па jonmartin ()

<a href="http://decluttr.com/4364675951" rel="nofollow">Large, black background</a> | <a href="http://panoview.yezzer.net/?id=http://www.flickr.com/photos/memeflux/4364675951/sizes/o">Full size, full screen</a> &nbsp; Krak des Chevaliers near Homs, Syria, shines in the afternoon light as seen from the balcony of the Beibers Hotel. The castle sits on a 650-meters high hill above the Orontes river valley, controlling the land route from Antioch to Beirut--providing the Knight Hospitalers control over Lake Homs and the surrounding areas. As is evident from the photo, this castle is virtually impossible to take: imagine having scaled that hill in full armor, just to have a cauldron of boiling oil poured in your head... The interior of the castle is a joy to explore; even though Krak has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, the number of visitors is limited and you can easily spend a day walking around without bumping into too many other people, all while reminiscing about how life here would have been like. (For those of you following my updates, apologies for the lack of posts the last days. My laptop had an unfortunate incident involving a glass of juice, so the keyboard has been cranky while the juice dried up. I am back in business now...) &nbsp; EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | HDR | 28 mm | f/8,0 | ISO 50 | Aperture priority mode |