We visited three castles in Jordan, two built by the Crusaders and the other by one of Saladin’s generals. Karak and Shobak, the Crusaders’ castles, fell to Saladin in 1188 and 1189; the former following the Battle of Hittin, which was a crushing defeat for the Crusaders and resulted in the decapitation of Reynald of Chatillion by Saladin.
The third, Shobak, built by the Muslims is not the best preserved, but given its location and the fact that we arrived just before sunset with only one other couple there, made it the most spectacular.
Two of the local beers are named after Karak (Carakale) and Petra in a similar manner to the most popular Turkish beer being Efes.
Shilli-Fully Travels 