Ethiopian Highlands

---

Saudi -Bicycle enthusiasts will take to the roads of Jeddah on a Friday afternoon

Saudi Arabia , the recent decision to throw open its doors for foreign tourists has to be running a mild wave of excitement through the travel industry. A huge and largely closed-the country is now experiencing there.

So, to see what exactly is there in Saudi Arabia ? Why go at all, in fact? It is hardly a budget destination, such as South-East Asia , it is incredibly hot for eight months of the year, there is no political freedom, no freedom of speech, no alcohol allowed, very little mixing of the sexes, and - as some of the other countries in the Middle East - it has a much-criticised Human Rights .

Now, The First thing to consider is that Saudi Arabia is far more diversity in the landscape and the landscape as you might imagine.

Yes, geographically, the majority of the country is desert, but then there's the rising, juniper-clad to 3,000 m (9,900 ft) high mountains of the Asir in the South-West, the azure reefs of the Red Sea , the date-palm oasis of Al-Hofuf and the winding streets and spice markets of Jeddah .

I travel to the happiness, to much visiting of the country in most years since the late 1980S , Saudis often joke that I've Seen more of your country than you have - so a selection list is of my favorite places to be.

Jeddah is a captivating and culturally rich Melting Pot Jeddah

This steamy, Red Sea trading port was the capital, until 1982, when he moved to Riyadh. Jeddah is a charming and cultural Melting Pot where every race of the Red Sea is presented.

It is resistant in hot, open-air city, where the Egyptians are sitting at café tables, puffing on hookah water pipes, and play lantern backgammon under the road. Yemeni Schneider crouching cross-legged in the clothes shops late at night to work, while Somali, Eritrean and Djiboutian women are the displays of spices lay in The Street Market .

In some parts of the country, the society is the gradual opening - Here , Saudi women Jogging through Jeddah 's old Balad quarter of

In the winding, cobbled streets of the old town, known as the Balad, and it is not uncommon to the language of the Ethiopian Highlands mixed with Arabic and Hindi

Jeddah is also The Gateway to Mecca and Medina for two million Muslims to the Hajj pilgrimage every year. Further up the coast there are beach resorts and scuba-diving opportunities, although many of the offshore has been destroyed coral reefs in The Last few years.

Traditional houses in Jeddah , the Balad quarter is again Asir Mountains

be prepared, There are foreigners who have lived in Saudi Arabia for More Than a decade, but never visited this gem down in the southwest corner of the country, in the Yemen. He missed a treatment. The landscape is lush and green, even in the height of summer, and I've even Seen a juniper forest, after a sudden hailstorm.

view over the misty Asir Mountains , where paragliding and rock climbing designed

an estimated 500,000 wild Hamadryas baboons live in The Mountains , along with hornbills, eagles and bright blue Agama lizards. The landscape is dotted with towers with basalt stone guard to fight a heritage of the tribe, used to a century ago.

In The Last few years has opened up the region to domestic tourism, with a cableway, a descent from the lofty heights on a picturesque hillside village called Rijal al-Ma'.

Fortress architecture in The Village of Rijal Al-Ma', reachable with the cable car from the top of a mountain

In A Canyon of Wadi called Habala, named after the rope used to lower provisions of the cliff, The Villagers lived in the slopes, there is a breathtaking view of the misty mountain ridge down in the direction of the Red Sea .

Mada ' in Saleh

The ancient Nabatean ruins in the far North-West of the country are remarkable not only for its preserved carvings are reminiscent of Petra in Jordan to the North, but also for their strong and beautiful desert landscape.

This is the Hijaz, the historic Western edge of the Arabian Peninsula, where TE Lawrence fought against the Turkish army during the Arab Revolt of 1917 and where the remnants of the old Hijaz railway can still be Seen .

Mada'in Saleh is a Unesco world heritage site

for years the Saudi authorities have largely kept quiet about Mada' in Saleh, as the religious fundamentalists were less than enthusiastic about the promotion can be anything from a pre-Islamic civilization, known in Arabic as the "age of ignorance".

Under the new multi-billion-dollar tourism promotion scheme, it is very much on the map.

Al-Hofuf

The date-palm oasis of al-Hofuf covers a wide area of Eastern Saudi Arabia , said to be the largest of its kind in The World , and creates a lush green world of rivers and gardens.

But the really spectacular attraction Here is the spooky cave complex in al-Qarah mountain, registered in the year 2018 as a Unesco world heritage site.

The Natural caves carved by wind and water erosion, a bit of a climb to get in, but the effort is worth it, especially since they are significantly cooler than The Heat outside.

The caves in al-Qarah mountains offer respite from The Heat outside, A word of caution

the Saudis, for The Most part, welcomed foreign visitors, but this new openness is not without risks. Where two very different cultures come into Contact - the liberal West and the conservative Saudis, there is always the chance of a misunderstanding or offence.

women should never be photographed, and in public, Saudi men can be fiercely protective of their wives' modesty. Outside of the main cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province , many people were still learning never Contact with the West, and can be suspicious, especially when cameras and mobile phones to be worked out.

Be Careful where you ask for Permission !

Saudi Arabia remains a deeply conservative As visitIs it safe?

This is not the First Time Saudi Arabia has been attracting a large push to tourists. The Last Time Was in 2000, when it hired French Alpine instructors of Chamonix from holiday Saudis, rock-climbing and paragliding take.

But big plans for the expansion of this still young industry came to a halt in The Following year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA were carried out, including 15 Saudi nationals.

Since then, the country has fought and defeated an uprising by al-Qaeda in the mid-2000s, and currently trying to get rid of A War in neighboring Yemen, has Seen that the cross-border rocket attacks.

nevertheless, the country is largely safe with minimal crime and violence, painting (although, if you are a British Citizen ).

A camel dealer in a tent at the camel Market outside Riyadh

tourism, saudi arabia

Source of news: bbc.com