Mukawir (Machaerus) is an hour away and about 45 kms, away from Madaba on the Kings’ Highway. The hilltop stronghold of Herod the Great. Upon Herod’s death, his son Herod Antipas inherited the fortress. It was here that Herod Antipas imprisoned John the Baptist, and later had him beheaded after Salome's fateful dance.
The mountaintop fortress, now called Mukawir, overlooking the Dead Sea region and the distant hills of Palestine, Israel and the Holy Land. The summit can be reached after climbing a winding staircase up the mountain.