Asia

[Visited: October 2022]

We have set out minds on visiting Farasan Island, and the drive down from Abha is quite easy. It is a special day: I am celebrating yet another birthday. When we reach the ferry office in the town of Jizan, the lady says that the ferry is full and we cannot take our car. We get a ticket, which turns out to be free. We park near the terminal building, and an official says that we should just drive through anyway. We are separated: only drivers are allowed to stay in the car. I show my passenger ticket, and surprisingly, the guy at the counter does not even ask for a ticket for the car. I have to park very close behind the car in front of me. I then am told to leave the car, and stand with others near the quay. A special vehicle with a movable arm drives slowly past the line of cars: a security check. The crossing is easy, and we are very happy to have our car once on Farasan. Distances are considerable.
We install ourselves in a nice hotel on the beach, and have an impromptu dinner with fish bought at the market when the evening prayers are over. The next day, we go scuba diving, and in the afternoon, drive to the heritage village just outside Farasan town. It is supposedly the oldest settlement on the archipelago. It has been almost completely restored, but it has no inhabitants anymore. One of the houses is open, and we are invited in. It looks like a small museum, giving us an idea of how it must have looked like centuries ago. We then drive to Farasan again, and head to the northeastern side. We park near the house of Rifai. Right across the street, we see a beautifully decorated gate. The late afternoon sun is still shining on the plastered coral rock with fine carvings, but part of it is already in the shade.
We walk inside, turn a corner, and find an empty courtyard and a two-story building which is also open. We walk through it, find walls with carved geometric and floral designs. We walk to another courtyard, from where we have an outside view of the old pearl merchant building. In the early 20th century, pearl trading was big on Farasan island, and rich merchants had these intricately decorated houses built for them, from the coral rock which can be found everywhere around the island, as we have seen on our morning dives. We walk over towards the house of Rifai, but the much bigger house is closed so we can only see it from the outside. We do see coloured stained glass windows in the gate giving access to the sandy street running next to it. The setting sun just casts its last rays through them, making them shine. We see other houses that lie in ruins. A little later, we are looking for an old mosque, but only find a ruin behind walls and partly covered by shrubbery - and a modern mosque next to it. Old ladies point to the old mosque, and we walk around the walls twice, but don't see an entrance. It is getting dark: time to find a place to have dinner.

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Farasan old houses > Saudi Arabia > Asia

[Visited: October 2022]

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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