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Al Fateh Grand Mosque in Bahrain
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Earlier this month, we went to Bahrain which initially, we planned to travel by plane. But, the flight schedules from Riyadh to Bahrain did not fit with our work schedule. So, we opted to travel by land. I went there together with my colleagues/friends, Christian, Ann Chris and Selena. Also, we have (and need to have) a couple companion, Christian's parents, Tito Dan and Tita Emmy, who were super nice and kept us entertained throughout the the trip as well.
It was actually a very smart move to choose the road trip because it was so much cheaper, we saved more than half of our actual individual budget.
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| The border |
It was a successful road trip, thanks to Tito Dan. The trip was roughly 5 hours from Riyadh. We arrived around 09:00am, but it us took some time to find the accommodation so technically we settled at around 10:00am.
Day 1
I don't have photos inside of the hotel we stayed in, the Caeser's Palace in Juffair, but it was quite big, it exceeded my expectations. It was bigger than my flat in Riyadh, so it's not just a hotel room, it's a luxurious flat. It has a living area, dining area, kitchen with fridge+microwave+stove and oven+washing machine! Also, it has 3 big bedrooms all with bathroom.
So, we left the hotel around 11:00, Tita Divine, Tito Dan's friend who stays in Bahrain brought us to a Filipino Restaurant just less than 15minutes drive (can't remember the name.)
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Out for lunch!
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A must do in Bahrain for us, eat our very own delicacies! Pork on! We are used to eating arabic food anyway.
For the rest of the day, we were like high school barkada making gimik sa mall haha. We went to the City Center. We watched Captain America and the Winter Soldier in 3D, apparently, they are not to strict with taking pictures inside the movie house. Only very few were watching the movie, it felt like our very own home theatre.
After window shopping and some actual shopping, we then went to Bahrain World Trade Center.
Then we roam around Manama looking for Starbucks, to have some coffee and buy their souvenir tumbler. We found one, but it was closing already so we needed to walk again and look for the next one, and we almost, almost got lost, because it was an unlikely place to have a coffee shop... We were in doubt. Then we walked further and we found a stretch of coffee shops, restaurants, it was just around the Diplomatic Quarter haha. It was difficult for us, because there was no one to ask, we don't have internet, it was just an instruction form the previous closing Starbucks staff.
At this point, we were awake for 40 hours with naps in between during trip from Riyadh. After the successful Starbucks hunt, we headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to Rocky's Cafe, we had some dinner and drinks, there was a live band, we played some competitive billiards and went back to hotel. We were very tired, but happy. Taking photos and noting the details were least of our concern here, hehe. We slept at around 03:00am.
Day 2
The day started with breakfast at Tita Divine's place. Then we went to the Al Fateh Grand Mosque.
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The family that brought us there.
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Some random photo hehe
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There, we met Mr. Ahmad, he gave us a tour inside the Grand Mosque and explained all its details, if anything inside the mosque has correlation to the Quran or not. But actually, it was designed mostly for practicality and functionality as far as what he told us. It was nice to be able to get inside another religion's church, especially a mosque, living in Riyadh got me curious always, now I have an idea.
He seems like a nice person, and he respects the beliefs and traditions of others while teaching what is theirs. I also love how he said, "if you survived living in Riyadh, you will survive living anywhere in the world." And that maybe true.
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Mr. Ahmad, tours us around the Al Fateh Mosque.
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| Inside a mosque, everyone should be decent. We wore the abaya again and Tito wore a thobe. |
Next, we went to the National Museum, the vicinity is very beautiful, you don't get to see some water (man made or natural) in Riyadh.
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| Selena, my bebe hehe striking some pose. |
I didn't take photos inside. I believe that museums are meant for visits and learning the history and culture of a country or certain places in person and not by someone else's photos. You would want to be there, immerse yourself, time travel (in your imagination) while you're there. I've been in some museums in the Philippines, but this one is kinda creepy and awesome at the same time. Pay a visit once you get to Bahrain and see for yourself. ;)
Okay, and there ends my camera's battery life. Anyhow, after the museum, we went to Sacred Heart Catholic church and attended a mass. It was one of the goals of coming to Bahrain. Then we ate in a Filipino restaurant again haha. It's very similar to a classic Pinoy carenderia which gives a very homey vibe for us, with videoke pa! So we sang along while waiting for the food to be served. We did some souvenir shopping also, but unfortunately, there was not so many.
We just spent another night to sleep in Bahrain, the following day we headed back home in Riyadh (yep, I think it's appropriate to call it home.)
It was a short trip, but definitely a well deserved break from the busy city life. Also it was such a sweet getaway, because it was like a family and girlfriends bonding moment.
I didn't plan to blog the trip that time that's why I don't have the exact details of the things we did and paid for, thanks to Christian, he got me all backed up.
Have you been to Bahrain? What did you like most about it? I'm sure we missed a lot of things to see and experience there, any suggestions?
I'll be posting our budget in another post.
Until then,
Pin :)
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