The castle seems straight out of a history book on the Crusades . Perched on a mountaintop, it is the finest example of a Crusader fortress, built to protect the Latin states of the Near East. Approaching from Homs or Hama, its silhouette may be see..

The church has some fine 12C wall paintings , originally executed to adorn the crypt of St Elian, representing high at their centre Christ Pantocrator, with Mary and Mary Magdalene to His right and St John the Baptist with a figure believed to be St..