Wednesday, 5. September 2007
Journey to Sana'a, Sep 2007
addisnews, 00:46h
Over the last weekend we made a trip to Yemen. We started on Aug 29 and we returned on Monday Sep 3rd. This is the view of our hotel in Sana'a. Its name is Arabia Felix, as the Romans had called the green part of Arabia.
Generally the groundflour and the first floor are made of stone, the other storeys are made of clay. We choose this hotel to live in one of these traditional clay houses. In the directly neighborhood is a sesam oil mill, driven of this camel. Now the camel is outside, it has a break at lunchtime:
First we made a guided tour within the old city centre. Sana'a old city has 300000 habitants and more or less 14000 of these old high traditional houses. Here you can see the view of the main city gate, called Bab Al-Yemen:
Two happy tourists enjoying this experience:
From here we entered into the basar, look, this is the grain and spices market:
And a view of a basar street inside:
The guide asked a man siting in front of an old house and he invited us to climb up onto the roof of his palace. There we enjoyed the view. Here you see Martin with the tour guide:
50 mosques there are only in the old city center, the oldest one is of Prophet Mohammed times, which means of which century ...?
Another top view we had from the roof of the Burj Alsalam Hotel:
Often the rooms of the highest floors are reserved for men only and they are used like meeting rooms. These rooms are called Mafradsch. Here a very exclusive one:
Here the view of the Wadi As-Saileh:
A Wadi is a dry riverbed, only in the rainy season it could be fully filled with water. This here is an urban sensation ! They use the Wadi crossing the old city centre as an expressway.
We also enjoyed the public spaces of the city, green gardens, places to sit ... look this:
The city of Sana'a is 1700 meters high and protected in the back by the Nuqum mountain.
One day we made a tour to the surroundings of Sana'a. We left the city with a Four-wheel-drive getting to know the countyside. Here a nice tower we saw, passing by a village on the way to Wadi Dhar:
Impressive architecture, the Imam Palace of the last King in Dar Alhajr:
We could get in, because its a museum now:
Another ancient place we visited was Thula, a 1300 years old town:
The caves of Shibam (there are two Shibam in Yemen) are prehistoric:
On the way back to Sana'a I took this foto of one of these typical villages in a valley:
Back in Sana'a Alejandra visited a Hammam (for women only). This was the Hammam of the quarter nearby our hotel:
The white cupolas are the roof of the Hammam:
A journey like a dream after 1001 night-tales !
Generally the groundflour and the first floor are made of stone, the other storeys are made of clay. We choose this hotel to live in one of these traditional clay houses. In the directly neighborhood is a sesam oil mill, driven of this camel. Now the camel is outside, it has a break at lunchtime:
First we made a guided tour within the old city centre. Sana'a old city has 300000 habitants and more or less 14000 of these old high traditional houses. Here you can see the view of the main city gate, called Bab Al-Yemen:
Two happy tourists enjoying this experience:
From here we entered into the basar, look, this is the grain and spices market:
And a view of a basar street inside:
The guide asked a man siting in front of an old house and he invited us to climb up onto the roof of his palace. There we enjoyed the view. Here you see Martin with the tour guide:
50 mosques there are only in the old city center, the oldest one is of Prophet Mohammed times, which means of which century ...?
Another top view we had from the roof of the Burj Alsalam Hotel:
Often the rooms of the highest floors are reserved for men only and they are used like meeting rooms. These rooms are called Mafradsch. Here a very exclusive one:
Here the view of the Wadi As-Saileh:
A Wadi is a dry riverbed, only in the rainy season it could be fully filled with water. This here is an urban sensation ! They use the Wadi crossing the old city centre as an expressway.
We also enjoyed the public spaces of the city, green gardens, places to sit ... look this:
The city of Sana'a is 1700 meters high and protected in the back by the Nuqum mountain.
One day we made a tour to the surroundings of Sana'a. We left the city with a Four-wheel-drive getting to know the countyside. Here a nice tower we saw, passing by a village on the way to Wadi Dhar:
Impressive architecture, the Imam Palace of the last King in Dar Alhajr:
We could get in, because its a museum now:
Another ancient place we visited was Thula, a 1300 years old town:
The caves of Shibam (there are two Shibam in Yemen) are prehistoric:
On the way back to Sana'a I took this foto of one of these typical villages in a valley:
Back in Sana'a Alejandra visited a Hammam (for women only). This was the Hammam of the quarter nearby our hotel:
The white cupolas are the roof of the Hammam:
A journey like a dream after 1001 night-tales !
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