Sabah is one of the most kind, energetic and interesting women I have ever met, and she acted as my "guardian angel" while I was in Jeddah. To a large extent, my positive image of the whole Saudi experience is her doing. She explained things, she took me to family gatherings, and she introduced me to just about all the interesting people in Jeddah. And she seems to know them all.
The Nassif house in old Jeddah is old, and its 107 rooms are in a various state of disrepair. However, it is still very beautiful. The traditional Arabic architecture is cool, literally: it is surprisingly breezy inside these old houses, even on a hot and humid day. Here are the corridor and the low stairs where the camels used to climb up to the kitchen on the top floor, and the fireplace in the kitchen.
Most of the houses in the old Jeddah have beautifully carved wooden balconies. Because this part of town is now inhabited by the poorest part of the population, mainly immigrants, many of the balconies are in bad shape. Local people live in fancy modern villas.
This is what I love about old places: most corners hide new surprises. Behind this shaky door we found a colourful painted ceiling. The richer houses used silk draperies to cover the wooden framework of their ceilings.
The roofs of old Jeddah. In the summer, the rooftops are still the most comfortable place to sleep -- especially if one does not have air-conditioning.
One of the oldest Mosques in the world (from the time of the second Calif) and a child of a Sudanese immigrant worker, of which there are many. In general, there are many people on various working arrangements from the rest of the Islamic World, because Saudi Arabia still has the highest salaries.
There are similar stone carvings above most doorways in the old parts of the town.
The streets are quiet at high noon; it is just before the mid-day prayer. The men on the photo are wearing traditional Saudi thobes. It is easy: white thobe -- a man, black abaya -- a woman.
I loved the atmosphere in the old Jeddah, at any time of the day. But my favourite time was just before Maghreb, the evening prayer. Then, the temperature is turning from cruelly hot to pleasantly warm, and the streets are full of people, and the old white marble blocks on the streets are reflecting white and black shadows as they are walking past. It is noisy, and in the middle of all the spice smells and gold shops, the Imam's start calling for prayer. The shops close at this time, and people either go to pray or sit down and wait for about half an hour, when busy life resumes its normal course.
The silver shop:
I could spend the whole day just inhaling the smell at these small spice shops. They are at every corner.
My personal favourite: the alarm clock that sounds like an Imam's call for prayer. In fact, I am a proud owner of one of these now. One can even get the advance version, which has a computer controlled timing for the prayer calls such that they are always in line with Mecca's prayer time.
The fashion corner.
|
page 2 of 12
Silvija Seres, 25 March 2002