More Bahrain Adventures!

With only a few days left until they left, we did a full on tour of our Bahrain favorites with Noni and Duke!

We took them the Souk and had Haji Cafe for dinner--

We introduced dad to a proper souk (which he loved) and Christopher's tailor where he got fitted for a suit! We shopped around our favorite shops and they bought souvenirs. 

 

We also took them carpet shopping! 

And we all came home with carpets! 

I got this beauty for our living room! A Super Kazak from Kazakstan

Mom and Dad got this Kashmiri from Kashmir, India

And this gorgeous 100 percent Persian silk stunner from Iran. 

On Monday we met my friend Tammy for a tour of the old capital, Muhurraq. She does tours for the family readiness group and offered to do one while Mom and Dad were here and it was great!

We started off at the Sheikh Isa Bin Ali house which was home to the great, great grandfather of the current king of Bahrain. It was built in 1830 by Sheikh Hasan, the grandson of Sheikh Ahmad The Conqueror. It was the residence of Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa and seat of power for the Al Khalifa family from 1869 to 1932 when he died.

The drainage system for when it rained!

The whole castle/house structure has beautiful examples of Bahraini architecture from the arches to the courtyards. 

There is the oldest working wind tunnel in Bahrain located in the entry way. It provided cool air to the house and you can feel the air blowing through it even now. (Also helpful for keeping the house cool are the meter thick walls)

There are beautiful imported wooden doors they brought in from India

The ceilings were done in date palm tree trunks and branches

And these stained glass windows in the guest room were hand cut. 

Part of the Sheikh's bedroom

This is a door leading from his room to what look like servant quarters-- apparently he was a very short man!

After we finished with the house we went to the Kurar House. This house is a gathering point for Muharraq women intent on preserving the craft of al korar (gold thread weaving), which three generations of a local family have saved from extinction. Once the intricate threadwork was the occupation of all resident women; now only a handful of people know how to weave the elaborate braid that once adorned all Bahraini ceremonial gowns. It is believed that they pressed real gold into the thread in the past. Now, they use gold thread from India.

On the day we went the women weren't there but there was a video of them playing and this cool art sculpture that showed how it was done.

We headed to the oldest coffee shop in Bahrain after that but we found out they weren't serving coffee on that day-- the kings wife was coming through Muhurraq and everything was spotless and ready for her to visit.

They did let us come in and look around though-- the kitchen would have never passed any type of inspection in the US! But I bet their coffee is delicious!

They also have old pictures of how things used to be in Bahrain. Before oil was discovered the big money maker here was pearls. There were loads of pearl divers and fishermen and they all came to this coffee shop. This picture here is how they used to keep track of everyone's coffee tabs to charge them!

We left there, went to a more modern coffee house and grabbed a quick drink and snack before continuing on our tour. We walked a little bit of the pearl walk and saw the old part of the city where the pearl divers lived and worked and its been restored and is now home to murals and art!

We stopped in to the Al Zayed House which was home to Abdulla Bin Ali bin Jabber Al Zayed. He established the Bahrain Modern printing press and Library in 1932. 

The Bahrain newspaper was founded in March 1939 and was the first weekly newspaper in the gulf area! The entire house is gorgeous and has been restored to its former glory. What was once an open air courtyard is now this stunning glass ceilinged area that leaves this modern looking home feeling like you're outside without dealing with the elements. 

I totally loved how it was set up. There was a large sort of courtyard/living room space in the middle with a fabulous reading nook built into the wall under the stairs

The upstairs reading room

The ceilings in the reading room... just gorgeous!

Heading to his bedroom

The bridge connecting to more stairs and a seating area. It was a really cool set up-- the arches and details of an older home mixed with the modernity of the glass and enclosed space. 

We finished up there and walked a little further into downtown Muhurraq.

We were hoping to stop by a store that makes replica dhow's but they were closed. We did peek into the window though and I'll definitely be going back to check them out!

That night was actually Christopher's birthday so we celebrated with Indian food and cupcakes and a movie on the couch. It was low key, but what the birthday boy wanted! 

The next day was Mom and Dad's last full day in Bahrain. We packed, went to the rug shop to pick up the rugs that had had loops sewn into them for hanging, went back to the souk to get Dad's suit, and then came home for comfort food... burgers and fries. We were all pretty sad and mopey. Their flight left at 2:30 in the morning so we had to get them to the airport at midnight. Stella tried so hard to stay awake, but crashed on her Noni. Needless to say, waking her up to take them to the airport wasn't fun and it made goodbye even harder to say. 

We had a wonderful trip with them, even though 3 weeks flew by in a blur! Living overseas is an incredible experience. We are able to see and do so, so much, but leaving or saying goodbye to our families and friends is the absolute hardest part. Its been a rough week of bad moods and tears and attitudes since they headed back to the states, but we're rallying knowing that our trip to visit is coming up in the next few months!