G’day all. Hope today’s post finds you well. Last week I took you to the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh as my introduction to the country. From there it was a long day bus to Jeddah, perhaps the most open (in the past at least) of Saudi Arabia’s cities. Sitting in a great location on the Red Sea Coast, Jeddah is the most visited place in Saudi aside from the pilgrimage cities of Medina and Mecca. It’s home to the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, and surprised me in many ways.

I took the SAPTCO bus to get there from Riyadh, which was a distance of around 950km and took around 12 hours. I found this bus not as comfortable as the bus from Dubai to Riyadh and a little more worn but at the same time it did the job. The video above shows you the experience.

I arrived lateish in the evening, and was relieved the traffic wasn’t as bad as in Riyadh. Not that it was great either! The climate in Riyadh had been very dry. Hot as well, it was the end of February but it wasn’t blisteringly hot, low 30s Celsius. In Jeddah the temperature was similar, however it was extremely humid – all in all I preferred the weather in Riyadh.

I’m going to cover Jeddah in three parts over today and the next two Sundays – Jeddah’s sights, the Old Town of Al-Balad, and my snorkelling trip to the Red Sea to finish off.

Firstly though, I stayed at the Dyar Al Hamra Hotel, which was a decent hotel. The WiFi was slow and I was uploading around the clock to back up all my photos and videos. Still, Saudi Arabia has a lot of sites blocked and the internet is very controlled, so it’s not surprising no matter where you are the internet is pretty slow.

The hotel gets its name because it is in the Al Hamra district of Jeddah. Five minutes walk away or less was Palestine Road, a busy road leading down to the Al Hamra Corniche (not to be confused with the main Jeddah Corniche) and it was full of stores and a lot of fast food type places like KFC, Baskin and Robbins and a few shawarma places. Apparently American fast food is wildly popular in Saudi Arabia, which certainly was a surprise. In fact on Palestine Street for example American outlets seemed to outnumber those serving Middle Eastern food.

I started my attack on Jeddah the next morning when I took an Uber to the Red Sea Mall. It’s a pretty big mall and was in the direction of the Corniche and the Jeddah Yacht Club. The mall was like any big mall I guess. Filled with designer shops, huge and easy to get lost in, and also peppered with a lot of different places to eat, all fast food and mostly from America. Very similar to the Al Hamra area, but in a mall. There was a mini kids amusement park inside too which looked cool. We don’t really have anything like that in Australia that I know of, although there used to be a small roller coaster in the Rundle Mall of Adelaide.

Jeddah Yacht Club, Corniche and the Floating Mosque

I thought, after lunch, I would be able to walk to the (Jeddah) Corniche, but there was a huge section of the area closed off. I would soon find out why. After wasting time trying to get an Uber unsuccessfully I went back to the mall car park and grabbed a taxi that was dropping people off. I took the taxi to the Jeddah Yacht Club, which was at the northern end of the Corniche.

The Jeddah Yacht Club was getting a facelift, with loads of work being done, pavements being put down and lots of activity. It looked pretty swanky and for the rich – Saudi Arabia is not a poor country. A short walk took me to the Al-Ramha Mosque, also known as the floating mosque.

And it is clear to see why it’s called the ‘floating’ mosque – it’s on stilts, and from whatever side you approach it it certainly is beautiful. I walked up and a man appeared who opened up the mosque for me to go inside. Didn’t want any money, was fine with me taking photos. Although a smaller mosque compared to many I have visited, it really was beautiful.

From there I went on a stroll down the corniche, and in the end back to the Yacht Club. Why? Well there was an event going on that was the reason that so much of the area was blocked off. Actually, it wasn’t yet going on I think it was two weeks prior, and that event was the Saudi Grand Prix. Roads were blocked off on this side because they were part of the track, there were even seating areas erected and the fence around the track.

The Corniche was beautifully paved and there were lots of buildings, mostly glass, some selling designer stuff but I think mostly to sell racing merchandise for the various teams etc. The odd café was open too. It actually was quite glitzy even if the event was yet to move into town. The sun was nearly cloud free which allowed for decent photographs, especially of the mosque.

I went as far south as I could before it was all blocked off. I hoped to get a ride there but it wasn’t possible, and I had no idea until I got there. So it was a fair walk back to the yacht club to get an Uber.

Al Hamra Corniche and King Fahd Water Fountain

I went back to the Al Hamra Corniche. I wanted to get there for sunset but the extra time it took getting an Uber, walking back to the Yacht Club and then through the somewhat slow traffic meant I got there just after.

Still, I was there to see the King Fadh Water Fountain and walk the corniche. The land juts out opposite the Al Hamra Corniche and I think there’s a palace at the point, and just off that point in the bay is this fountain, the King Fahd Fountain. Water bursting upwards to around 260 metres and apparently the tallest in the world. So how about that!

I walked along the Al Hamra Corniche, 10-15 minutes walk away from my hotel, chatting to the camera as I vlogged when I was stopped by security who told me to stop and that I wasn’t allowed to film. And this was the only time in Saudi Arabia I was told not to film, and as this was a public area I was a little mystified. It seemed I wasn’t allowed to film in this area but particularly the fountain, or indeed take photos of it. Very strange because loads of people were doing it, albeit I guess as far as I saw with their phone cameras. I wonder if I tried with the phone I would have been ok?

Fortunately security approached me AFTER I had shot what I wanted to really and was really just wrapping up the day. Nevertheless I was left feeling somewhat perplexed. Security was basically one guy, a policeman I guess with uniform and of course gun, he wasn’t particularly threatening or anything and I didn’t leave feeling scared – actually to be fair I was just pissed off because I felt it was ridiculous!

Fakieh Aquarium & Al Nakheel Restaurant

So now we skip to three days later because in between the above and this day I had a day for snorkelling and a day exploring the old town of Al Balad. The Fakieh Aquarium was located between Al Hamra and the corniche area where the Floating Mosque resides. It’s opposite the Al Shallal Recreational Park, which looked from the other side of the fence like an amusement park with roller coasters and other rides.

The Aquarium was like any aquarium you might come across to be fair, it cost a little under $18USD but was quite short I guess to tour. They have a dolphin show but I don’t know if it was running on the day I was there and it would have been something I would have avoided I think – plus it doubled the price of the ticket. To be honest, the price wasn’t worth it, but it wasn’t a bad aquarium, it’s just it took well under an hour to walk through it at a gentle pace, perhaps less than half an hour. I did get the chance to chat to a Saudi family (all women/girls) as I was exiting which was great.

The Al Nakheel Restaurant I had heard people talking about on my snorkelling tour (blog coming in a couple of weeks!) recommending as a traditional Saudi place to eat. But to be fair, a bit touristy. It was a walk down the road – great coastal views on the way, and also from the café/restaurant attached to the aquarium.

Here at the Al Nakheel there were outside areas with tables and places to sit, and then an undercover ‘air conditioned’ area where I sat. First mistake – the air conditioning did not help at ALL! There was a roof but no walls and these giants air conditioners just seemed to make it more humid. Then there were the mosquitoes. Pretty much the only place I got bitten on the WHOLE TRIP was this night at the Al Nakheel. And I got bitten ALIVE.

I was planning on sitting and doing diary for an hour or two, in the end I enjoyed the food – salad, bread and kebab meat – and high tailed it out of there!

So folks, that’s a summary of the highlights of Jeddah for you. As I have said, next week I’ll take you ‘Al Balad’ – Jeddah’s Old Town. Until then, take care wherever you are in the world, and May the Journey Never End!