We made the relatively short roadtrip to Bahrain from Riyadh recently for the very first time. Previously we’d made longer road trips to Makkah, Madinah and UAE so this 4 hour drive to the KSA-Bahrain border plus 1 hour extra getting through customs and over the bridge was a breeze in comparison.
I was surprised at the huge differences we noticed between KSA and Bahrain despite the fact that the countries are so close together. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are joined by a 28km strip of road called the King Fahd Causeway. As you drive you first reach a small island which is where both the Saudi border control and the Bahraini border control are located. Passport controls are fast and orderly as complared with the chaos we have experienced at the UAE border with KSA. On one roadtrip to the UAE we spent 4 hours at the border control.
Bahrain is small but not as small as we expected, the driving is infinitely better than that of Saudi Arabia, we found the locals to be friendly and helpful and we generally found more greenery there than we are used to. We had been told before that Bahrain is more expensive than Saudi Arabia but we actually found a lot of things (namely food items) to be either the same price or cheaper. Products imported from Europe were cheaper and there was more variety.
I have a small set of photographs of Bahrain available for viewing on Flickr. You can see some of the things that one can see and do in Bahrain. Considering the lack of entertainment for older kids in Riyadh, it was well worth a trip for us.
We took a short drive down to Zallaq to the beach:
The sand at the beach we found wasn’t great but the waters were crystal clear:
On the way back to Manama from the beach we found the Al-Areen Wildlife reserve which is home to some of the famous Arabian Oryx as well as several other species of animal.
Bedouin tent with falconry at the reserve:
The pretty and peaceful gardens at the reserve:
To burn off some energy and have fun we went to the Wahooo indoor and outdoor waterpark at the City Centre Mall in Manama. Ladies night is on Wednesdays from 5:30pm. The big kids had fun on the waterslides inside and outside whilst the littlies enjoyed the wave and some gentler water slides:
We also had a little walk around the Al Fateh Grand Mosque which is open to n0n-Muslim tourists outside of prayer times:
It was a road trip from Riyadh to Bahrain and back again so let’s not forget the obligatory desert dune photograph!
Rest of the photostream is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23745688@N04/sets/72157623797506885/
Come With Me To The Casbah
