Al Ain reminds me a bit of older sections of Scottsdale, Arizona. And it's a mellower city than Abu Dhabi or Dubai, much more suburban. No tall buildings, and some beautiful landscaping. In the middle of roundabouts are large sculptures. ("Turn right at the roundabout with the horse sculptures" or "Turn left at the roundabout with the pagoda" might directions you receive in Al Ain.)
Al Ain is where the founding father / first president of the United Arab Emirates (Sheik Zayed) grew up. As you drive in to Al Ain, you are greeted by beautiful orange dunes. I have heard that Sheik Zayed brought some of the orange sand into Abu Dhabi to remind him of home.
Once back into central city area of Al Ain, and after driving up and down several streets, we found Al Jahili Fort. http://visitabudhabi.ae/en/what.to.see/culture.and.heritage/al.jahili.fort.aspx
We missed the turn into the fort the first time we drove by ... we saw a narrow opening from the road, but thought it must be a pedestrian entrance or service entrance. You know those poles that are put into the ground as barriers? There are three of them here, and the middle one is removed for the day. After going around a huge city block that surrounds a park, we came back around. The first time driving by, we didn't think it was the entrance. Lo and behold, it certainly was. So through the opening and into the unpaved but smooth dirt lot.
The fort is quite striking.
Walls a couple of stories high, and very tall and wide wooden doors at the entrance.
Tall walls are still a common feature here, especially around government buildings, villas, and parcels of land. It must be a carry-over years ago and having to protect one's home.
The wooden doors on the Fort have a smaller wooden door built in to them; easier to open and have people pass through than opening the big wooden doors. Would have been less risk as well. Fewer strangers or enemies can get through that smaller portal. That's the way you leave at closing time -- through the smaller door within the bigger door.
Some photos I have seen show tents with majlis (the cushions and rugs on the ground, where friend and family gather to drink coffee and talk) in this inner area. The building in the photo is within the walls of the fort.
You can walk up to the second-highest level of this structure. Lots of rooms. Small windows that actually allow you a good view of who might be approaching, small enough that weapons or such would not penetrate.
Very thick walls. You can see sand, straw, shells as part of the materials used to build it.
My close-up shots of the texture didn't show up, so I'll share this cool shot instead. (I am sure Tim has good up-close texture shots on tmgtextures.com ... yes, a shameless plug!)
Palm trees were used in many UAE buildings (and still are on the farms). This is a shot of a ceiling. In the other photos, where you see the rain spouts -- those are palm trunks cut in half and hallowed out. Clever.
Breezeways, with rooms along the side. Open courtyard to the right. Each of the lattice-type walls had different designs. You can see the thick walls, which are just as thick or thicker on the left side where the rooms are.
After walking around the fort, and before leaving, we had a few minutes before closing time to view a photography exhibit. Wilfred Thesiger, author of Arabian Sands and some other books, traveled around the Arabian Peninsula in the late 1940's. The exhibit is a display of some of his 38,000 photos. Stunning black and white photographs that captured his travels with the local people; much of his travel was through the Empty Quarter. (Still called that today; large (huge) expanse of what is now the UAE that is nothing but sand dunes. On map, look south and southeast.) You can view some of his photos and read about Thesiger on the internet. We picked up a book while in Dubai, which highlights many photographs, and includes excerpts from Arabian Sands.
You might enjoy looking at some of Thesiger's photos. Here is a link. Scroll down a few to see Arabian Peninsula photographs. Stunning.
http://www.prmprints.com/collection/2992/thesiger-collection-highlights
Kate,
ReplyDeleteOne thing I remember Tina learning when she visited Spain, was that you would find "door knockers" up high on those big doors. This was so a person on horseback could ride up to the door and knock without getting off their horse.
I would think a person walking would use the small door, but a person riding a horse or in a carriage, might need a large door.
Thank you for sharing all that you are seeing, it has been very interesting.
Heritage Village is one of the renowned Abu Dhabi attractions exemplifying Bedouin life through a ‘living museum.’
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