Touring the heart of Jeddah

After a day of learning about plant genomics and geography of the Red Sea, we toured Al-Balad in Jeddah. This place was described to be the heart of Jeddah, where everything started. There are renovations going on right now to fix some of the buildings. The building pictured above in the sea foam green color was said to be first U.S embassy in the country.

The Nasseef House is an important building in the heart of Jeddah. This building is where the first King of the Saudi Arabia stayed at for 2 years. Apparently the building has staircases made of low and long steps that allow for camels or horses to go up to the top floors.

FUN FACT: Most of buildings were made using corals that were hand cut to build the homes. If you look closely, you can see the holes from the coral reefs within the “rocks” above. They are certainly reliable after hundreds of years. However, to make these, require a specific ingredient that is not too easy to obtain nowadays.

This type of door was built for various reasons depending on the country and their needs. This door originated from Rome. I believe it was because emperor wanted to people to bow to him as they walked through the small door. The large door was for parties. In some countries it was to reduce sand from entering their homes.

In Saudi Arabia, the small door was for men to walk through and give enough time for women to put on their hijabs.

In order to keep the heart Jeddah alive, the government allowed for people to sell textiles. There are over 1000 stores that only do wholesale textiles with a handful of people selling perfume.

There were many people selling and buying at the market place. People selling toys, scarves,drinks, abayas, and so much more.

This store in particular sold many “necklaces” or “bracelets”. However, the purpose of the beads are not for body decor. These were actually the fidget spinners of the olden days. When men were chilling, they would push the beads through the fingers and fidget with them.

This store sold scarves of all textures and colors.

This particular store had so much chocolate and candy. It was overwhelming, but it was a cool experience. People yelling about one another and large crowds trying to get candy.

The employees let us try whatever we wanted. They would not sell anything to us that was under 200g so we could try any single pieces of candy. Even so, after two bites of sweets, it was already too much for me.

Here is just some really cool art that was displayed in the rooms. Also, most of the furniture and rugs were green or red because those were the natural colors that they could get ahold of from plants (prior to paints).

Thank you for reading.