Country #130: Sweet Stopover in Saudi Arabia

I have a very first world problem. As my lists of countries visited grows, the remaining ones tend to be a bit more complicated. As I check off the "easy" ones,  I find myself contending with geographic, political and/or economic challenges. Going to Spain, piece of cake. Going to Kiribati, not so much. 

One big obstacle can be obtaining a visa. There was a point in time that I, a solo traveling female from the US, had very little chance of being issued a visa to Saudi Arabia.  Thanks to a recent push for increased tourism, this has changed. So much so, that the national airline, Saudia offers a free stopover program where you can stay in the Kingdom for up to four days on your way to/ from another international destination. Practically speaking this meant when I booked a flight Washington, DC -Jeddah - Mauritius, I got to stop in Jeddah for a couple of days. The application for the visa is done right through the airline's website with immediate approval possible. (Or not. I initially got denied, I think because I entered a date using the wrong format. I went back to the page and tried again with more success.)

The flight itself was about 12 hours (plus another 8 that it took me to go from Miami to DC with a comfortable cushion in case of delays) so by time I first set eyes on Jeddah, I was a good 20 hours into my travels. 

All told, I would really only have a day and a half to explore so despite my woozy state, I had to hit the ground running. After a surprisingly easy immigration process, I was able to immediately get an Uber to my hotel. As of now, there are no hostels in Jeddah so points were used for an actual hotel. 

The roundabout directly behind my hotel. I kinda love it.

After checking in, I had just enough time to get to the floating mosque for sunset. I had done some research- because of course I had, I'm an over-planner- and had compiled a list of must-see's. The mosque was firmly in the top 3. During my Saudia flight, it was the screensaver on all the tv's. At the airport, it was prominently featured in big glossy photos. It's a big deal, which is why I was a bit surprised that the concierge had never been and was unable to direct me. Not a problem, my phone and its all important maps featured worked well so I figured I could find it on my own. What I hadn't factored in was that modern, vibrant Jeddah had at some point decided to plop a Formula 1 race course smack dab in the middle of downtown. There had recently been a Grand Prix race so all the overpasses were closed off, streets were blocked, sidewalks were fenced off for pit crew facilities. For someone racing against the sun, it was a veritable clusterfuck of dead ends and walking in traffic. 

The calm before the Formula 1 storm.

I eventually gave up, summoned another Uber and found myself dropped off at the Jeddah Yacht Club. My driver also had no clue about this floating mosque. Thankfully one of the Yacht club attendants had apparently ventured the 10 minutes south and was able to point me in the right direction.

The Al Ramah mosque, as it is officially known, did not disappoint. It was like a delicate meringue hovering over the Red Sea, looking lovely from all angles. On this afternoon, the crowd gathered was a mix of worshippers and visitors waiting on the sunset. 

Since 2019, women are no longer required to wear the hijab, although modest dress is suggested. I wasn't sure what to expect so I carried a scarf that could be used to cover my hair if need be. I never did use it. I've been to other places where the hijab is not required but where you definitely pick up the vibe that you should cover up. I never felt that in Jeddah. While at the mosque, I was even approached by a lovely hijab-clad woman who complimented my tunic and offered to take photos for me. 

This required some very quick speed licking.

The mosque sits at one end of the Corniche, a 30 km long seaside boardwalk. I'm not sure what impressed me more, the fact that this continuous walkway had been constructed or the amount of people enjoying it. As night fell, the promenade filled with families of all ages. They were strolling, having picnics, just generally enjoying the evening.

During my stay, the high temperature hovered around a perfectly respectable 85 degrees. Had I been there in the summer, it would have been well over 100 degrees. As a result, Saudis are a nocturnal people, coming out once the sun has set. 

I set my sights on City Walk, a restaurant/ entertainment complex that looked pretty happening in a couple of videos I'd seen. After going all the way around the F1 track and doubling back, I found nothing but a wall where the entrance should be. That and a couple similarly misled by Google maps. Apparently, it is seasonal and was closed, something I learned only when I tried to cut through the Red Sea Mall to get to the back of Citywalk. Here I was 30+ hours into my journey and stuck in a 600+ shop mall. The horror. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone at their most rested. Time to Uber back to the Sheraton. One of the benefits of staying in an actual hotel was that my Bonvoy platinum status got me access to the premium lounge and its complimentary dinner buffet. I was able to stuff my face and pass out hard. 

The next morning, I awoke with a plan. I wanted to check out Al Balad, the Unesco recognized historic district. I'd searched high and low for a free walking tour but none exists. The private tours were all in excess of $100 so I scribbled a list of the highlights, stuck it in my pocket and hoped for the best. 

Somewhere between my hotel and Al-Balad sits the world's tallest flagpole.

Al-Balad, which translates to "the town", was the place to be in the 7th century. It was located right on the Indian Ocean trade route and functioned as the gateway to Mecca for seafaring pilgrims. It had the location, location, location thing going on. Wealthy merchants built grand homes, often featuring ornate wooden privacy windows. 

