Bahrain Fort

Qal’ At Al-Bahrain Fort

We had read a lot about this fort, which is a 16th Century Portuguese fort on the sea front, but more incredibly the site underneath has been settled for thousands of years, right back to Dilmun civilisation and is still being excavated. We arrived late afternoon to avoid the heat of the day. It is stunningly preserved and much larger than we expected. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, free entrance and well signed, we had the place to ourselves. The skyline of modern day Manama is clearly visible creating such a contrast to the ground we are standing on. We saw rooms in the cellars used for juicing dates and rooms with wells – all incredibly preserved. Towers for channelling the breeze to cool the place down and towers with arrow slits (it was a defensive fort after all) and places within the fort to house animals. The whole thing was fascinating with beautiful architectural detail on the remaining arches.

After a good exploration, we wandered down to the museum and cafe to sit on the waterside for sunset – it was high tide, very clear water with lots of fish visible but sadly also lots of plastic littering the beach. A number of horses arrived to cool down (we presume) in the sea which was a great sight! Next to the fort is an area of palm trees that were the original palms that the area was famous for. Once the sun set, the fort lit up which we hadn’t expected, so back to the fort we went and clambered all over it again in the dark! By now all the different Calls for Prayer were coming from lots of different neighbourhoods, it was really beautiful and very peaceful. Seeing the fort over such a period of time was really special whilst the light and sky changed. It was an amazing day.

Apologies for the large photo dump – we just want you to see the wonderful light on this really special building, so we are sharing them all!