Mukawir, also known as the hilltop of Machaerus or in Arabic قلعة المشناقى

Sand, Neutral, Fresh Air, Nature, Desert, John the Baptist, Biblical, History, Ancient, Salome, Roman, Palace, Hadrian, Dead Sea

Mukawir is a historic attraction in Jordan that is about one hour and a half drive from Amman, around 30 to 40 minutes from Madaba.

I advice you wear something comfortable and somewhat conservative, comfortable sports shoes, and go by car or taxi. It is around 20 minutes walk up the hill or around 35 minutes if you are taking photographs on the way.

Mukawir Fortress was built by Alexander Jannaeus in the first century BC and is a religion biblical story of Salome the dancer who danced to Hadrian to get John the Baptist “Prophey Yahya bin Zakaria” beheaded. It was said the John the Baptist was imprisoned for 2 years and then beheaded. In 70 AD, the fortress was destroyed by the Romans while under the emperor of Titus.

There is not much to see, but it sure is worth the visit, the colors of nature, and the fresh air is just sensational, the walk up is very easy and takes very little time, it is not so busy and not visited much so usually serene and calm.

My favorite part of Mukawir is the view that over looks the Dead Sea and Palestine, it is breathtaking when the sky is clear, and I would defiantly advice you go right before sunset because the view is just magical and worth staying for.

I spent around 5 hours total including transportation and had a wonderful time taking photograph and meditating on the hilltop overlooking the sunset.

All photographs are unedited and taken with a Canon 70D

If you haven’t been to Al Salt click here, another city worth seeing in Jordan.