A Short Trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
Old Jeddah, Al Ula,
and Medain Saleh
(January 2008)

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In
January 2008, I did a business trip to Saudi Arabia. This gave me the
opportunity to visit Jeddah and Medain Saleh. The following are photos of the old town of Jeddah, the oasis of Al Ula (a few kilometers south of Medain
Saleh), and Medain Saleh.
Like
Petra in Jordan, Medain
Saleh is a Nabatean city
built about 2000 years ago. It is located 400 km north of Medina
and over 300 km south of Petra.
It contains more than one hundred tombs carved into sandstone rock and spread
over several kilometers. The tomb facades display decorations elements with
Egyptian, Greek, and Roman influences. The site is surrounded by stunning
sandstone walls and formations.
To
reach Medain Saleh I flew from
Jeddah to Medina.
From Medina a
car drove me to Medain Saleh.
I was very fortunate to be able to visit this site without being part of an
organized group. Amazingly, there was nobody else on the site. I had it all for
myself.

Old
Jeddah









Along
the road from Medina
to Al Ula



Al
Ula




Sandstone
formations around Al Ula and Medain
Saleh











Tombs
in Medain Saleh
Qasr Al Sani





Al
Khuraymat




Qasr Al Bint


Qasr Al Farid