With time, lots and lots of time, the area was largely abandoned in favor of more spacious, automobile friendly neighborhoods. Fast forward to 1947, the city decided to take down the city walls, leaving only the historic entry gates. The most famous gate, Bab Mecca, is the one that worshippers would use when setting out on their pilgrimage. 

After a long period of neglect, the Jeddah Historical Preservation Society was created to restore the neighborhood, building by building. It is obviously painstaking, super detailed work but they are nailing it. Having some homes still in varying states of disrepair only highlights how much work has actually been done. 

Walking around this area, which was pretty empty at this early hour, felt like stumbling into another era. Every turn revealed a new awe-inspiring sight. Not sure where to begin, I headed to the Bait Nassif house, which is one of the grandest and best preserved. Sadly, that preservation continues to this day. A caretaker explained that it was closed for renovations but gave me a neighborhood map and suggested some other places I should visit. It was a kind gesture, but any directions that involve more than 3 turns will invariably be lost on me. These directions were getting into double digit number of turns. Add to the that the map didn't actually have street names and that the concept of city planning must not have been a thing in the 7th century and I was lost pretty much the entire day. 

These cat feeding stations were all over and henceforth I will be judging cities by how many cat feeders they have. 

But I think that is the whole point of Al Balad, to let yourself be lost, wandering through the many picturesque souks and alleyways. 

In doing so, I stumbled across a good amount of street art, galleries and artisan workshops. There is an undeniable artsy vibe that I would have loved to explore more of. 

As the day starting heating up, I took refuge at the funky Sobia Bar. Sobia, a very typical Saudi drink, is a mix of barley, cinnamon, cardamom and sugar, which I was initially sceptical about but one sip turned me into a sobia convert. Combined with all the water I'd been drinking, the sobia was going right through me. I asked for the bathroom and was told I had to go outside to the public facilities. The directions were simple enough but my worries were (in order of magnitude) that I had no local currency to pay for this toilet, no toilet paper in my purse and that surely it would smell like dirty camels. Every single one of those: unwarranted . This is quite possibly the nicest public bathroom I have been to in my life... It was air conditioned, there was a lovely attendant who not once attempted to hit me up for a single riyal, it smelled of happiness, there was ample paper and I am here to tell you it was multi-ply! When I got back to the Sobia bar, gushing about about this bathroom experience, I can only imagine that my level of excitement had this woman thinking I had never seen a clean bathroom in my life. 

By lucky happenstance, I was there on the opening day of the Red Sea Film Festival . All events were being held in Al-Balad, so I felt that was a sign to check it out. For $25, I purchased a ticket that allowed me into the main festival area and into a talk with Emily Blunt. 

It made for a nice break from the mid-day sun and an appreciation, even from 4 rows back of that woman's skin. She's flawless. 

By the time I got out of the talk, more businesses were opening up. A have zero doubt that this area is super happening at night. I only wish I had more time to enjoy it. 

But FOMO stops for no one and there was still another item on my list. This is admittedly an odd one. At 1023.62 feet, the King Fahd's Fountain is the tallest fountain in the world. Why did I have to see water shooting up higher than it does anywhere else? I don't really know but it had come up a lot in my research so here we were. I opened up Uber and put the fountain as my destination. After being stuck in traffic for awhile with a super friendly driver- I now have a standing offer to visit Riyadh and stay with his sister, while his mother cooks for me- I couldn't help but notice that we were entering into some very official looking areas, with a lot of "do not enter" type signage. He was following the gps to a t so I couldn't quite understand what was going on. As we pulled up to a heavily guarded gate, he turned and asked if this was my destination. We were at the Royal Residence. For reasons beyond all logic, instead of going to King Fahd's fountain, Uber had determined  I should casually roll up on the royal family. This was not an international incident I was prepared for. My driver did not know the word "fountain" so I was frantically pantomiming gushing water, trying to communicate that we were supposed to be at a big water spout, not the House of Saud.

Eventually, I made myself understood and was soon dropped off at the Corniche to await the sunset and the activation of the world's tallest gusher. Much as at the other end of the Corniche, there were plenty of families gathered. I assumed we were all there for the same thing, to see TripAdvisor's #3 top thing to do. Only when the fountain eventually came to life, no one really seemed all that excited about it.

Probably for good reason. Sure, the water does shoot up really high but that's about all it does. It quickly goes from "Oh, wow" to "Yup, that's a tall fountain alright". I couldn't get too upset about it, considering I knew there was a free dinner buffet with an amazing Jeddah view awaiting me at the hotel. I returned home to chow down and get ready for my 7:00am flight to country #131.

A day and a half was definitely not enough time to see and do everything I'd liked but considering I once thought this was going to be a super difficult country for me to visit, the fact that I had any time at all was a truly gift from the travel gods. And who knows, with Saudia's sweet stopover program, hopefully I can return sooner than later.