Archives for April 2012

Bahrain: Day 2

Our second day in Bahrain we started out at the Al Fateh Grand Mosque. After pulling on our abayas and shailas, we were ready for a tour. Our guide was kind, articulate, and welcomed questions. It really was a pleasant visit.

Photo by Molly.

Next we raced to the Beit al Quran to see an impressive collection of beautiful qurans. Unfortunately, we arrived just before closing so it was a very quick visit. From the Beit al Quran we headed to Bab al Bahrain, the gate of the city. There weren’t too many people walking around and there was a distinct police presence. Our guess is they were preparing for the anniversary of last year’s demonstrations.

Before heading to the airport we took a taxi to the island of Muharraq. Here we visited the home of former Hakim of Bahrain, Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa. After nearly three years in the Middle East, I’ve visited several homes or forts like this, but they never get old.

From there it was a short walk to Siyadi House. It was closed but we were still able to see its most famous feature: rounded corners. Apparently, rounded corners are unusual for a building like this.

If you turn in the opposite direction of Siyadi House, you’ll notice the heavily “decorated” home of Aleh Sultan Sameen Bak. Yep, that was actually in the guidebook!

We continued to walk through the winding narrow alleys exploring and keeping an eye out for taxis. Once we found one we were on our way to the airport and back to Abu Dhabi.

Ha. Molly’s half mustache/goatee and the little boy running.

xo, jill

Bahrain: Day 1

Back in February Molly and I took a little one night trip to Bahrain. That’s the great thing about being in the UAE. You don’t have to take long-haul flights to visit tiny little countries. You can just pop over for a night and cross it off the list.

We arrived in the morning and located our hotel, knowing it would be too early to check-in. After dropping our bags we headed out to explore with a little stop at the supermarket on the way.

We passed the ISA Islamic Center on our way to the National Museum.

The museum houses artifacts from previous civilizations in the area as well as exhibits explaining the Bahraini culture.

Molly enjoyed pretending to be Gulliver and then we headed outside the sculpture garden.

After the museum we walked back to our hotel to check-in. Shortly thereafter we found ourselves up at the pool, ready to read and nap. But mostly nap.

I took a few photos before the sun went down and then we headed out to find some dinner.

xo, jill