Old Yanbu

A few times since I have been here in Yanbu, while driving by the seaport, we have passed a very old looking, crumbling village across the street from the Red Sea.  I was told that it was old, historic Yanbu, where it is rumored that TE Lawrence once lived.  According to Wikipedia, he is famous for his role during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turkish rule.  His writings and his activities earned him fame as "Lawrence of Arabia", the title used in the 1962 film with Peter O'Toole.  My friend, Karla, asked me if I would like to go with her this morning to take pictures of the old village.  Of course, I jumped at the chance. We were hoping to see TE Lawrence's house, but the village is in a sad state of disrepair and of course there is no signage.  :)

I don't know how old this village is, but Yanbu dates back at least 2500 years.  It was a staging point for the spice and incense route from Yemen in the south to Egypt and the Mediterranean.  Currently, the government is trying to "improve" this area.  The ceilings have timber support, then layers of woven straw, then something else.  The windows and doors are very ornate.  The interior walls are often a bright aqua blue.  (I am sure that color is from more recent inhabitants.) 

There had to be people living there at least 100 years ago since it is known that TE Lawrence lived there around WWI. The stairways are narrow and for little feet.  Ken gently reminded me this morning when he was leaving for work to be careful at the ruins-look out for rusty nails, make sure I have a steady footing, etc-I am sure he had in his mind my running into a glass door last week.  :) 

Towards the end of our wanderings when we were closer to the construction work, a manager hurried over to us and told us that we could not go inside because it was not safe, but he directed his employee to show us around in an adjacent area where it is safer.  (They didn't know that we had been up and down numerous staircases and on top of various roofs.)  This man was SO nice.  He said that they were renovating that particular home/villa into a hotel.  It will be beautiful, with a view of the Red Sea.  It was so silly of me not to think to ask him where TE Lawrence lived.  Oh, well.

Here are some pictures of the interesting doors:

 

Here are some interesting windows:

 A couple of pictures from the rooftop with a view of the village:

These are pictures from one of the rooms that will be transformed into an hotel.

Here is a picture of the explorers, Karla and Bev:

 

And finally, the sweet construction manager that showed us around the last building:

It turned out to be a fun and interesting morning!!