you can visit the Qal’at (‘fort’)al-Azraq, built in black basalt during the 4^th century CE by the Romans, then renovated by the Byzantines and converted by Walid II. In the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence of Arabia recounts how he spent the 1917-18 winter in the room overlooking the Southern entrance.

 

 

There are three options for the return to Amman: you could simply turn round and head back the same way or you can take highway 30 which bypasses Amman to the east and north via Az Zarqa or, finally, take highway 30, then 5, then 10 towards Umm al-Jimal (‘the mother of camels’.)

 

Along Highway 30 you can stop at Sarah’s Hammam (Qasr Hammam as-Sarkh) and at Qasr al-Hallabat, one of the largest Desert Castles, built alongside the Via Nova Traiana that used to link Damas with Aqaba and passes by Amman and Petra. Choose the other return route option and you’ll come across Qasr Ain as-Sil (a small farm), Qasr Aseikhin (for the views alone) and Qasr Deir al-Kahf (very difficult to access).

 

However, you must ensure you find time to discover, as night falls, the deserted village of Umm al-Jimal (on highway 10, 10 miles to the east of Mafraq).

Not much is known about this collection of town buildings destroyed in 747 by an earthquake (several guides, devoid of an explanation, even mistake its history with that of Jerash.) Founded by the Nabateans who were already on the decline, occupied by the Byzantines who gave shape to it, followed by the Persian Sassanids, this agricultural village even housed the French army during the First World War.

Contrary to what the name suggests, Umm al-Jimal has never really been a Caravanserai, but rather a large peasants’ town (which had a population of up to 3,000), and then a garrison town. You can walk freely in the silence of its still intact alleyways, to use the same paving stones as its previous inhabitants, to sit in doorways or walk through doors into houses where shaky staircases are still standing.

This deserted Umm al-Jimal is just like Jordan: an endearing, authentic and touching place.

 

 

Tel: 020 73716496 01 55 60 94 46.

 

 

The Jordan Tourism Board publishes a leaflet called Desert Castles, providing  information on discovering 13 of these astonishing castles on the 200 mile long circuit. Some are off the beaten track and will require a guide and a four wheel drive vehicle.

 

6 Upper Phillimore Gardens
London,
W8 7HA.
Tel: 020 7937 3685
Fax: 020 7937 8795

It is essential to obtain a visa.

 

http://www.rj.com

 

 

Restaurant Al-Shallal al-Montazah (with a shaded garden and fountains).

 

Azraq Resthouse (the restaurant should be avoided, but there is the option to sleep in its bungalows).