Our hotel booking came with breakfast included. I had actually booked many months ago but upon reviewing, I noticed that I could now get a better room with breakfast included for less than the original booking. It was a no brainer to rebook but this was a rare exception. Most of our hotels had gone up in price.
The generous breakfast set us up nicely for a walk around the old city in daylight, starting around 1030. Like the rest of the trip so far, the weather was comfortable but Jeddah did get a little warm and sticky at times.
In daylight it was easier to see that the houses in the area are constructed from blocks of coral, when there are unplastered or exposed parts. We visited a few old houses, in particular Beit Nassif and Beit Matbouli.
Being a Muslim country, cats are adored by all and sundry and community cat feeders were dotted around the old city. They dispense dry cat biscuits and have running water foutains that do not stagnate.
For us humans though, there was surprisingly little food available in old Jeddah during the day. We found a so-called Afghani place just outside the old area for a lunch of kabsah.
We continued our exploration to the Tomb of Eve after lunch. I don’t think we were officially allowed to be there but the guards let us in briefly on the condition that we didn’t take any photos.
Wikipedia indicates that the tomb was sealed by concrete in 1975 to discourage pilgrims praying there, an act akin to idolatory in Saudi’s interpretation of the religion.
We saw many rows of graves but couldn’t identify Eve’s. Once having left the place, we walked around the perimeter walls and I managed to take a photo of the area through a gap in the gate.
We found Makkah Gate, which traditionally led pilgrims from Jeddah onto the road to Makkah.
It had been a long day on our feet. E’s knees were sore. He’s used to walking at a faster pace and my pace was uncomfortable for him. I’m not that slow a walker but needed time to absorb and process the beauty around me.
For dinner, it was Indonesian again, this time at Garuda. We shared a bakso and a gado-gado before returning back to the hotel.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah. Beit Nassif.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Mosaque in Old Jeddah.
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- Doors on historic buildings in Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah. Beit Al Sharbatly.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah. Beit Al Sharbatly’s main door.
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- Doors on historic buildings in Old Jeddah.
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- Buildings of Old Jeddah.
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- Doors on historic buildings in Old Jeddah.
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- Shop trading in used sacks.
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- Doors on historic buildings in Old Jeddah.
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- Makkah Gate.
