CugelVance

1.00 Germany - 28-Dec-24 -

Time of the visit: the 4th of dec.2024

I stayed for three days in Riad in order to get to know SA's capital a bit, and to visit the Al-Ahsa Oasis and the Turaif-quarter (both unesco whs).

I had booked my ticket online for the train from Riad to Hofuf just a few days earlier to make sure that I got one as I had read that that train is often booked out. However,the train was quite empty. I took the one early in the morning.

After my arrival in Al-Ahsa I took an ueber taxi from the railway station first to the Jawatha mosque. As I had read that the mosque is tiny I told my driver to wait for me as I would be back within 5-10 min. I stormed out of the taxi and saw a man leaving the mosque and the door wasn't closed when I was already inside. I took some pics and went out where the aforementioned man looked at me quite puzzled. As I was in a hurry I didnt start a conversation.We headed then to the mountain Jabel Al-Quarah. On the way the taxi driver,a former saudi policeman,gave me all the important infos to know about Hofuf which I wanted to know.I stayed inside and outside the mountain Jabal Al-Quarah for almost 2 h. And like my fellow member Martina I consider the swiss-cheese superrock the most interesting stop of that unseco whs.

The Jabal Al-Quarah is like a hollowed out swiss cheese with different paths, caves, cracks. All partially lit by the sun. Great lighting effects, incredible photo opportunities there. There were 2-3 restaurants at the entrance to the area.
The entrance fee was around €15. Before I entered the rock area, I went into a room on the first floor, from which the entrance from the entrance building to the rock area branches off. I was met by a young saudi man who showed and explained me the history of SA based on pictures displayed on the walls. He invited me than to a coffee and a sweet inside a tent set up in the room. I also received a bag with a lot of brochures and little souvenirs.They do it for every visitor,but since I was the only visitor for the 2h I stayed there I was probably treated better than the average visitor. The taxi driver told me that during the moslem weekends (friday and saturday) and the hot months of the year the mountain is quite crowded.

After that I had to wait outside the mountain in a restaurant for my taxi to my next destination,the handcraft castle. Very nice building,but almost all shops were closed there as I arrived in the early afternoon.From there I walked through some remains of the old town to the Fawares Mall to buy some cold drinks and from there to the Souq Al-Qaisariyah. The souq was quite clean and must have been renovated some time before. As it was early afternoon most shops were closed so that my experience there was quite underwhelming. I guess during nighttime it may be more attractive. 

I then walked to the Qasr Ibrahim,a kind of fort-palace,where I had some difficulty in finding the entrance. I stayed there for around 30 minutes,interesting visit,but nothing from a another dimension. The entrance is free.

They told me there that the Qasr Al-Sahood is closed and currently being renovated.

I decided to walk to my last stop,the Qasr Khuzam,and then call it a day. The walk took longer than I had expected before but I had to blame myself for it as I wandered through an old and totally run-down neighborhood  which at times looked like the remains of a battle field in an abandoned ukrainian city.Truly fascinating. Only foreigners live there,mostly indians and pakistani people.

The Qasr Khuzam is smaller than the Qasr Ibrahim.......I needed 15 min to see everything there including walking on the defense walls ( forbidden,but nobody was there). No information boards could be seen. A very underwhelming experience. A visitor short of time can skip the Qasr Khuzam.Its counterpart near the souq,the Qasr Ibrahim,is far more interesting.

My train departed at 17.30 from Hofuf's railway station.....and the trains are on time in SA. I had to wait 5 min for a taxi and made it just in time for the check-in at the railway station.

A mildy interesting whs site.I would have probably been quite disappointed with my visit there but the mountain Jabal Al-Quarah saved my day.

Martina Rúčková

2.50 Slovakia - 29-Dec-22 -

The Al-Ahsa Oasis is listed on the World Cultural Heritage List as a place that has been inhabited for a long time since the Early Stone Age. This was helped by the presence of water, which was later diverted by local residents to their fields using canals. Wells, forts, mosques and gardens were built in the area and water greatly helped the development of this region. Twelve different locations are included in the listing, which together form the largest oasis in the world, which has over two and a half million palm trees.

The mountain Jabal Al-Qarah in the city of Al Hofuf was probably the most interesting stop for us. On one side a jungle of palm trees, and across the road a nice parking lot, several restaurants and a huge Land of Civilizations sign. It's quite nice to see at least some place ready for tourists - it's been quite a different experience in Saudi so far and everything seems under construction. The mountain itself, which consists of several rock pillars that have created a natural cave, can be accessed through the visitor center, of course after purchasing a ticket. For your entrance fee, you get access to the museum that tells the history of the civilizations living in this place and to the very maze of alleys between the stones. The sidewalks are resurfaced, illuminated, and there are many interesting places for taking photos in the nooks and crannies of the stone pillars. There are said to be exactly 28 footpaths between the rocks and together they measure one and a half kilometers. An ideal place to hide from the scorching summer sun, or to take beautiful pictures during its sunset.

