A Mid-Summer Journey, Tabuk – Day 2

The second day of the Mid-summer journey  in Tabuk ( tabuk region ) started a bit late than we wanted as we were exhausted from last night and had slept like a log till afternoon. We got ready, had lunch and left the hotel room to tour around the city which is mostly famous for snowing in winter but we had arrived here in Mid-summer so it was a hot and dry desert city.

The Fortress

Our first location was the “Tabuk fortress”, a castle dating back to 1559; built for surveillance purpose and to guard the water station. The castle was later reconditioned and converted into a Museum for visitors. When we arrived there, we found out it had been closed for maintenance and was due to open up a month later.

Al Tawbah  Mosque

We ditched this destination for another historical monument nearby known as “Al Tawbah mosque” AKA- Tabuk Mosque. It was the location where prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stayed and prayed for 20 days with 30,000 of his companions during the Expedition/Battle of Tabuk. We stayed there till Asr time and toured in the heritage site’s markets.

Wadi Al Disah

Next on the list was “Wadi Al Disah” Aka- Valley of the Palms; a natural reserve known for its grand wind-sculpted columns, breathtaking sunsets and a valley home to various ancient sites and relics dating back to the Nabataean era. But unfortunately, when we were on the road to the valley, it had been blocked off by the Saudi Army who had a Military base situated there.

Having no other place to go, we decided to check out malls which just turned out be new malls that were as empty as a dry well and there weren’t many interesting souvenirs to buy. Disappointed as we were, we finally decided to have some food and rest in our hotel to leave Tabuk the next day.

THE FOOOOODDDD

So of course the saving grace of the day was…… the FOOOOODDDD!!! We went into an Iraqi restaurant and ordered a platter of Barbecue topped of with some Iraqi salad and soft drinks; and believe me, the barbecue was heavenly and with the salad complimenting it, it just reached a new dimension of flavor. The juicy and spice filled meat and kebabs were splendid and the chicken was just cooked right enough to melt like butter as soon as it enters your mouth…. I’m getting hungry while writing this. I filled myself with barbecue till my stomach would beg me to stop, but honestly it was the best part of the day after all those disappointments.

We came back to our hotel room and packed half our stuff so it would be an easy and non-panicking checkout the next day and my little brother told us about a sports room on the roof of the hotel where we later played table tennis, air hockey and tired ourselves enough to have a good nights sleep