First Trip to Al Balad

My co-worker Steve had an errand to run in the old town section of Jeddah on Tuesday, and he asked me to tag along.  He was picking up some things from the souk (shop). I met the shopkeeper. He was from Yemen and has worked at his little jewelry shop for over 25 years. He was friendly, funny and gracious. He bought Steve and I a cup of Turkish coffee (my favorite coffee in the world at the moment) and a small bottle of water. He spoke to me in English and to Steve in Arabic. Steve can read, write and speak Arabic (in several dialects) fluently.

My Guide For The Evening

In the above picture he was telling me to notice the open air pool and ping pong tables behind him. A happenin' place for sure and a pretty cool area over all. Most of the area is around 100 years old and consists of many buildings made entirely of coral. See the Wiki link here for a nice explanation on the history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Balad,_Jeddah 

Some of these buildings are several stories tall and most lean this way and that. There are squatters living in many of them and many of the buildings are in various states of disrepair. Sadly, it appears that only a few are being renovated, including Jeddah's oldest mosque. I suppose there are numerous engineering difficulties in saving buildings made of coral.

Sqatters with AC Units and Satellite Dishes!

Not all the homes are made of coral and at one time, this area was THE place to live. Some of the homes have ornate gates and doors with amazing craftsmanship details built of stone or plaster. The overhangs you see are made of a very dense hardwood and serve a practical purpose. At night things cooled off quite a bit and in the morning when it started  heating up, condensation would build up and cling to the hardwood. Then when a breeze would blow, the air would move through the openings and be cooled by the condensation on the wood. Essentially turning the overhang into an evaporative cooler.  Poor man's AC!

Hanging out in front of one of these awesome doors.

We wandered pretty much the entire "old town" area from side to side and end to end. There were a lot of Africans in the area. Kids running everywhere. Not unlike many cities in America I suppose except all the women were wearing abayas. (Can't take pics of women here, sorry. It's against the law.)

Another Ornate Entryway, This One in Plaster

 These two buildings have been renovated. The are huge. You can see where they have added on over the years and note how everything has a slight lean to it. Nothing "square" to work with in there I am sure.

Ornate Renovated Building, Note The Lean of The Top Floor. 

Notice the vented extensions I mentioned for the poor man's AC.

Another Awesome Old Building.

 As I was walking around these ancient coral buildings, the thing that struck me was how tall they were. Apparently the ceilings are very tall which serves two purpose here. In the winter, it allows heat to collect at the ceiling which is moved by fans to heat the lower part of floor and in the summer, it allows the heat to rise and be collected at the top of the room making things more comfortable at floor level. Clever indeed.

The Remains of a Torn Down Building, But You Can See How It Was Built

As we were exiting from the old town area, Steve asked a couple locals if I could take their picture. The old man told Steve in Arabic, "Sure. Don't Care. We are not moving anyway." Then he proceeded to yell at his buddy across the street, "Hey look. Getting my picture!"

 

Some Locals Just Hanging Out

We ended our tour of old town by walking by the old city cistern. This is where they would perform the ablutions for prayer time. While partially preserved, it has long since been abandoned, but I am told that a very large and healthy population of rats enjoys life here after dark. I was no where to be found after dark.

Old Cistern

There were hundreds of souks in the area, and at one time, this was the place to shop, but new found wealth has pushed the locals to the suburbs where big houses and big malls are the norm. Seems like a familiar story, eh? Sorry for no pics of the souks. Too big of a risk with so many women around and there were police strolling the area looking for unlicensed vendors. We bought some roasted peanuts from one such vendor just before dozens of vendors seemingly vaporized into thin air when a policeman strolled down the lane. Then, just as fast as they had disappeared, there they were again, selling their stuff. Every thing from sandals to pencils... Just another night at the souks of old town Jeddah.