Roundabout Saudi Arabia
After a few days driving around the country, we started noticing how many roundabouts were decorated with sculptures that demonstrated a key cultural feature of their locales.
For more posts from Saudi Arabia, click here. For more posts from Middle East, click here.
Those roundabouts would make a fun post, we thought, so we started snapping photos – as well as we could – while circling them in traffic.
In Hail, a welcome to the city represented by the traditional hospitality greeting in Saudi Arabia, a small cup of Arabic coffee poured from a vessel like this (with dates to eat). The center is an incense burner that adds fragrance to life within a home.
In Hail, a celebration of the UNESCO rock art nearby which includes many depictions of ibex (curved horns) and oryx (straight horns). This was not exactly a roundabout, but a hillside forming part of a cloverleaf intersection as it was lit by the setting sun.
In Jeddah, where the desert abuts the Red Sea, here’s a camel in the elongated style of a Modigliani sculpture.
In Jeddah, large doves skimming near the seashore (attended by small pigeons roosting on them).
In Jeddah, the Cosmos or Astronomy sculpture rises to the skies some 44 meters high (about 150 feet).
In Taif, the Time Monument in a circle at the edge of the fascinating old town. Seizing the moment?
In Abha, this was strictly more of an entry point to a popular walkway off a roundabout, but it’s a charming tribute to watchtowers in local architecture – one standing over lava rock of the area and the other, for some reason, over umbrellas.
On Farasan Island, a typical local fish with shellfish (and life preservers) around it.
Also on Farasan Island, a less typical fish with a handle
At Jizan, on the Red Sea coast, a tribute to sailing and wind power – in the middle of car traffic.
At Najran, a clocktower amid traffic honors the famous tall clocktower in Makkah (Mecca) and similar roundabouts within Saudi Arabia.
In Najran, this sculpture shows off the local architectural style in clay with white trim, as well as the notable watchtowers built in the desert mountains.
At Najran, another welcome with traditional coffee (plus sugar cubes).
At Hima, the symbol of Saudi Arabia (palm with crossed sabers) sits atop a kind of torch.
Mashups…an amusing observation
You can learn a lot about a culture while shopping for food – whether at a noisy open-air market or local shop or, in this case, a huge chain supermarket in Saudi Arabia. What we found was, well, not much different from a major American or European one – with many of the same brands and approaches to cooking.
Hmmm, O Organics, Amy’s Soups (and, in other aisles, Morningside, Lay’s, Kikkoman, Old El Paso, Activa, Crest, and on and on)…where am I? An Albertson’s? A Whole Foods? A Continente? No, the Tamimi Supermarket in a mid-sized Saudi agricultural town!
And it seems shoppers should stock up on Barbeque equipment for their next party.
We were quite surprised – and had a big laugh – when we saw this offer at one of many Baskin&Robbins here: the famous Portuguese cream pastry, Pastel de Nata. B&R is just one of many familiar chain eateries like Starbucks, KFC, McDonald’s, Popeye, etc.
The post People & Places: Recollections of Saudi Arabia first appeared on Adventurephiles. (To enlarge any picture above at that site, click on it. Also, for more pictures from Saudi Arabia, CLICK HERE to view the slideshow at the end of the itinerary page.)