When I started preparing for a visit to this WHS, I was wondering why this site is not limited to the famous Crac des Chevaliers only, but also includes Saladin Castle. They are very far apart (160 km), and the Crac seems to be the truly outstanding one. It turned out that Syria in 2006 even saw potential for a serial nomination, as the original name of the nomination was “Castles of Syria”. As suggestions for further extension, it mentions the castles of Marqab, Qal’at al-Mudiq and Shayzar. They probably wanted to shift the focus away from solely being from Crusader times and honouring Byzantine and Islamic periods as well. In their heydays, these hilltop castles communicated with each other by lighting fires.

The Crac des Chevaliers still stands proudly in the center of Syria. It has suffered little damage from the recent war and earthquake. It’s also well-established as a tourist site, with entrance fees (foreigner pricing!), explanations in English and even a plaque. Everything about it is enormous, as it was made for horses. The soldiers stationed here could survive for two years without needing replenishments from outside. A visit nowadays requires a fair number of stairs to climb all over the place.

Although there is little decoration in the interior, the castle is impressive because of the ingenuity of its design. There’s the almost impregnable outer wall, then a moat, and then another full castle inside all of this! It held a mosque, baths, the Hall of the Knights and lots of horse stables. All is in pretty good repair, since excavations and restorations have been going on at the Crac until recently. The Hungarian archaeological mission that is helping Syrian authorities with those even discovered a secret path inside one of the walls last year.

A couple of days later, we visited the Castle of Saladin. This is also spectacularly located and is reached from a road with hairpin bends. It is set among the forests, where the Crac is in a more open landscape. At the narrow entrance road, there are two enormous pillars carved from the rock during Byzantine times – they used to hold a wooden drawbridge. Even from the parking lot, there are still some steep stairs to climb to reach the gate.

A local guide was meeting us up there – the castle isn’t always open and it nowadays sees few visitors. In the past, even big tour buses drove up. It does have similar elements to the Crac (horse stables, watch towers), but on a smaller scale. Only the huge cistern, scary to look into, really stands out.

The walls of this castle extend far: in that remote part, the Byzantine era buildings can be found. We only watched them from a window in the main citadel.