We woke up at 6.30am
at Nawatef Camp, about two and a half hours south of Amman and had a
nice local breakfast of eggs, olives and pitta bread with numerous
small cups of tea. Some of our friends had come with us for a weekend
trip to a very beautiful part of the country and today we were going
to visit Shobak Castle before heading back home.
Flexible rules
After packing our
things we headed off for the castle, which was about 20 minutes away.
Shobak Castle is on the top of a very steep hill, with a narrow road
leading up to the entrance. A sign says that no cars are allowed to
drive up the road, but we persuaded them to let us drive up, since
there were 2 babies in our group and I had driven up the road before
without falling off the hill!
Going back in time
Shobak Castle was
built in 1115AD by King Baldwin I and was famous for being
impregnable, withstanding the siege of Saladin and his vast army for
18 months. You can easily feel what it was like 900 years ago,
because it is still surrounded by bare, rocky hills, unlike other
castles in Jordan which are now surrounded by towns.
Our kids always
enjoy visiting castles, not because they are particularly interested
in the history behind them, but because they can explore lots of old
rooms and tunnels and they love playing imaginary games in them.
Close parental supervision is needed in these games because there are
numerous health and safety hazards in Jordanian castles.
Secret tunnel
Since our last visit
to this castle, I had heard about a secret tunnel which led out of
the castle to the road at the bottom, so I decided to find it and
take the kids down it. Kate stayed back with Jenson so a friend of
ours came with us to help me to manage the three other kids.
I thought I had
found it when we explored a long tunnel with several turns, but it
came to a dead end so we came back up and eventually found the real
tunnel. It descended down and down, getting darker and steeper with
many broken steps.
How do you spell 'scared'?
After about 20
minutes of descending slowly and carefully, Ethan started to get
scared and sat down, crying, wanting to go back but we eventually
persuaded him that it was easier to keep going than to try and go
back. Kira and Isaiah also started to feel scared of this deep, dark
tunnel but did very well at hiding this from Ethan. ‘I’m feeling
s-c-a-r...err… how do you spell it, daddy?’ said Kira.
There's a light at the end of the tunnel
A few minutes later,
when we wondered if this tunnel would ever end, we saw a faint light,
far below us. Eventually we found ourselves at the bottom of a ladder
which led up to a hatch by the main road, much to the relief of the
kids, especially Ethan.
Sometimes the
problems we face in life are like this tunnel -seemingly endless and
taking us down into a very dark place. We need to keep trusting in
God and looking out for the faint glimmer of light which will
encourage us to keep going until He brings us out into the bright
light of His grace, love and peace.
