Al Balad, the old town in Jeddah. A UNESCO site with lots of restoration going on to preserve the ancient buildings. It is a working market place for the people so amongst these incredible buildings is the hustle and bustle of daily trading. There are numerous small mosque’s in the area for easy access to the 5 x daily prayers. Some of the houses are being turned into museums as Saudi opens up more to tourism.
The old green wooden lattices awaiting to be restored to thesame level as the newer brown lattice work.The area is a myriad of tiny wee alley’s and we were surprised at the level of cleanliness. Apart from the ubiquitous stray cats the whole area is remarkably clean.MISWAK – teeth cleaning twig. This is available for sale everywhere, it is taken from the Arak tree and is a natural toothbrush which apparently have many antibacterial properties.There are more than 300 varieties of dates grown in Saudi Arabia, each have different flavours and textures. David can’t get enough of them!!Beautiful doorways, this was the entrance to a residential block in the middle of Al Balad.Whereas this doorway was part of a building still being restored.Beautiful woodwork from the 7th century. These overhanging windows served to help with ventilation but also allowed the women to view any prospective husbands who would be outside, without being seen. This part of the city used to be the Hajj pilgrim route to Mecca. Lots of merchant houses and shops were built to accomodate the pilgrim’s travels to the holy city of Mecca. Intricate woodwork and beautiful carvings. The hustle and bustle of the market with old towers above being preserved.Spices and other items being sold in wee stores in the marketInsense is burned everywhere, and is sold from big blocks. They crumble little bits of incense on top of burning charcoal with the resulting smoke smelling incredible.This part of the souq was covered and seemed to cater mostly for women as the stores mainly sold fabrics. The only men present were the store keepers(and David!!)This little set up was selling drinks to ladies only. We weren’t very sure what the drink/juice was, but there was quite a queue of women and children.Look at the clean streets in the souq/market. As the sun goes down, more people come out to shop as the temperature gets cooler. Dusk is around 5.30/6pm and coincides with the call for Prayer, after that it becomes very busy.Some of the preserved buildings are floodlit at night which look fabulous. These are the doors to the stalls, it was around 3pm so a bit early for the souq to be open.One of the many minarets calling people to prayerCall to Prayer in Al BaladGolf Buggies are the latest addition to ferrying tourists around!
Oh, I do like the old houses and what can I say about the narrow alleyways? I can imagine the two of you walking through them looking up, as you should, at the intricate wooden balconies. Magical!
STUNNING! Love the date varieties xx
who would have thought?? And lots of different colours as well as tastes! Incredible! Not only do they farm dates but camels for their milk too!!
Oh, I do like the old houses and what can I say about the narrow alleyways? I can imagine the two of you walking through them looking up, as you should, at the intricate wooden balconies. Magical!
It was such a special experience, we really cherish the privilege of being there
Beautiful photo’s and again your positive response has made the journey seem effortless!
Good that it seems that way – rest assured a lot of effort is being used haha!