A Long Day of Driving, Tiaf and Bakrosh Ben Allas Castle

Bringing oil to Jeddah

This country seems to have hydro towers everywhere.

Typical town as we drive by,

A Saudi cowboy.

Here's a one of a kind highway sign.

Old Town Taif.

Interesting shop and shop owner.

Street sellers.

The sheep didn't expect to see us coming towards them.

The Bakrosh Ben Allas Castle

A carved wooden support beam inside.

I was blown away by the stone work.

Amazing place.

Tuesday, January 27th.

We left our hotel very early this morning, seven, for a long day of driving to reach our next destination. Apparently our drive is about two hours longer than necessary because as non Muslims we must drive around the city of Mecca, so be it. We left the industrial city of Yanbu which is a huge industrial port city on the Red Sea. Here there are many refineries and chemical facilities. The highway ran parallel to the construction of a new oil pipeline from here to the Jeddah area. The dust in the area was very evident and the sky was kind of grey/yellow. I amused myself while looking out the windows with Sudokus and music.

We stopped in Taif, and walked around the souk area of the city. Most of the shops were closed as it was early in the day, but we got a feel for it. The area is known for the roses it grows and the rose water perfume they make from them. They also make honey here from the bees pollinating the roses no doubt. Interestingly I’ve seen many cats but virtually no dogs. I think the cats are to control vermin. Then we drove for a long time past desolate flat areas seeing the occasional group of camels or sheep, and eventually the elevation began to rise and become more rocky as we headed into the foothills.

Yannis added an extra stop to our itinerary, Bakrosh Ben Allas Heritage Castle, a place he discovered by accident last year. The castle is named after the man who built it in 1803 and used it to fight off the Ottoman warriors from the north. He was eventually captured and executed in 1815. It was amazing! I was blown away by the stonework on this enormous building which consists of multiple floors. Inside we found a couple of beautifully carved wooden posts. It was abandoned years ago and lately is being restored by local people in this community. I was amazed also that there were no gates prohibiting you from entering and protecting the castle, but also that there were no local children playing in it, if I lived here I would be. Then we drove the last hour to our hotel, the 4 star National Park Hotel arriving at 8. We dropped our bags in our rooms and immediately went to the provided wonderful buffet for dinner. We all headed to our rooms after that as it was a very long day of driving.