Crusader Castles of Lebanon.

Armies of tourists clamber through the shelled grandeur of South Lebanon's Beaufort Castle, its magnificent fractured turrets dominating the skyline for miles like a crumpled lion atop this sheer serrated ridge. Veiled women pick their way through the rubble in impossibly high heels and chunky platforms, gathering handfuls of their chadors as they climb a rusty ladder that replaces stone steps bombed by Israeli jets nearly two decades ago. Children waving canary-yellow Hizbullah flags race around the shattered towers careless of safety, as old women totter, bent double in some cases, amongst the loose stones of what remains of the battlements.

It's a steep drop down the sides of the castle, but there are no cordoned off areas, no signs warning of danger. Glancing downwards it is almost impossible not to feel dizzy -- Beaufort dings to rocks that slide almost vertically 300 metres to the Litani river and the green valley below.

The Israelis snatched Beaufort or Shqif Arnun -- Syriac for high rock -- from Palestinian fighters in 1982, driving them out with a deadly raid of F-16 bombers that annihilated the barbican. The Israelis installed their troops and members of their proxy Christian militia, the South Lebanese Army, who used it to monitor and fire on Hizbullah villages during their 22-year occupation of South Lebanon. They withdrew from this nine-kilometre-square strip of land at the end of May, leaving the South jubilant, the castle abandoned and derelict.

The tourists don't seem to care that the castle looks as if it has been ransacked, the interior courtyard littered by shattered concrete slabs, twisted metal, the occasional coffee sachet in Hebrew script, cartridges and bullet casings.

In fact, the evidence of recent army presence is precisely what most people want to see. Amongst the towers that guard the entrance is a perfectly intact Israeli lookout bunker, reached by a line of steps constructed out of bags of sand that are now leaking, punctured by the heels and boots of tourists. Sheikhs in long black robes and brilliant white turbans mingle with women in tight jeans and low-cut tops in the claustrophobic low-ceilinged bunker that is covered in netting.

It is easy to see why this castle, built nearly a 1,000 years ago by the crusaders to protect the kingdom of Jerusalem, has remained a military gem: the views are spellbinding. From the sandbagged wall of the bunker, a soldier or knight could have gazed all the way to Syria, the Bekaa valley to the east, down to the fertile Galilee valley in the south, all the way to Tyre on the coast and even Beirut on a clear day.

It's also possible to make out the faint outlines of the crippled turrets of Maroun, a small crusader fort that most locals know little about, and to the west the more stalwart battlements of another castle, Tibnin.

Located just outside the former occupation zone near a UN peacekeeping camp, the castle is in much better condition than Beaufort. Until a few years ago it was used as a helipad base by Norwegian UN peacekeeping soldiers who replaced the doors of the castle with an exact replica of the bronze gates that were carted off to Jerusalem in the 12th century.

Tibnin was one of a string of fortresses built by the crusaders along the Levantine coast stretching from the Gaza strip in the south to Alexandretta in present-day Turkey to the north. In Lebanon alone, historians have catalogued 44 castles and forts -- 21 south of Beirut -- most have either been lost to the elements or shattered by centuries of use as military strongholds.

But while some, like Tibnin, are in much better condition than Beaufort -- and safer -- none has the magic of Beaufort or its crowd-pulling potential.

The sense of awe this castle inspires is almost tangible. A few months ago, being this close to Beaufort would have been suicidal. Today, with the Israelis gone, the atmosphere is festive. Families picnic on tin-foil wrapped kebbe, cartons of tabbouleh and houmous, amongst the concrete slabs. Young couples standing on the fallen concrete roofs of hastily destroyed bunkers, hold hands as the sun slips below the horizon, like survivors of a natural disaster.

There is not a lot left of the castle that once rivalled Syria's vast Crak des Chevaliers in size and stature. With crenellated turrets now shattered, its silhouette is reduced to a collection of broken tombstones. The once honey-coloured walls are largely reduced to piles of rubble by two decades of shelling and the clatter of careless army boots.

The fact that this castle -- which has survived centuries of warfare -- may yet fall apart under the feet of these peacetime invaders doesn't seem to matter. Even before Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, efforts were being made to preserve Beaufort's history. The Lebanese Department of Antiquities (DGA) attempted to repair damage and weather erosion to the castle, until repeated Israeli bombardments put an end to their efforts. Environmentalists and archaeologists are now calling for the castle to be preserved -- before the new army of tourists achieves what no invader could -- total destruction of the fort.

BEAUFORT CASTLE (SHQIF ARNUN)

Already an Arab stronghold before the Frankish invasion, Beaufort served as a protective flank for the coastal city of Tyre and controlled the Tyre-Damascus road. Given to king Foulques of Jerusalem in 1139 by Chehab El Din, the Sultan of Damascus, it fell to the great eastern general, Saladin (Salah-ed-din) in 1190, after a one-year siege. The Franks recaptured Beaufort, holding it from 1240-68. The Templar knights added important fortifications before the castle was lost to the Mamluks.

TIBNIN (TORON)

Dating back to Byzantine times, Toron was given to Hugh de St Omer by the king of Jerusalem in 1105. Essentially a toll site, it commanded and controlled the Tyre-Damascus and Acre-Damascus highways. It was stormed by Saladin in 1187 and in 1218, Malik El Moadham, the prince of Damascus, got rid of the fortifications. In 1229, the area was returned to the crusaders for 40 years. Sultan Baybars took Toron in 1266.

TYRE (SOUR)

Tyre was apparently founded in 2750 BC. It became the capital of the coastal cities after the Arab conquest in 736. Tyre became the second city in the kingdom of Jerusalem after resisting the crusaders for almost 30 years. In 1129, King Baldwin of Jerusalem passed the barony of Tyre to Foulques of Anjou. In the 13th century, the town passed to the Ibelin, a Frank family of Beirut who controlled it until 1246, followed by the Montforts, the rulers of Tibnin. Tyre fell to the Arabs in 1291. As in Beirut and Tripoli, the Mamluks erased all signs of urban fortifications, although the Ottomans refortified Tyre in more modest proportions later. It was declared a World Heritage site in 1979. All that remains of the crusader presence in the city are some foundations and granite pillars of the cathedral of the Holy Cross where the Crusader kings of Jerusalem were crowned.

MAROUN, WEST OF TYRE

Ceded in 1180 to Baldwin IV by Onfroy de Toron in exchange for other territories, this castle was marginal in the crusader feudal system. Handed to the Amandelei family as part of a marriage settlement, half of the stronghold was later given to the Teutonic order of knights. Local tradition attributes the present day remains to an Ottoman sultan of the 18th century.

ISKANDAROUNA

Crusaders took the city of Iskandarouna, or Scandelion, in 1124. It became a strategic high ground, used to defend Tyre.

HASBAYA

Early fortifications date back to the 12th century -- and there is still evidence of crusader masonry. It became the principal residence of the Druze emirs, Chehab as it is today. The citadel is run down, but still occupied by families.

RACHAYA

Situated on the western flank of Mount Hermon, overlooking the Bekaa from the southwest, the ancient citadel of Rachaya is also owned by the Chehab family. Round towers, modelled on the nearby castles of Maroun and Toron, flank it. Today it is occupied by the Lebanese army.