Riyadh and Surrounding Areas
Trip Start
Aug 27, 1994
1
Trip End
Jul 01, 2002
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Friday, August 12, 1994
Dirriyah (Old Riyadh about 20 minutes out of City Center)
Huge old buildings surrounded by date palms, the old downtown Riyadh, mosques, houses, schools.
Riyadh Museum of History and Archaeology
Brand new beautiful building, with a history of the Oil Industry, Royal Family, and Islam.
Bathha
Bustling marketplace (souq in Arabic) selling cheap and fake to luxury and super expensive. If you venture deeper through the high tech electronics and pet market (where dyed chicks are a favorite) you will come to the carpet & antique souq which houses some beautiful Beduin jewelry doors, and trunks.
* Bathha Market place is next to the infamous square where capital punishment is carried out on Fridays at noon.
Architecture
The City of Riyadh, has spent millions of dollars modernizing the downtown core and they have done an incredible job. The Faisaliah and Kingdom Mall are beautiful and luxurious enough to rival the Champs Elysses or Rodeo Drive.
The compound that we lived on the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center was about 10 minutes drive from downtown and about a 25 minute drive from the Diplomatic Quarter where some of the doctors were housed - but mostly the Embassies and a great walking/running/cycling path in and amongst date palms, and artificial lakes.
Comments
it was "incredible" because you are a man in the islamic world, not a woman.....So it's a different story!