Our longest travelling day today - I’m told 9-10 hours.
We left our lovely resort hotel at 7:45, I was still humbled by the spectacular location. Definitely a 5 star rating.
Our first stop was at Elephant Rock, just out of town. It was closed but our driver went in the back way so we could get close enough to see it. He drove the bus off road, carefully, through packed and soft sand, glad he knows what he’s doing.
After about three hours we stopped in the middle of the desert at an old railway station. I suspect it was more for taking on water, not passengers, to keep the steam engines going. There were a few old train engines in very bad shape, left over from the early 1900’s. It was good to stretch our legs.
We drove through the city of Medina about 2pm, we couldn’t stop, as we (non-Muslim) shouldn’t really have been there. We circled through town about four times trying to get as close to the mosque as we could, and we only managed to pull over for a few minutes. Photography was difficult due to fences, cranes, other vehicles, and curtains, heads and arms on the bus š. The mosque was large, with numerous minarets, a green dome and covered areas outside. Dozens of hotels in this area, for the many visitors, four and five deep for blocks and blocks. People come here to visit the mosque and there are staggered times for men and women to visit. Huge amount of construction going on. The city has about 1.5 million population.
We stopped again about 3pm for gas and snack purchases, can’t believe how much some people eat!
Stopped about 5:30 for sunset pictures, desert and mountains again š
Two more hours to go. Apparently a roof top restaurant at the hotel for dinner - hope I’m hungry by then.
(Pics 1/2 Shaden Resort hotel, last 2 nights. Pics 3/4 Elephant Rock. Pic 5 railway. Pic 6 Medina, tiny glimpse of mosque at back.)
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