A short walk in old Jeddah Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Today I went back to get my official permission from the Preservation office to take pictures.  It is only for a week, so I took a few pictures today and will go back tomorrow.

First I went to take a picture of the corner where a zigzag square is made by the convergence of several streets in the Souk al-Alawi.

In the center, in white with dark stained balconies is the building that his being refurbished.

Here it is again, so that you can see the whole square.

I then took the first street to the left to take a picture of the little fountain where the policeman had been sitting before.   Here it is:

This is the square with the fountain just off Souk al-Alawi. 

I waited for some Ethiopian women to get out of the picture.  They were on the left.  Then I walked up between the two bookstores and took this picture of the palm tree on Souk al-Alawi. 

Palm trees on Souk Al-Alawi.  Picture taken from the fountain square. 

You can just see the top of the fountain in the picture. I took a second picture in order to show more of the fountain.  But it cuts off the palm tree

Wouldn't it be nice to live in that building on the right, with a view of the palm tree, looking out your window?  Later on in my walk, I found a building being built with brick and concrete that had the old style balconies.  Just to the left, going out this little street on  to Souk al-Alawi is another nice zig-zag square, where there is some restoration of old houses going on.  I took a picture to show the building construction of the larger houses.

Notice the stone masonry and the wooden beams.

More of the old building construction showing along Souk Al-Alawi

As I continued down Souk Al-Alawi, I couldn't help myself from stopping to take yet another picture of the street as it changes sizes.  This is typical of a medieval street.  They are not all straight, but rather have different angles because the buildings are built at different angles to get a variety of shade from the sun.

Then I went to the left in the back streets between Souk al-Alawi and the Preservation office.

Oh, I forgot to say that the walk actually started where the taxi let me off by on or the Mamluke gates opening on Shari'a Qabil, where the money changers are.  I walked up Shari' Qabil, went under the car steet to Beit Nasif, and then to the preservation office.  After the preservation office, I walked up Souk Al-Alawi to get my picture of the building that had changed since the picture I took of it last year and that I had been sending to people e-mail.  That is the first picture in this Wednesday walk.

Now, to go back to the preservation office and back out of the old Jeddah, I swung by some of the little marked houses, like this one:

Beit Ahmad Hedaaya

Here is a view of an old house that is almost falling down, just beyond Beit Ahmad Hedaaya.

Beit Ahmad Hedaaya on left and old house in background.  Note the nice marble work on the pavement, which is typical of old Jeddah.

Beit Ahmad Hedaaya Door and blue balcony

Beit Ahmad Hedaaya blue balconies

I cut through the street that goes by Zawiya Sulaimaniyya and took a little street with some old houses and even some cars on it.  I was surprised to see a modern house being built in the same old style right here in the old city.  I took the picture, below, of it:

Some new construction in the old city and in the old style.

This is a little street going from the Souk al-Alawi area down to Harat al-Bahr, I think.

On my way out to find a taxi, I took a covered souk street off Shari Qabil that came out near the museum.  I took a peak in this museum, said to be the British consulate, where Lawrence of Arabia stayed, but I think this is apocryphal.  I discovered that one of the houses I photographed on one of my first walks is called Beit Shafi'i, and the big house as you go out on al-Bai'a square is called Beit Sharbatli.

So, I think this is Beit Shafi'i.

A short walk in old Jeddah, Wednesday, May 18, 2005(10 Rabia Al-Ahker 1426 H)