Qusayr Amra

One of the reasons why I wish to revisit Jordan is the Desert Castles in the eastern part of the country. In the article “Castle represents cultural time capsule of 8th century life” from Jordan Times Taylor Luck visits one of them, the UNESCO World Heritage site of Qusayr Amra, an old caravanserai, hunting lodge [...]

Arabian Sands

Last month I came across a book by Wilfred Thesiger called Arabian Sands. It is Thesiger’s first of many books. The book is a well-written, highly exciting and not least a great travel book about a journey into what is now a vanished world. Between 1945 and 1950 Wilfred Thesiger travelled several times in and [...]

Wilfred Thesiger on travel and its challenges by modernity

Wilfred Thesiger’s thoughts on travelling and what he sees as the challenges of modernity in his highly recommendable book, Arabian Sands: “I was sailing on this dhow [to Bahrain] because I wanted to have some experience of the Arab as a sailor. … But there was a deeper reason that had prompted me to make [...]

Desert Castles

Scattered across the eastern desert of Jordan there are buildings and ruins that make out what is commonly known as desert castles. They are mostly a mixture of forts, caravanserais and hunting lodges, some bigger and better preserved than others. Most of them were built during the Umayyad-period, but some originate from Roman times, as [...]