The JiaYuGuan castle

As I wrote the other day, the JiaYuGuan name is not famous because of the modern city, but for the fortress that began to be constructed towards the end of the XIV century, in the Ming dynasty, to control a key pass in the Silk Road and to guard the western end of the Great Wall, which is less than 10 km from there. The fort was built here because there was a small oasis that could provide all the water they needed.

We went there the first day. We just arrived to the hotel, had breakfast, a while to take a shower and change clothes, and back to the bus to go to the castle. The first thing one sees is a wall and a tower behind it.


The wall is part of the Great Wall, which is not made out of bricks and it is not so spectacular as the usual images I have seen, but it's not a small thing either. In any case, the walls are high, built from a kind of adobe and brick, because the weather is so dry here and it rarely rains (coincidentally, we saw some rain later in the week)

There are several buildings attached to the wall that make the fortress, also made from brick and mortar. Some of the taiwanese and chinese were disappointed with it. I don't know what they expected. I guess it must be a very famous place in history (and all the propaganda attached to it). In any case, it was probably a very difficult place to attack at the time.


The castle is located in a plain between two ranges of mountains. The Silk Road crossed just there. In fact, it was the customs house and the defense of the road, because I suppose that everybody had to pass through it. There are several more or less reconstructed buildings inside (there are many more or less new) and the three main towers. It is very impressive, specially if you see the pictures they have there with the snow capped mountains, which are a few km away, at the back.

I liked the brown color that everything had. Even the usually red tiles of roofs were covered by this permanently brown sheet. At the same time, there were a couple of places with trees that left me a nice memory, with the mix of the green color and the nice shade they gave.

There is not that much left from the old times, apart from the general's apartment, but they have some guys dressed up as soldiers, which also practiced for some kind of show, I guess. Towards the West, the wall goes on crossing the desolate desert.


As the first thing we saw, it was an excellent beginning. I know people who saw the eclipsefrom there. The pictures are beautiful.