Photography Club



Mosque in Fishing Village



My husband and I have joined a photography club with some of his coworkers. There is a large mix of experience levels in the small group, which makes it very interesting. This weekend was our first outing for a photo shoot. My husband and I just wanted to go exploring more than anything. We drove about an hour outside of the city to a fort called, Al Zurabah, as well as to a small old fishing village. When you drive outside the city you find out there isn't much to see. All sand and very, very few houses or small towns. When I say sand.....literally, I mean that is all we see. We have seen camels out before but unfortuanately we didn't see any on this trip. After driving for what seems like hours to nowhere, all of a sudden on the horizon popped up a small fort. Our little caravan of drivers pull up, we get out and start snapping photos. There is nothing around in sight besides this fort, the sealine in the distance, and sand. There were three small outbuildings near the fort for vistors doing archological work (Fortunately, there was a restoom or we would have had to turn around and head back to the city. I would blame it on my two year old newly potty trained child, but it was me the pregnant woman that was walking with my legs crossed. It isn't like I could go behind a bush either, one for fear of someone from the country thinking I am exposing myself and two because there are no bushes to go behind!) The fort wasn't much bigger than a large house. It was four very thick walls with towers on the corners. It was open on the inside with litte rooms along the walls. It was pretty intersting to walk around and look inside. From what we understand the fort was built in the 1930s over an older castle. There was a well inside that I am sure was very precious and needed protecting too. The sun was beginning to go down but it was still extremely hot outside. After about 20 minutes exploring it was time to return to the car to cool off. Our caravan of photographers then drove a couple miles to a fishing village. This was a great example of what life was like before the discovery of oil when the people were dependant on fishing and other ways of life to survive. It wasn't set up as a museum, only the ruins and half way standing walls to show what once was. It was right beside the coastline and so with the setting sun and breeze it was easier to walk around and really explore. It was a lot of fun climbing through the paths and doorways. The morter for the walls was obviously the sand from the shore as there were tiny little seashells everywhere in the walls and in the sand we walked upon. We couldn't go all the way to the water as unfortuately the sealine was covered in trash. It was really pretty nasty not only to see but smell. (I am not sure if all coasts are this way as I haven't seen any other sealines besides in the city, which look pristine.) But, there was enough ruins that we could all spread out and snap pictures and explore as the sun was fading. The tall tower in the pictures at the villiage is of the mosque. We had a long drive back at night with not much too see on the way but we had a wonderful evening. My husband took all these excellent pictures!



View from the car on the way




More sand....




Al Zurabah Fort





Looking through one of the defense "peep" holes from inside the fort.





Old Fishing Village





As you can see it is mostly ruins but fun to explore.





You can see the trash along the shore in this photo. It was pretty nasty and covered the entire shore. I spared you the dead sea life photos we have....





The tiny corals and shells in the mortar and sand.




Sunset at the mosque.