Dust on My Feet: Overland to London - Siege of the Syrian Embassy, Amman

The old city of Amman for the Citadel

Day 69 Sat 2 August 1980 AQABA – DAMASCUS (hopefully)

As a result of our meeting last night, it has been decided by a majority vote to cut short our stay in Aqaba and spend the extra time on the Turkish coast at Side. This arrangement does suit Tom and I, and I hope those who wished to stop the day in Aqaba aren’t too disappointed. I feel the Turkish coast will be ample compensation.

The drive today and tomorrow will be long, both in distance and in time, as we do have two borders to go through between Aqaba and Adana. Provided we can get an early start, we should be able to reach our objectives without arriving too late (all being well!) [Ha].

Today we plan on stopping to shop for this evening in Jerash, just before the Syrian border. Hopefully we won’t experience any problems at the border (Famous last words!), but even so please destroy all receipts, stamps, coins etc. from Disneyland.

Comments: Kathmandu – London via Amman, via Amman, via Amman, via Amman, via Amman ……

Sam answered: “I was thinking that we’ve spent 12 hrs on the bus today & we’re still going backwards.”

HAPPINESS is having a Syrian visa! [Half the fun though is trying to get one].

Day One of the Sundowner’s P48 Syrian Visa crisis

Day 70 Sun 3 August AMMAN

Thanks to the kind Syrian border officials, we have to stay in Amman to get new visas (they say our current visas, in Arabic, which I obtained in Ankara, are just for one visit & will not be moved on this), and our frustrating vigil outside the Syrian embassy begins. 11.30 sees Mr Neil and Mr Tom emerge from the scrummage outside the embassy, still with passports and no forms – embassy, it turns out, ran out of visa forms last Thursday. Mr Neil and Mr Tom are not saying too many nice things about the Syrians at this stage! Be prepared to wait! At least this campsite at Suweilih is clean.

Day Two - “LET’S NUKE THOSE BUNCH OF CAMEL JOCKEYS!” (pax comment)

Day 71 Mon 4 August AMMAN

Day 2 at the Syrian embassy. Finally, after ‘accidentally’ clouting a couple of Arabs, ejecting two forcibly with the help of an Italian, from the melée, bruised down one side and successfully resisting the efforts of a guard to remove me from the gate, I eventually gained admission to the embassy and got the 31 visa forms. Thanks to our scribes – Carol, Jane and Simon – we completed the forms, only to have the nice man refuse to accept them and tell us to come back tomorrow!

Day Three of the Syrian Embassy siege

Day 72 Tue 5 August AMMAN

Day 3 Syrian embassy. Today the queue was even ‘orderly’ with each person being admitted in turn. This time we lodged our applications, and now must collect passports on Thursday. Allah willing, we should be away that afternoon.

Day Four Syrian Embassy siege

Day 73 Wed 6 August AMMAN

Today, by way of a change from the charming city of Amman, we will go on an excursion to the town of Kerak, about 150 kms from Amman, overlooking the Dead Sea. Kerak is another ancient settlement. It is mentioned in the Bible as Qir Moab, but it was during the days of the Crusades, as Crac des Moabites, that it reached the peak of its importance when the seigniory of Kerak and Montreal (present day Shaubak) became part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Christian feudal state after the French model, which lasted from 1099 to 1187.

The town of Kerak, within the city walls of the Crusader castle

Around 1136 Payem, the cup-bearer of King Fulk of Jerusalem, rebuilt the fortress and much of what remains dates from that period. In 1183, while the castle was occupied by Renaud de Châtillon, the Saracen Saladin (Salah-ud-Din) laid siege to the town. On 20 November 1183, when Saladin attacked Kerak, a marriage was about to take place between 11 year-old Isabella, daughter of Queen Maria Comnena of Jerusalem, and 17 year-old Humphrey of Toron, stepson of Renaud de Châtillon. Despite the siege, the wedding ceremonies continued and Lady Stephanie, wife of Renaud, in true medieval spirit of chivalry, sent dishes from the bridal feast to Saladin. Saladin, in turn, asked in which the tower the young pair were housed then ordered that it should not be bombarded by his siege engines, nine great mangonels that were in continuous action.

Town of Kerak from the Castle

Kerak withstood the siege this time, but in later years Renaud de Châtillon attacked Moslem pilgrims in breach of a truce. Saladin never forgave him and in 1187, after the decisive Battle of Hattin near Tiberias which spelt the end of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Renaud was captured and after refusing to change religions, was personally beheaded by Saladin. Guy of Lusignan, another captive Crusader whose life Saladin spared, witnessed the execution and was reputedly told by Saladin: “It is not the want of kings to kill kings, but that man had transgressed all bounds, and therefore did I treat him thus.” After Saladin’s death in 1193, his younger brother, al-Adil took possession of Kerak.

Arches & halls in Kerak Castle

In later years Kerak was a bone of contention between the rulers of Egypt and Syria and for a time became a refuge for deposed Mamluk (or slave) Sultans of Egypt, several of whom met violent deaths in the castle. After the capture of the area by the Ottomans, Kerak drifted into obscurity. The main bulk of the castle is Crusader in origin with additions being built by the Mamluks and the Ottomans. Perhaps a word or two should be written about the Crusades, that period of religious wars were the baron knights of Europe reached the peak of their glory and popular imagination about the exploits of the Crusaders has been stirred ever since.

