Shobak

Just off the King's Highway 190 km south of Amman and less than an hour north of Petra stands an impressive castle as a lonely reminder of former Crusader glory dating from the same turbulent period as Karak, crowning a cone of rock, which rises above a wild and rugged landscape dotted with a grand sweep of fruit trees below. 

Shobak Castle - is an early 12th-century Crusader castle in barren surroundings. It is perched on the side of a rocky, conical mountain at 1,300m (4,265ft) above sea level, looking out over fruit trees below. Although not so well-preserved or visited as Karak Castle, its isolation from the nearest town makes it more atmospheric.

It is today known as Shobak, but to the Crusaders it was Mont Real (Crak de Montreal) or Mons Regalis, the Fortress of the Royal Mount. It was built in 1115 by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem to guard the road from Damascus to Egypt, and was the first of a string of similar strongholds in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.