The Palace of the Winds
- Bernd
- Oct 15, 2024
- 8 min read
August 2024
Entry/Visa
Siehe hierzu den Blog Saudi Arabien
Travel information
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Ich erhalte auf meinen Reisen für keine meiner Wertungen Provisionen oder Vergünstigungen.
Agentur Riyadh Rose Tours
My raiting: *****
I book a private tour of Riyadh through the agency Riyadh Rose Tours.
National Museum
My raiting: ****
Open daily from 9:00 am - 7 pm, Thursday 9:00 am - 10 pm, Friday von 2 pm - 10 pm
The museum is located about 1.5 km north of the old town. Exhibitions in eight sections, from prehistoric times to modern times and the history of Islam.
Attention: It is important that you dress properly, so do not wear T-shirts or shorts.
Great architecture and a variety of exhibits. I move along the points marked on the floor that guide me through all the departments of the museum.
Old Town of Riyadh
My raiting: *****
Abdul and Seed tell me about the old days in Riyadh. The city is surrounded by a hostile stone desert. Riyadh means gardens. Here, in the late 16th century, the political and economic center of Saudi Arabia emerged from the ruins of Hajr al-Yamamah.
We reach Deera Square, also known as the Square of Justice. It was a public execution site. The Gouverment have now realised that this is not good for the country's image or tourism. Discretion is now the order of the day.
Unfortunately, some attractions, such as Fort Masmak, are closed for renovations. Saudi Arabia is dressing up. The government is currently correcting old sins of urban planning and preserving those buildings that have survived the modernization madness of the last decades.
Abdul and Seed are a well-rehearsed team: Abdul is a tour guide, Seed is a driver. He used to be a math teacher and now writes poetry. He even won a prize for it. They are both impressive people.
We reach a kind of souq and a market place, not far from the fort. A few men are putting on a performance in their traditional costumes.
I like the spontaneity of the Saudis and their friendliness. That must have been how it was at the beginning of the tourist boom in the United Arab Emirates. Everything still seems so original and authentic.
You can have good dates here
Dates are more than just a fruit. Date palms have been one of the oldest cultivated plants for more than 2000 years.
Dates are a symbol of hospitality in Saudi Arabia. If you visit someone privately, you will often be greeted with dates and Gahwa (Arabic coffee).
Dates are also called the bread of the desert. They are very nutritious, rich in vitamins A and B1, fiber, minerals and promote sleep thanks to a special amino acid.
Fresh dates can be recognized by their golden yellow to red color.
Gahwa, Arabic coffee
Abdul and Seed invite me to a traditional coffee.
In contrast to Turkish mocha, Gahwa is golden yellow. It is drunk unsweetened and - depending on the country - enriched with spices (cardamom, cloves, nutmeg...). It is often served with dates.
The cup is only about a quarter full.
The drink has a bitter taste and is more reminiscent of a spiced tea than coffee.
Spring of Women
A WhatsApp tells me that my tour guide is waiting in the hotel driveway. It is 3:30 p.m. and extremely hot.
I am amazed when Fatima picks me up for the tour I booked. A woman, completely veiled except for her face.
"The drive will take an hour and a half. Do you have a problem with a woman driving?" she wants to know. I say no. She smiles. "It's about 100 km to the Edge of the World."
As a tourist, it is almost impossible to strike up a conversation with women. The disguise of their bodies makes them unapproachable. Making contact would be an affront. We strike up a conversation.
I am somewhat surprised. My questions are full of common clichés. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I ask about the changes in the country in general and her situation as a woman in particular.
She smiles as if she had expected this.
Fatima married early, had her first child at 17, and studied, as many women in Saudi Arabia now do, pursuing qualified professional careers. Her mother has 10 children, so she was pregnant for almost eight years. Fatima and her husband only wants to have four children.
She recently completed her doctorate, but isn't sure what she wants to do professionally. Money alone, says Fatima, is not the answer to a fulfilling life. She is searching and is happy with her gender role. In recent years there have been a number of positive changes for women, such as being able to drive a car, learn a trade and travel within Saudi Arabia without the consent of her parents or husband. Just not abroad alone. And recently the dress code for women has become much more liberal than in Iran.
I want to know how she handles this with her daughter. Her answer surprises me somewhat, because she and her husband want their daughter to continue the tradition of their country and wear a veil. "And if she refuses?" I ask. "I would have problems with that. And so would my husband. But that is up to her to decide."
"For me," I reply, "that's a bit strange. On the flight to Saudi Arabia, the women were very fashionably dressed and wore their hair down. As soon as they landed, they put on their traditional costumes. Only the sneakers didn't really fit in"
"We don't see that as a problem. It just depends on how you define tradition. It gives us stability and solidarity.
I will spare her any further questions and do not wish to interfere in the country's internal affairs.
Religion: Always look on the bright side of life
I ask her, rather naively, whether she is a believer. She says yes and adds that Islam is the only true faith.
"It's complicated with true faith," I answer her. "We have major problems in Germany right now with Islamists who indiscriminately lynch people for their true faith." Fatima says she has heard of it. "They are not believers in my opinion," she replies. "They do not speak for Islam, which prohibits such acts.
"You know, Fatima, I used to work as a social worker with people of different faiths. My focus was on problematic male youths with a migrant background, most of them Muslims." I pause for a moment, but add:
"You could also say it's toxic masculinity. In my opinion, too much religion leads to stupidity and very quickly becomes delusional."
