One random week-end in Jeddah
PORT
Jeddah – city of contrasts, city of surprises. It’s a port city. Seaport, airport and principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which able-bodied Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime. It is also a gateway to Medina, the second holiest place in Islam. I know King Abdul Aziz airport very well. Have spent many hours there catching connecting flights every time I travel. Started off sleeping with the pilgrims on the benches, then discovered the VIP lounge where you can buy your way in (legally, not through bribes!) and finally, after one glorious week-end, I now have friends with transport and proper beds that would shorten those uncomfortable hours of restless sleep. Heck, we will even take earlier flights into Jeddah and later flights out!
First contrast – Abha’s airport compared to Jeddah’s. We arrived at this fairly rural airport to catch the 8 o’clock flight. At 8 o’clock was told it was delayed till 12. At 12 told we would have to wait a further hour for an announcement and at 1 told the flight would now take off at 4 a.m.!!! Couldn’t be bothered to translate any of this. I almost boarded a flight to Riyadh as a result. What a start to the week-end. Missed the party organised for us in Jeddah. Disrupted our hosts’ sleep too and seriously did some re-thinking on regular visits to Jeddah.
Flew into Jeddah at 5 a.m. with almost no sleep and our time reduced to two days.
COSMOPOLITAN
The guys had organised some spear fishing. Their regular week-end entertainment. It did not include us. We had three hours sleep and then took taxi into town. Second contrast. Walk out the door. Catch a taxi. Difference between city and country life. Taxi’s are freely available. Women can travel with ease without being stared at all the time like you’re from some other freaking planet. In fact we even found a taxi driver who was a smoker and didn’t object to smoking in his taxi! We got dropped in the town centre and felt quite lost, ... for two seconds only. People in Jeddah are friendly and helpful. Cameras are not frowned upon either. We saw expats who were approachable. Asked two women directions. They were French but we managed. Then asked a Filipino lady – turned out to be a man. Never mind. Honest mistake. We weighed ourselves on a digital scale that measure your height and weight and gives you feedback. Don’t think I bothered to read my results. We walked inside, outside, across the square – saw pigeons! I swear their are no pigeons in Abha. Could have been Trafalgar Square or Church Square or any city’s square. Enjoyed watching the Arabs feed pigeons. Wow. Some outing! (sorry, that was maybe a bit rude)
“Jeddah has received millions of pilgrims of different ethnicities and backgrounds, from Africa, Central Asia, Russia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East, some of whom remained and became residents of the city. As a result, Jeddah is much more ethnically diverse than most Saudi cities and its culture more eclectic in nature (in contrast with the more geographically isolated and religiously strict capital, Riyadh). In comparison with other cities of Saudi Arabia, women have greater freedom of movement here; they are not required to wear a veil in public, and religious police are less active here. Jeddah is one of the most cosmopolitan, diverse, and tolerant of all Saudi Arabian cities.” Wikipedia Travel
OLD CITY - AL BALAD
Excavations in the old city suggest that Jeddah was founded as a fishing hamlet in 500 BC by a Yemeni tribe.
Al Balad is a warren of ancient buildings and traditional souqs (markets), and the teetering, multi-story coral houses that Jeddah is famous for. Unfortunately, coral is not a very durable building material, and most of the buildings are in disrepair. Spend time wandering around the old city and get lost in the seemingly endless souks. You will find yourself in another world and entirely 'in' the world, surrounded by people from all over the Arab world, Asia and Africa. (A photography permit is theoretically necessary, but in practice nobody seems to bat an eyelid as long as you don't stick your camera in people's faces without permission.)
What was left of the walls and gates of the old city was taken down in 1947. A fire in 1982 destroyed some ancient buildings, but much is still preserved. A house-by-house survey of the old districts was made in 1979, showing that some 1000 traditional buildings still existed.
When Jeddah began to become wealthier due to the oil boom, many Jeddawis moved north, away from Al-Balad, as it reminded them of less prosperous times. Al-Balad had insufficient parking space for large cars. Its stores did not sell expensive designer clothing. Poor immigrants moved in place of the Saudi population. Balad is a beautiful blend of the modern and the classic where the glass facades of modern skyscrapers rub shoulders with Historical buildings with the distinct horizontally embedded wooden beams that has come to symbolize Balad over years.
Balad can be a Shopper's Paradise. Balad has a plethora of upscale shopping centers with high-end fashion brands from Milan and Paris, along with the traditional street vendors and open air Souks. Many Saudi companies are headquartered here. The most famous of which is the National Commercial Bank. The award winning structural design is the widely regarded as the first Arab Skyscraper and features Gordon Bunshaft at his best.