Unfortunately, some of the places we planned to visit were being reconstructed - a running theme of our entire trip of which I will be complaining more in my following reviews. One would expect that everything would be prepared first and then the nomination would be submitted, but no, why not do it the other way around? Never mind, many visits were all the more adventurous.

We drove to Jawatha Park, which is said to be home to the 7th century mosque of the same name (it's on my review picture), said to be the oldest mosque in the region. It is said that not much has been preserved from it, a few arches and walls, it has been renovated several times, the old foundations are surrounded by new clay walls, electric lighting has been introduced to the mosque. It was currently undergoing further reconstruction work, while unfortunately it looks too much like new. I hope that at least the interior retains some of its original components.

The nearby park is used by locals for walks and picnics. It has several merry-go-rounds, many food and drink stands, and even rents out rugs and cushions if the picnicking nation doesn't bring their own. I guess the fact there is an actual lake and an abundance of greens makes a testament to how blessed with water the oasis is, however that's just a rest stop, not part of the inscription. There is Jawatha Archaeological Park in the nomination file with GPS that points further northwest of the Jawatha Park, however google maps show nothing there. 

We stayed the night in Al Hofuf, our hotel was across the road from the the Ibrahim Palace, another of the monuments inscribed. Unfortunately it was also under reconstruction, we did not see the inside, we only saw the perimeter walls. It looked very similar to the Jawatha Mosque, only considerably larger. It was built by the Ottomans in the sixteenth century AD, it was used as a barracks and there should be a mosque or a hammam inside.

Another of the palaces/forts were also being reconstructed, so we called it a day and returned back to Riyadh and further to explore more Saudi sites.

Zoë Sheng

0.50 Chinese-Canadian - 14-Dec-18 -

This inscription made me lose faith in the inscription process and although I haven't been following it for a long time, I watched the debate live stream and it basically had ICOMOS strongly disagreeing to include it, saying there isn't anything special being here. Then, using its political buddies it overturned the recommendation to a direct inscription, not even deferring it to next year for a second look or whatnot. This farce just makes you wonder why they spent all the money on the expert going there in the first place because apparently whatever you want to inscribe is going in, and not so much if you are a weak political state. Shame on you. But okay so you got your inscription and you are very proud of it, no judgement from my part yet, let me go and check it out.

After the long drive from Riyadh through trashed highways and a few pit stops to refuel and rest, and you get to the town of Al Ahsaa or actually a whole collection of “Al” towns merged together. There are a whole bunch of sites, some of them I don't even know where they are. I started with the Sahood Fort, mainly because the central highway was closed and this was first on the way. It's a very small block with thick replastered walls and a small entrance that probably says “no entry” because they are doing major renovation...AFTER the inscription?? Well so 5 minutes later I end up driving to the Khuzam Palace which was closed...next the Qaisariah Sooq, a traditional market. Still the best of the bunch of houses a few stalls but definitely not aimed at tourists. So the first hour here was disappointing but I thought leaving the national park, the meat of the inscription, for last would be the best way to get keep excitement going.

Wrong. The park is aimed at kids. They do have gates for some security, more on that in a second, and entrance is free, but I am not taken by the trees here. Sure they are in a desert landscape and it has its history, but it's still so barren with some areas just a bunch of bushes along the sand dunes. In the area near town the trees give some nice shade for the kids playing on the slides. I saw more slides than kids! This is unfortunately the main attraction. Not wanting to be let down by this I thought why not drive on into the park along a single road and end up at the Jawatha Mosque (also part of the inscription). The road was dirt and sand but no problem for a 2WD. However, the scenery was uglier by the minute and eventually you end up outside the park. Still, how can they have all this trash everywhere, pipes making the park ugly, not be a problem for them? Was this cleaned up when ICOMOS came or did they not care?

So I wish I could add something about the Jawatha Mosque but the road to it from the north side was abruptly blocked off with sand piles, the park's way of fencing off access without gates, and I had to double back all the way to the entrance (one could get try to get around with a 4WD but there is another fence and it may require some proper off-roading to get by). I cut my losses there and decided not to drive up to the mosque which could easily have been closed as well. 350km back to Riyadh to watch the Formula E race. Boo!