The Ruined Old Diriyah---Riyadh, KSA

The Old Diriyah, according to the recent history of Saudi Arabia , was a kingdom. The family of Saud once ruled the kingdom in the early 1800s. The remains of those ruined palaces were built of mud bricks and stones, supported with some blunt timber. The Old Diriyah can be reached by a two-wheel drive and is only few km away from the city center of Riyadh.

(Thanks to IMP1's photostream for this photo). The ruined Old Diriyah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In its heyday, Diriyah had approximately 5,000 residents and 400 to 500 guests daily fed in the ruler’s palace. In addition, there were thousands of fighting men, available to do battle for the ruler. However, in 1818, Diriyah was laid waste, after a six - months' siege by the Ottoman Empire .

When we entered inside the circumference of the kingdom, we saw that the ruins rise romantically above the palms, and can be seen from the highway. Without special permission, you can visit the place especially on a weekday morning, and you can have the place to yourself to enjoy.

To get an idea of the traditional design of the old houses, we had passed through the narrow old streets, saw those rooms open off a central courtyard, partially open to the sky, and partly covered by an upper story.

The most picturesque of the Diriyah is the Salwa palace area, located on the left side of the main entrance. The palace is a four-story. During its heyday, the palace served as the administrative seat of government, and as well as the residential complexes.

In order to get an idea of what the town looked liked at the height of its power, we ascended up to the highest part of the area, where the palace of Prince Saud bin Saud has been completely rebuilt. The palace is adjacent to the smaller palace of Prince Naser bin Saud, built of mud - bricks in a traditional way. The ruined Old Diriyah is really an attraction on treks.

Thanks for your time. Visit my DXN E-Store, and follow Paul Pruel on Twitter.

Hidden Valley

In my first week of work in Riyadh, one thing that came to my mind was to take some trips outside the city. I wanted to visit some of the historical places, including mountains of rock and mountains of sand dunes, which are good places for excursions on weekends and holidays.

It was a Friday. With my peers, we visited on some of Riyadh’s treks. First was a trip to Hidden Valley . At five-thirty in the morning, we started our trip, as no-one wants to drive under the sun.

On our way to Hidden Valley , I saw mountain of rocks standing robustly on each side of the highway. I heard the sound of winds haunting, and whispering in every corner of the mountain - calling them that the Sun was about to rise.

Facing to the South was another spot of great beauty delighted my eyes, a red mountain of sand dunes that resembled a maiden in red, lying down with the mountain rocks at her sides and waiting for someone to come and feel her beauty.

At seven, we reached our destination, by passing through an isolated pass between high fortresses - like rock in the Tuwaiq wall. Our cars rumbled up and down with the shrubs to right, left and white dust. As we drove up the soil - covered path of Hidden Valley between piles of gravel, was a Pinnacle Valley that called because of the pillar of rock that stands near the entrance. We stopped driving when the track got rough.

Soon, everybody left the car and went around to the area, and embraced the beauty of nature. We photographed the mountains around us as our souvenirs. We also went for a hike, did some mountain climbing and had a lot of fun together.

What a wonderful place to see! I was surprisingly amazed to see such beauty that only nature can provide. It can easily charm you and let you believe that this place is not just a desert of sands, but also a place of beautiful rocks and mountains ready to be embraced and enjoy. Most amazing of all was the absence of running water, to bathe her for added beauty. A completely dry valley, but yet a surprisingly beautiful one!

Thanks for your time. You can follow Paul Pruel on Twitter