The Crusades

In the middle 11^th century, the weakening Byzantine Empire, long regarded as the Protector of the Sacred Places of Christianity, was being assailed, and losing ground, to the advancing Seljuk Turks from Central Asia. Also, the regeneration of the church and intensified religiosity fed the fires of indignation over the fact that Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre was in the hands of Barbarians (Moslems). Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus, in 1095, sent a request to Pope Urban II for help in recovering lands lost to the Seljuks, and after the Synod of Clermont in late 1095, Urban II convinced the knights and princes of the West that a holy war, or Crusade, was justified. Jerusalem became the password and the White Cross became the symbol. First to set out, in 1096, was a disorderly rabble under Peter the Hermit, a priest of Amiens. After much fighting and looting (massacring Jewish communities in the Rhineland) on the way they reached Constantinople in August 1096. 20,000 men, women and children were ferried across the Bosporus only to be massacred or captured by the Seljuks at Nicomedia (present day Izmit).

Montreal Crusader Castle, Shaubak, Jordan

The next year the 1^st Crusade, led by men like Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin of Flanders, Raymond of Toulouse and Tancred, set out and within two years had defeated the Seljuks in Asia Minor, had captured Antioch (Antakya), besieged and captured Jerusalem and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem under the kingship of Godfrey of Boillon. A principality was established at Antioch and earldoms at Edessa (modern Urfa) and Tripoli (in Lebanon)

Semi arch in Montreal Castle, Shaubak

In 1144, the conquest of Edessa led to the 2^nd Crusade (1147-49) under the leadership of Conrad III and Louis VII of France. The Crusaders were defeated at Dorylaeum and undertook fruitless campaigns against Damascus and Ascalon.

In 1187, Saladin conquered Jerusalem and defeated the Christians at Hattin which led to the 3^rd Crusade (1189-92) under the leadership of Richard I Cœur de Lion of England, Philip II Augustus of France and Frederic I Barbarossa who drowned crossing a river in Asia Minor after winning a brilliant victory over the Seljuks at Iconium. Richard I and Philip II captured Acre and Richard concluded an armistice with Saladin, a coastal strip between Tyre and Jaffa was ceded to the Christians and pilgrimages to Jerusalem were to be allowed.

The 4^th Crusade (1202-04) was called by Pope Innocent III with Egypt as its objective. The Crusaders first had to conquer Zara in Dalmatia for Venice before the Venetians would assure transportation, then the Doge Dandolo of Venice directed the Crusaders to Constantinople which was conquered twice, the second time with merciless plundering and slaughter.

Children’s Crusade (1212) with the naïve intention of peacefully converting Moslems to Christianity. Corrupt merchants transported thousands of boys and girls from Marseilles to Alexandria where they were sold into slavery.

The 5^th Crusade (1217-21) led by Andrew II of Hungary and Leopold VI of Austria. After an inconclusive campaign in Syria, the Crusaders besieged and captured the port of Damietta in Egypt and after an abortive march on Cairo, were forced to surrender by the Sultan of Egypt and leave Egypt.

The remains of the keep of the Crusader castle of Wu'eira, overlooking Petra

The 6^th Crusade (1228-29) led by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who had been excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX. He obtained Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth from the Egyptian sultan by treaty.

In 1244 Jerusalem was reconquered by the Moslems

The 7th Crusade (1248-56) was led by St. Louis IX of France against Egypt, now the strongest Islamic power. The Crusaders took Damietta, but then Louis was captured along with a large portion of his army and ransomed against a third of France’s annual revenue.

The 8^th Crusade (1270) was again led by St. Louis IX of France, this time to Tunis where he died of dysentery along with a large portion of his army. This was the last organised Crusade against the Moslems, and the Holy Land was definitely lost to Christianity with the fall of Acre in 1291

Day Five of the Syrian Embassy siege

Day 74 Thu 7 August AMMAN - DAMASCUS

Departure time: 8.30 Tach reading: 135,704 Distance run: 231 kms

Byzantine & Ottoman ruins on the Citadel,
Amman

Again chaos at the Syrian Embassy, with Tom making little headway, despite scaling the compound walls, but the womanly charms of Swiss Terry gained immediate access to the precincts of that notorious building, but again to no avail – no passports before one pm. Even though Terry’s ‘fainting’ spell gained admittance to the embassy building we didn’t get the passports. Just after one, I was called out in the street by an Embassy official and given a bunch of passports. There were a few nasty moments when I realised i had been given only the Canadian and Australian passports, however shortly afterwards another official turned up with the rest - sigh of relief! A whistle saw Tom back over the compound wall and a ‘very poorly’ Terry suddenly miraculously recovered to the complete bamboozlement of a couple of concerned Syrian officials and we were finally off, en route to Syria. Then complete chaos on the border – this seems to be a way of life with the Syrians. 4 hours on the border then on to Damascus, arriving at the camp ground at 11.30pm. Many thanks to the cooks for being able to provide a good quick makeshift meal on the coach. HEAR! HEAR!

Pax comments: I suffered withdrawal symptoms when I left Amman …

I cried for days after I left Amman

My life is so empty now that I’ve left Amman …

I mean, there was just so much to do there …