She looks at me in surprise. "How interesting!"
I tell her that a 16-year-old Muslim once asked me what I thought the true faith was. A tricky question, especially since they are so dogmatic at that age.
"What did you answer him?"
"Religions," I answered him, "are part of a cake. Every religion is a piece of it. Anyone who claims to have the only true faith is wrong. In my opinion, they only have a part of the whole."
Fatima smiles at me. I think she understood my diplomatic hint.
We Christians had our experiences in the Middle Ages and drew our conclusions from them. It took a damn long time.
Fatima parks the car and apologizes because she has to pray. Of course, I think to myself, we are in the heart of Islam. And the scenery here, in the scorching desert, couldn't be better. A magnificent place of silence.
The Palace of the Winds at the Edge of the World
My raiting: *****
Safety note: Take sturdy shoes, plenty of water and sunscreen with you.
Be careful at the edge of the rock, don't go too close to the abyss! The gravel can give way very quickly. Danger of falling! If you are driving there yourself, be sure to rent an SUV, as the road turns into a gravel road and is very impassable. Suggestion: Join a group; organized trips can be booked locally at the travel agency or through the hotel. I chose an individual tour through the agency mentioned above.
The rocky cliffs rise up to 1131 m into the sky. Mountain climbers and hikers meet here in the cooler months. This sport is unthinkable in summer. The rock formations are bizarre and some are reminiscent of sculptures formed by wind and rain.
This could be the setting of a science fiction film. A Martian landscape.
Below the rocky gorges, in the wide valley, a dried-up riverbed runs through the desert. Occasionally you can see shepherds as tiny dots looking after their camels and livestock. Camel caravans once traveled through the country here. Now it's tourists.
I have the desert to myself. And the silence. That's not the case in the cooler winter months.
The unheard Prophet
Here, the unsecured paths are only rudimentary. It takes a while until I slow down. Thoughts come and go until suddenly I am stirred up by a topic that has been rumbling inside me for a long time.
The desert focuses my thoughts, filters out unnecessary things. I am amazed by the rock formations and their changing colors depending on the light.
The silence is suddenly noticeably loud. I am not used to that. I am constantly surrounded by the sounds of civilization. Some I can turn off (mobile phone), but not others.
The nice thing about individual tours: There is no schedule, no peer pressure. So I crawl onto the rock like a cockroach, sit down very carefully and am shocked to see that once I've reached the top, it goes steeply down on the other side.
Without a doubt: traveling does something for me. Every trip gives me a gift: a piece of the puzzle for intellectual expansion, thoughts, feelings, sometimes even insights. Right now, this stone desert is a huge palace, but without an all-inclusive buffet.
I wonder if the world is partly ruled by criminals, near-dead people, imbeciles, narcissists, megalomaniacs and tyrants. Sometimes even a perfidious mixture of all of these. Instead of solving the abundant global problems together, the great powers and those who consider themselves to be such are entangled in endless disputes. Apocalypse now?
Islamists, controlled by psychopaths and ayatollahs, act with primitive behavior patterns that are more reminiscent of the conflict resolution strategies of Stone Age people than of 21st century civilizations. They abuse their religion to justify their sadistic acts when they execute people of other faiths or, as in the case of Israel, want to wipe out the state with missiles. I do not understand why the Central Council of Muslims in Germany does not take to the streets and demonstrate against this injustice.
Militant Jews are in no way inferior to their Islamist colleagues; right-wing Israeli politicians have been ignoring international law and all resolutions of the international community for years. They are currently bombing whole areas of the country empty. Am I anti-Semitic now? Not at all. Human rights are universal. I don't understand why the Central Council of Jews in Germany is not taking to the streets and demonstrating against this injustice.
Small, chubby dictators would rather let their people starve so that they can arm their terror state to ridiculous levels. Other human abusers, in their megalomania, start wars by attacking neighboring countries. In doing so, they sacrifice generations of men and women before their lives even begin. They too don't give a damn about the international community. And their churches join in with their hypocrisy, which cannot be surpassed.
"And the choir of stupid people sings..." sang Marius Müller Westernhagen what felt like an eternity ago.
Wouldn't it be meaningful and humane if the central councils of all religious communities demonstrated together, across religions, against injustice? (A bold thought in this heat. Am I actually drinking enough?)
And then there is the Middle Kingdom. How will China position itself on the world stage? It doesn't look good. They want more sea and are currently digging for islands.
The old men of the world are eager to try out their war toys without thinking twice, knowing full well that they will not be the ones losing their gloomy, dreary, soulless lives in the process.
Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and most recently Saudi Arabia are leading the way in a remarkable way by breaking down old enemy stereotypes against Israel and instead opting for dialogue. Faith can sometimes move mountains.
It looks as though almost all powerful actors want to systematically weaken the UN (no, that doesn't mean the card game). Shouldn't the United Nations be expanded, restructured, reformed, in other words adapted to the 21st century?
The UN Security Council has long since stopped representing the majority of states. It is an arbitrary, corrupt bunch who are closer to their shirts than their jackets. A strengthened UN with a robust mandate would be the key to peace. Warmongers and human traffickers would only be able to carry out their mischief at a considerable personal risk of being brought before an international court.
I think I'd better go back to Fatima. That's how it is in the desert. That's how it is in the Palace of the Winds, here, on the edge of a magnificent world, the wind whispers revelations in your ear.
I really should drink more.
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