Saudi Arabia: Jeddah – Al Bald Old Town
Al Bald is the historical Old Town of Jeddah and a is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town was founded in the 7th century and had defensive walls surrounding the densely packed core full of traditional architecture (the walls were later removed in the 1940s). When the oil boom happened, nearly all Saudi residents left the clustered old town and moved to bigger houses in the flourishing greater Jeddah, while poor immigrants moved into the Al-Balam. Only in the late 1990s did the preservation and restoration efforts began to keep at least some parts of the deeply historic buildings from total dilapidation. The architecture is almost surreal here with wooden crumbling balconies galore and buildings and mosques jammed together without any rhyme or reason or order in a mishmash of cobblestone narrow streets. It’s a total maze!
