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Saturday, March 17, 2012

A Stroll Through Historical Jeddah


This is a lovely short video showing the oldest and historical part of Jeddah, called Al Balad. I'm sorry I wasn't able to participate in yesterday's tour this time because each time I go to Al Balad, there is always something new to learn and see.

I've posted previously about a similar "Tour of Al Balad" a couple of years ago that I was fortunate enough to take.

I also wrote this more detailed post called "Old Jeddah and the Al Balad District."

5 comments:

  1. Hi Susie;
    I loved the clip. I loved the last part of it where you can see people from all over the world sitting together enjoying Jeddah breeze. Those ancient heritage building could be restored beautifully . Someone could talk to the prince of Western province to through some money there ..I will do my best in this regard .
    Good Outside news:
    Riyadh book exhibit has just made a success..Saudis spent 8 million dollars in a week to buy books..The top selling book are those of not so religious in nature ..The trends are good .

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  2. Does look like a fabulous tour. Am surprised a woman was leading it. Mostly foreigners. Sorry you didn't get to go.

    Hope all is well.

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  3. I don't understand why these women are allowed to be in the presence of men. Nice tour. Hope all is going well with you. Is your son still going to school over here?

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  4. Thanks for the comments!

    Free Spirit - The last part of the video showing group of people was shot in an open air room on top of the famous Naseef House. One has spectacular views from there of the city of Jeddah for miles and miles. I was up there once at dusk when the calls to prayer sounded - it was quite a spiritual experience.

    Gaelyn - The group was probably mostly comprised of expats, but there were probably a few Saudis in attendance as well. Arabian Jewel, a group comprised of Saudi artists, organized the event.

    Lori - It's hard to understand the segregation thing here. Men and women who are not married to each other are not allowed to be alone together in private situations, like in a car or a hotel room. This is carried to the extreme here to include many public venues as well, such as restaurants. I've even been to a medical conference in a large elegant hotel meeting room where the male and female attendees in the audience were separated by partitions, listening to the same speaker. Prevention of possible sin here is the name of the game. This tour was a very public event. My son is still in the states attending school. He should graduate high school this year.

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  5. Interesting surroundings. Great video. However it definitely shows the sexism in this country where all the men are in something confortable and colorful but then you have the women in black.

    I keep waiting for women to have the abaya burning in Saudi scream we not going wear it no more.

    At least they didn't segregate them.

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