Saudi Arabia: An inspiring kingdom

"Welcome" to Saudi Arabia were the words I received daily from the people of the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula. In 2019, the country slowly started to open up to foreigners and the corona outbreak put a halt to foreign arrivals for a while. Today, Saudi Arabia is looking to develop tourism and other major sporting and cultural events. The lack of information about the country made it seem very remote and mysterious. People are therefore rightly wrongly prejudiced. I am sure that in the future, the stereotypes about Saudi Arabia will fade away. By 2030, the country has a plan to have more than a hundred million visitors.

Dammam - the cradle of an oil empire

After landing in the fifth largest city of the country, located on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula, I met an Egyptian man, Waled, at the airport, who lives in Ljubljana and who selflessly offered to drive me and his friends from the airport to Al-Khobar, where I stayed for two days. The hospitality and warmth of the people accompanied me everywhere. My cousin told me before I left that she would not dare to go there, that she would be afraid. Her words made my head spin, what prejudices people have who do not go out of the country more than once, and that too to our neighbours by the sea. Dammam is the cradle of the country's oil empire. In 1938, the discovery of oil by American oil companies put the country on the world map, and the Second World War prevented oil production for a few years.

I spent hours on the well-kept shores of the Persian Gulf, people-watching and being rewarded with beautiful views of the sea. Less than half an hour from Al-Khobar lies the Gulf state of Bahrain, so I headed to the border with Bahrain, which is connected by a bridge. In good weather, the capital Manama is clearly visible from the Saudi coast. On the main road, I noticed that there were already quite a few women behind the wheel. My host Ahmed told me that women are very careful and slow drivers, which sometimes annoys the male population. Three years ago, only women were given the right to drive cars, also, today women are allowed out of the country alone without a man's permission and can go shopping for underwear alone. Today, they have greater rights in the country than men, which is difficult for us to understand. In European and Western-style restaurants, it is possible to see women alone, which seemed mission impossible only a few years ago, but some of them still carry the presence of the former regime.

Riad - a capital city with rapid development

I arrived in the capital city of Riad by bus in the afternoon and the eastern part of the country, the desert was with me all the way and sometimes a passing camel would appear on the main road. You must be aware that the distances across the country are enormous. In between, we stopped for a one-hour break at a Pakistani restaurant. The staff of the restaurant gave us a warm welcome. As I was carrying a large camera, the restaurant staff asked me to take pictures of all the staff, from the waiters, cooks and dishwashers. Why not, I said to myself. As a thank you, I was given food and drinks for a fee, and I sent them the photos when I got back home.

During his stay in the capital of 9 million people, the arrival of Portuguese footballer Christian Ronaldo has been making a lot of noise. Outside the shops of the Al-Nassr football club, people queued en masse to buy his jersey. My intention was to visit some of the interesting features of the city and its surroundings. Because of the congested traffic, you lose a couple of hours getting from one part of the city to another. The underground railway is still under construction and is not due to open for another year, so all the traffic is on the road. The city centre is full of tall buildings in the style of the world's biggest cities, and in the evening Miteb and I visited the business district, which has almost the whole city to itself. There are a few more foreigners than in other smaller cities, and many people come to the capital to take up new business opportunities. Today, Riad is one big construction site, with new buildings and housing estates being built 24 hours a day. The royal family, the Al Saud, is investing a lot of money in building new roads, new buildings and new airports.

Jeddah - capital of the western part of the country

Due to the long distance between the capital and Jeddah on the Red Sea coast, I opted for an internal flight, as air tickets are sometimes cheaper than bus tickets and you can also gain time. Jeddah is now the second largest city in the country and has almost 70,000 km of coastline on the Red Sea. Jeddah is the starting point for many Muslims as they begin their pilgrimage to Mecca, one hour away. I wanted to visit Mecca, but because I am not of the Muslim faith, unfortunately this was not feasible, A must-stop is the fish market, where fresh fish is sold daily, as well as crabs and other seafood. There were a lot of people crowded around the fish market, I went to see what was going on and they were having an auction for the fish. The highest bidder gets to take home the fish. It was an interesting and unforgettable experience. I visited the fish market twice because I am a fish lover.

I bought more than a kilo of different fish, took them to the next room where they cleaned the fish and then took them to the restaurant and in less than 15 minutes I was enjoying fresh fish with my taste buds. A visit to the old part of the town of Al-Balad, a heritage site, left a strong impression on me. The labyrinth of streets, markets, small shops, mosques and special architecture make you feel like you have stepped back in time. I met a few people from India by chance and gave them my place to sit by the old part of the city. A few hours later, we met again in front of a sugar cane drink shop, where I was honoured with a drink for my kindness. As I was travelling alone in the country and meeting few foreigners, I felt that I had caught the right time to travel in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but this will change a lot as the years go by. The distances across the country are very long so I recommend renting a car so that you can get to almost every corner of the country more easily and if there are more of you travelling then it is worth it. Saudi Arabia holds many hidden gems that people will discover over the years. It has left a very positive impression on me and I only wish I could visit again soon.