If you are in Jordan to see the world class site of Petra it is relatively easy to pick up the desert castle of Qusayr Amra. It is certainly not an “unmissable” site but “worth a detour” if you are mobile and have half a day to spare.

It lies around 80kms east of Amman on route 40. Nearby are a number of other desert castles. Indeed if you have a whole day to spare you could do the “Desert Castle loop” going out by Zarqua towards Asraq and then back via route 40 taking in some 5 castles and also the opportunity to see Oryx at the Shaumari Reserve (we didn’t do this so I can’t comment on whether it is worthwhile)

The castles all date from the time of the Damascus-based Omayyad dynasty around the 8th century – although many were built on earlier remains including Roman and Nabatean. They are often lonely buildings built on a treeless desert.

The choice of WHS status for Qusayr Amra is probably determined by its frescoes and you will certainly be surprised by the depiction of living things (including naked bathers!) by an Islamic culture. Among the most interesting to us was a dome in what was a hammam’s steam room (the castle was used as a caravanserai) with a map of the heavens in the layout of a zodiac with the “bear” and other signs clearly visible.