NASSEEF HOUSE
The construction of Nasseef House on old Jeddah's main street, Suq al-Alawi, began in 1872 and it was finished by 1881 for Omar Nasseef Efendi, member of a wealthy merchant family and, governor of Jeddah at the time. When Abdulaziz Ibn Saud entered the city in December 1925, after the siege of Jeddah, he stayed in the Bayt Nasseef. During his early stays in the city he used it as royal residence and received guests here. John R. Bradley, author of Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis, described the Nasseef House as "kind of social salon" in the 1920s, as consuls and merchants gathered there.[ The house belonged to the Nasseef family until 1975, when Muhammad Nasseef turned it into a private library that eventually accumulated 16,000 books, which could be read by anyone visiting him. Today these books belong to the central library of King Abdulaziz University.
People used to recognize Nasseef house as "The House with the Tree" because it was the only house in Balad that had one. Obviously, growing a tree was not an easy task because of the scarcity of water. The tree grows on a little square on the north of the house and is a neem tree (Azadirachta indica). This may well be the oldest tree in Jeddah.
OPEN-AIR ART
During the oil boom in the late 1970s and 1980s, there was a focused civic effort to bring art to Jeddah's public areas. As a result, Jeddah contains a large number of modern open-air sculptures and works of art, typically situated in roundabouts, making the city one of the largest open-air art galleries in the world. Sculptures include works by a variety of artists, ranging from the obscure to international stars such as Jean/Hans Arp, César Baldaccini, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miró and Victor Vasarely. They often depict elements of traditional Saudi culture: coffee pots, incense burners, palm trees, etc. The fact that Islamic tradition prohibits the depiction of living creatures, notably the human form, has made for some very creative modern art, ranging from the tasteful to the bizarre and downright hideous. These include a mounted defunct propeller plane, a giant geometry set, a giant bicycle, and a huge block of concrete with several cars protruding from it at odd angles. (I realise now why the camels looked more like giraffes and the horses were cut in half)
SHOPPING
Jeddah markets are known for their reasonable prices. One of the most famous shopping districts in Jeddah is Tahlia Street.It is an important fashion and shopping street in the mid-town of Jeddah. It contains many upscale department shops and boutiques, such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Burberry, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Massimo Dutti, Tod's, and many more. It has been renamed to " Prince Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz Road". (Not only in South Africa – what’s with people and name changes!)
LANDMARKS
King Fahd's Fountain is a major landmark built in the 1980s and listed by the Guinness World Records organization as the highest water jet in the world at 312 metres. It can be seen from a great distance.
A proposed tower to be built in Jeddah by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is the Mile-High Tower, or Kingdom Tower, that will stand 1.6 km into the air. Upon its completion, this would make this skyscraper the tallest in the world. (Please. Looking at the construction sites in and around Abha, how different is Jeddah, and will I trust their workmanship? They only use foreign (read: cheap) labour. Good luck! May Allah keep it standing)
RED SEA DIVING
Our second day in Jeddah was spent at a private beach. Nothing fancy about that, it just means it has restricted access. If you enter you sign an indemnity which is actually aimed at Saudis – you enter at your own risk and may not complain about anything you see which you might find offensive!!! But then photography is forbidden and there are some rules of ‘decency’ in place.
Some Muslim women swim in a full body suit, suitably covered (headscarf included) They actually turn it into a fashion, and if you are a bit self-conscious about extra weight, I can actually see the point. We did not follow suit.
Scuba diving is a major draw for expats in the Kingdom, although the Saudis themselves seem oblivious to the treasures that await offshore. We did not dive because we were due to fly later that evening. We did however snorkel. With incredible visibility it almost seemed redundant to dive. Apparently the flora and fauna are quite similar to what you'd see on Egypt's Red Sea Coast or off the Sinai Peninsula, only minus all the tourists. Brilliant way to end a great week-end. Amost.
AL BAIK
Two friends started a fast food franchise called Chicken Broast. The one was of the opinion that they shouldn’t try and Americanise it, but stick to a Saudi style of fast food. They couldn’t come to an agreement and the partnership broke up. The Saudi supporter started Al Baik. It is now more popular in Jeddah than McDonalds, KFC or Chicken Broast. We stopped for some Al Baik. I was sent in because there was a male queue and a female queue, the latter being much shorter. And I must agree, you can’t visit Jeddah and not have Al Baik. Our final memory of Jeddah will be in my mind when I plan my next trip.
Can’t wait to go back to Jeddah!
