Good bye Qatar

    Finally, our Qatar journey is coming to an end. These two years that we have spent here were very intensive and relaxing at the same time. We thank Allah for giving us an opportunity to fulfill our dreams of going to Saudi Arabia and performing Umra and learning Arabic language at the Qatar University. We also had a chance to meet many nice people and see many beautiful places memories of which still make us happy.

    I wish this country all the best. There are still lots of things that must be done and can be improved to make people living here feel comfortable and secure (by providing the sense of stability and predictability).

    Thank you Qatar for opening your doors and letting us to know you betterJ.

Film city, mystery village and more.

During our short spring break we discovered new fascinating places at the eastern part of  Qatar peninsula. If you like exotics along with extreme driving Zekreet area is the best place to go.
We were looking for a place  called a Film city that was built according to one version, for making a historical movie about Arabs. So, charmed by a prospect to see some ancient like buildings we loaded our GPS with coordinates of the place and  headed toward it.  After highway we drove around 40 minutes or so on something that hardly resembles a road. Definitely it was not a good condition for taking pictures since everyone in the car was shaking , jumping and bumping at each other.

This was a landscape that followed us all the way to our destination.

At one point we started question abilities of our GPS to find the place because we could not see anything but rocks and sand.

Suddenly, the landscape started to change and we saw an oasis with a fort like building.

It was the Film city.
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The main entrance to the city.

It looks like it is a typical Qatari style architecture that can be seen in some abandoned villages around Qatar.

Towers and a mosque.

A view from the central yard.

The sight of the Gulf from the top.

After we satisfied our curiosity we decided  to go the to so called mystery village that is located only  5-10 minutes away from the city.  On the way I had a chance to make some interesting shots.

Waters of Persian Gulf surrounded by rocks.

This rock looks like a mushroom.

On the top of another mushroom like rock there was  a weird building.

And here is the mystery village itself. A view from a distance.

A closer look.
It seems that these buildings are associated with the Film city somehow. Maybe they were designed for making a part of the movie.

Two minutes away from the village we found a beautiful beach. The water was very clean with lots of jelly fish.

Jelly fish in the water.

On the shore.

We found some plants growing right on the shore.

We also noticed that there were lots of black rock formation coming out of the water and stretching along the beach.

At the end of our trip I was able to capture the hiding sun from the window of our car.

Saudi Arabia one year later.

           One month ago we returned from our second trip to Saudi Arabia. Al’hamdulillah, it was a great journey in many different ways, starting with a route we choose (going to Medina first and than Mecca), discovering a beautiful road through mountains of Mecca, seeing baboons and many other things we have not experienced last year.

            It started with going to Riyadh first and visiting our close friends without whom our long journey by car would be extremely exhausting. May Allah bless them for everything they did. We also had a chance to drive around Riyadh and see some places. By the way, driving in Saudi Arabia capital is much worse than in Doha. So, no more complains about drivers not following rules or changing road lines without showing a signal.

           After Riyadh we went to Medina where we stayed four days.  Honestly, I think it is a special place. You just feel spiritual connection with the city. Maybe because everything there is associated with the life of the prophet Muhammad and early Muslims, with their success and failures, with happiness and deep sorrow and finally with the building of the first Muslim state that changed the course of the history. All of these  create a very emotional atmosphere. I also noticed that people there are also different. They are more gentle and caring.

           With Mecca on contrary, it feels totally different. People are more electrolyzed, sometimes even in a negative way. Due to a huge amount of people and lack of proper organization everyone feels stressed out. This is very sad because it significantly impacts your spiritual attitude. Even those monstrous buildings   that surround masjid Al- Haram completely destroy the feeling of sacredness of the place.

            But despite all of these masjid Al-Haram is steel beautiful. It is like a magnet that attracts Muslims from all over the world to come there and join never ending swirling around Kaaba. This is the place where you feel strong connection with Allah and you want to do as much ‘ibada as you can.

           

A date plantation on the way to Riyadh.

Just a road sign.

The strong wind and sand accompanied us all the way from Doha to Riyadh. Because of that it was very difficult to take good pictures.

We are in Riyadh.


Lots of beautiful masjids everywhere.



Some ruins outside of the Riyadh
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Surprisingly, there is a river. It looks like local people come here for picnicking.


Heavy traffic towards downtown.


Lots of construction work going around.


Downtown area.




Old, broken cars. Maybe it is a result of bad driving.

After spending two days in Riyadh we went to Medina.
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White camels on the way to Medina.


One of the checkpoints.



Getting closer to Medina.

A beautiful sand dune.


Approaching Medina.


Outskirts of Medina.


I just love Medina.  The Hamza’s mosque. A view from  Uhud mountain.


Uhud mountain from the distance.

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Masjid Al- Qiblatain ( mosque of two qiblas). This is the masjid where early Muslims used to pray facing Jerusalem until the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) got a command to change the direction of prayer toward Mecca.

Inside the masjid.


Outside the mosque.


Quba mosque is the oldest masjid in the world. Its first stones were put by prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him) after he migrated from Mecca to Medina.


One of the beautiful minarets of Quba mosque.


Minarets of  Al-Masjid -al Nabawi.


A night view of the prophet’s mosque.


The view from our hotel.

After completing the official part of exploring Medina we went to the city of Yanbu that is located on the shore of the Red Sea.
Entrance of the city.

The beach where we collected lots of shells. 


After Yanbu we went to Mecca. On the way there was a big surprise awaiting  us.


Baboons whom we desperately wanted to see last year were sitting along the road.


Some of them look to much like humans.


Finally, we arrived to Mecca-our final and most important destination.


I have never seen houses  and buildings basically carved in the stones.




A beautiful Kaaba.


Pilgrims trying to touch a black stone.


The door of the Kaaba.


Second floor of the masjid Al-Haram.


Jabal Al Rahman (Mountain of Mercy). It is a place where pilgrims spend the day of Arafat during Hajj.

On the way back to Riyadh we took a wrong road and our GPS device recommended to take a new one.

We started from here..


And ended up here. 2000 meters above the sea level.

In between we have met a baboon family.


Mother and her child.

On the top of the mountains we discovered a town Ozak souq that opened in front of us as magic. It has lots of trees and flowers as well as  a big theme park.



The road to Riyadh.


Everything looks new and fresh.


A big ferris wheel.