Hama, the Assassins Castle, and the Magnificant Krak Des Chavaliers

November the 22nd.

We organised a day trip to two castles today. The first was Qala'at Ibn Wardan, in the Jebel Assyrian mountain range, more commonly known as the Assassin's castle.

We shared a taxi with Katie and a German guy - I have forgotten his name - it worked out pretty cheaply for us. The assassins castle is situated in the city of Masyaf. It is strange to see the castle looming up amidst the rural areas of the city that lie on the lower slopes of the jebel Assyria mountain range. We parked outside of it, just opposite a small barber's shop, and walked up the hill to the castle. We paid the usual entry fee and spent an hour or two exploring inside. It was quite and moderate castle by our standards. We are now old hands at castle exploration! But it has been renovated and has many nooks and crannies to crawl around in [I have fallen in love with exploring castles. They are such fun, and full of so many amazing highs, lows, and nooks and crannies to look around].

he main interest in the site is that it was used for some time by the Hashshashin cult. These were splinter faction of Shiite Muslims; annexed from Egypt they ventured into the Middle East and settled in Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. They were rumored to have existed from the 8th Century AD. They were recorded as the Nizāriyya faction leaving Egypt in 1090 AD after a quarrel between ruling dynasty of the time. They occupied fortified settlements such as this castle. Their leader at the time was Hasan i Sabbah. He was an educated and charasmatic man and a ruthless enforcer of the Hashshasin creed. The Hashshashins were trained assassins with a reputation verging on the mystical; much the same as the ninpo or ninja of Japanese history. In fact assassin is derived from Hashshashin the etemology of the word has been traced back to hashish. There is much speculation of the links between the use of hashish and the Hashshasin cult. Many people believed that the assassins would first get whacked off their faces on hash, before heading out to complete their infiltration and assassination. This does seem to be absolute nonsense. Such missions would require one's faculties to be completely in the present. I don't think much in the way of stealth would be achieved tripping of one's face, red-eyed, and giggling with a craving for munchies. It would seem that the drug fuelled states - if this were true at all - were employed as conditioning techniques to promote loyalty and to brainwash the initiates. The cult saw their role as a rebellious one against the ruling Sunni factions whom they considered usurpers and unfair rulers. They finally eradicated during the Mongol invasion of the Middle East at the end of the 13th Century AD. It is a pretty amazing story though.

We finished exploring and headed back down to the taxi late that morning and then headed off for the highlight of today's trip - Krak des Chavaliers.

This location has always been a prime spot for some kind of fortified edifice - overseeing the Homs gap. It sits at the bottom of the mountain range known as the Jebel Assyria. A north-south Sierra which affectively splits the coast from access to inland. Hence the prime strategic location: Nothing, but nothing, gets past this place in a 100 km circumference. So whoever controls this pass, controls the trade route.

The crusaders first got hold of this place 1n 1099. The original fortress was built for the Emir of Aleppo. Raymond IV of Toulouse took it, but then discarded it in his race to conquer Jerusalem. It was reclaimed at various subsequent dates. The foundations and original keep were later expanded greatly and it was used as the headquarters for Knights Hospitaller during the crusades. The castle could hold nearly 3,000 soldiers and was thought to have been able to withstand a siege for up to 5 years. That is a lot of card playing time! It stood unconquered throughout the crusades. It was finally taken in 1271 by Barbars after he tricked the Crusaders into surrendering.

The approach to the castle is via a winding road that leads across the sides of the steep valley as you come down through the Homs pass. You can see the castle from miles away, perched atop of the valley pass, like a shephard surveying his flock. The flock in this case being the many towns and villages scattered around the valley. You don't really comprehend how enormous this place is until you get within a couple of miles. Then you begin to realise its scale. T E Lawrence referred to it as the most amazing medival castle in the world. You can see what he was banging on about immediately. The grandeur of the place oozes out of every turret. It is like someone has planted Camelot right in the middle of Syria.

In order to get into the main castle you must first wind your way through the 20 metre thick outer walls and passageways. Up through the stables and the barracks. These later additions to the fortications did not occur until the 12th century. once you have entered the castle proper. You can see the great keep rising above you. Surrounded on three sides by a glacis and a moat on the fourth side, this really is a awesome work of military architecture. Marcus, Katie, and I, spent the rest of the day climbing towers, exploring dungeons, and scaling walls. We found a fantastic secret passage, cunningly labelled with a massive sign saying 'Secret Passage'. At the bottom of it were a bunch of chairs and sofas. Which was interesting to say the least. We went up into the great keep and explored the Gothic cathederal, and the church, all leading off from the vast inner courtyard. We had a great, if not expansive, meal inside the south tower. Before climbing high onto the battlements to get an absolutely amazing view over the Jebel Assyria. Not to mention the Mediterranean, Lebanon, and the Golon Heights. It even started to rain, which was just brilliant, as we could watch it falling through the sun streaming down of the valley in the western sky.

We headed back down to our taxi as the rain really began to pour. On our way back down the hill a rainbow emerged. A perfect half circle, shimmering amidst the rain and sunshine. It has been a long time since I have seen such a perfect rainbow and we all jumped out and stood in the pouring rain trying to take a decent picture of it.

We got back in the evening and made use of the excellent wine facilities up the road. Per was not headed off again, so we all chilled out watching no-holds-barred cage-fighting on NBC Action and got toasted.