M

Montezuma is another site that we were visiting for the second time, but this time I had a very good visual memory of the ruins, especially of the cliff face to which they cling. Sadly, unlike in Betatakin (Navajo National Monument) and Cuarenta Casas (northern Mexico) there was no climbing up to these ruins. Understandable, but sad. So instead, we used our binoculars, huddling under trees for protection from the hot desert sun, filled with admiration for the people who built and lived in these high places.

Montezuma Castle on Cliff

Montezuma Castle

Base Viewing Area

Base Viewing Area

The "castle", built high up on the cliff face consists of a five-storey structure containing twenty rooms. Accessible only by ladder whether from above or below, it provided very good security. Settled in the 12th or 13th centuries by Hopi ancestors, the name of the monument comes from later white settlers who (wrongly) associated the ruins with the Aztec emperor, Montezuma.