In the evening we had reached an area, where rock needles are dotting the landscape. The sun was already gone, so we stopped at a good place for the night and left the exploring of the area for the next day. We sat on the still warm rocks next to our camper and admired the …
On the way to the Rainbow Arch, we ran into Kristin & Toby again, which we had met in Muscat about 2 months ago. They are travelling with their 2 cats in the same direction as we do. The Rainbow Arch is a famous sight, as the arch is very big and not too far …
Hegra, also known as Mada’in Salih, 20 km north of Al Ula, was the southernmost and second-largest city of the Nabataean kingdom after its capital Petra in Jordan. Traces of Lihyanite and Roman occupation, before and after the Nabataean rule, can also be found. The site is most famous for its well-preserved monumental rock-cut tombs, with their elaborately ornamented façades. We had booked a tour …
As an ancient Arabic oasis city situated in the Hejaz, a region that features prominently in the history of Islam as well as several pre-Islamic civilizations, AlUla was a market city on the historic incense route that linked India and the Persian Gulf to the Levant and Europe. Later it was an important stop on the Hejaz railway …
From Jeddah, we drove up the coast until Yanbu and inland from there to reach the famous AlUla, Saudi Arabias Tourism hotspot. It was around 40 degrees along the coast, so we tried to get us far inland as possible in the hope of a cooler night. When the sun went down, we looked for …
With Jeddah, we had reached the coast of the Red Sea after crossing all of Saudi Arabia, which is 8 times as big as Germany. On the way down the mountains from Taif, we had passed Makkah (Mecca) which we had to circumnavigate as non-Muslims. We are not allowed to enter the city, not even …
When you approach Taif from the East, you don’t see any mountains coming, you don’t notice any rise, but if you watch the height, you are getting higher up and up until you are at 1,700 metres in Taif. The height is what makes this town so popular. We saw many holiday parks, uncountable playgrounds …
We wanted to visit the giant Al Wahbah crater, but first took an off-road track through an area full of volcanoes until we reached one we could enter with our camper. This volcano had another little one inside which we could climb. The bottom was of bright mud and green areas, which were a fascinating …
We were keen to explore a little bit of the vast Saudi Arabian desert on a tour which took us on simple tracks through endless desert landscape, to giant monoliths and through narrow valleys. It was a long drive along the R30 to the south-west, and we had to find a place for the night, …
North-west of Riyadh are 2 towns, which lie on a former pilgrim’s route to Mecca, where the old mud brick houses have been partly restored during the last years and are interesting to visit. On the way we stopped at a supermarket, but soon were friendly asked to leave, as it was praying hour and …
