Old City of Sana'a, Yemen

The first place the we visit during our umrah trip is Sana'a. Arrived at 10pm and directly checked in to Moonlight Hotel, Sana'a. It's a very simple hotel. In Sana'a you cannot expect for a 5 stars hotel and service. Along the way from airport to hotel I noticed the traffic system was bad. According to our driver, there is no traffic system at all. You can drive at any lane any direction but amazingly there's no accident. But they loved to hon hon and almost non stop press the buzzer. Thehehe.

My special tourist guide is our group leader which is now my husband. He is the one yang keep explained to me about this old city. Sikit-sikit dia akan cari saya and cerita. He is quite familiar with Sana'a sebab dia pernah study di sini. For a few months for language class. Tu yang dia banyak tahu and he really fall in love with this city. Sebelum berangkat pun, dah banyak kali dia ceritakan about Sana'a.

By the time we reach there, Sana'a was just 5 days in peace after election and they finally found their new leader. So, the next morning we went to a beautiful mosque named Raiz Al-Salleh Mosque which also known as Sana'a Taj Mahal. Seriously it is amazingly beautiful and I fall in love with all the ornaments calligraphy and so on. So perfect.

Raiz Al-Salleh Mosque (Sana'a Taj Mahal)

 Prayer Area with beautiful ormnament carved from Italy

Minarate of Raiz Al-Salleh reflected the architecture language on Sana'a City - white plaster & brick

The Arch at the courtyard 

 On top of the hill to view Balqis Queen Palace which stands on a big stone down the hill

Me and my mom

My mom and our group leader (now my husband)

The little cute little dress in a cute little dress.

All women in Sana'a wear a black abaya with purdah. You can even find any other colour in the way they dress except what the wear inside the abaya. So, bila ternampak this two cute girl rasa macam nak cubit-cubit je. Comel sangat. Sampai I asked my mom... " Mak, kalau nak adopt baby dary Yemen ni bole tak? Agak-agak procedure susah tak? Comel sangat la. Geram. Best ni kalau dapat bawak balik" wanna know what my mom said? "Haah kan. nanti kita try tanya nak? Cantik-cantik. Mata biru. Yang tepi-tepi jalan mintak sedekah ni pun kemain comel."

Destinasi seterusnya adalah ke Istana Ratu Balqis. Ratu Balqis memiliki lebih kurang 15 istana secara keseluruhannya dan Istana yang kami kunjungi ini is one of them. Located agak jauh dari Sana'a city melalui jalan-jalan berdebu dan beberapa sekatan jalan raya yang agak menakutkan untuk first timer macam saya. Kalau tengok dalam berita ada sekatan jalan raya dengan senapang dan sebagainya... haaa... macam itulah sekatan jalan raya di Sana'a. City centre dah bebas merdeka tapi masih ada puak-puak yang sayangkan pemerintah lama so... keadaan agak sedikit ketat. Tapi, alhamdulillah perjalanan kami tiada gangguan dan dipermudahkan. Sampai sahaja di istana, pemandu pelancong yang diupah khas dari Yemen (Salleh nama dia) memberitahu... kami diberikan masa 10 minit sahaja. Maka boleh ambil gambar keliling dan tak boleh masuk istana. I was so dissappointed at that time. Terbang sejauh ini dan tak dapat masuk. Sedih.

My special tourist guide tanya saya... "Wanna tour inside?". I replied him.. "Tadi Salleh cakap tak boleh. Tapi... Nakkkkk... " He smiled dan dia terus beli tiket untuk saya dan kami masuk. Me, my mum and him. Dia cakap... takpe... kita masuk bertiga je. Senyap-senyap... but we need to finish it in 10 minutes. So berlarilah saya sambil snap-snap gambar.

Istana Ratu Balqis ini bertingkat-tingkat. Tak terkira bilangan tingkatnya. Sebab circulation di dalam istana ini berbeza dengan pembahagian ruang istana di negara kita. Secara generalnya, sepanjang menaiki anak tangga, akan ada landing dan ruang-ruang tertentu. Ada ruang rehat, dapur, ruang menung, perigi, cold storage (tempat simpanan daging semulajadi), ruang santai, ruang ruang dan macam-macam ruang. Bilik pengawal pintu pon ada. Tapi semuanya sangat simple dan tak la segah dan semewah istana zaman sekarang dengan Ukiran Perabot dari Italy dan sebagainya.Tapi kiranya... pada zaman Nabi Sulaiman a.s  apa yang ada di Istana Ratu Balqis ini dah super canggih dah.

Inilah Istana Ratu Balqis

Ruang santai Ratu Balqis

Inilah cold storage istimewa. Tempat menyimpan daging fresh 

sambil dianginkan oleh udara semulajadi di luar.

Old City of Sana'a... its beautiful

Behind this big gate ada bazaar... sangat lah murah dan cantik cantik semuanya. 

I bought 5 abaya here just for my self. Thehehe.

During the visit in Sana'a... some places was so dusty. I do not have any purdah, dan terlupa bawa mask.. so alternativenya... my selendang. Hehehe.

This is another nice place for shopping.

In Sana'a city saya berkawan-kawan dengan my special tourist guide. But as a friend only. Cuma saya perasan... a few times... tiba-tiba my special tourist guide ada kat belakang me and my mum. Pastu buat tanya-tanya... jumpa abaya? Nak beli yang macam mana? Hehehe

... the story will be continue in the next chapter of Medina.

XOXO,