#712 Taiz, Yemen

In the middle of the southern Yemen highlands at 1400m, at the foot of the impressive Sabir Mountain (3006m), lies this fascinating city: an old jewish center, a royal capital of the Rasulid Dynasty (c1280s), a walled city until 1948, a trade hub, a religious center, a town of universities, just above the border between North and South Yemen: Ta'izz. The third largest city in Yemen after Sana'a (#985) and Aden (#942), it was fortified/re-settled by Salah al-Din's brother Mahdi (aka Turanshah) in 1173 and it was the capital of "Yemen" from then for around 400 years (and again from 1948 to 1962). When Ibn Battuta, the famed 14th century Muslim traveller visited, he described Taiz as 'one of the largest and most beautiful cities'.

Known for both historically and now, for coffee production, and it is not far from the historical port of Mocha. It is also a center for learning with many of the country's universities. The city even has a traditional Muslim madrasa that has university status. Urban sprawl has removed some of the beauty of the city, which started to emerge beyond its original walls after 1948. It is cosmopolitan, full of students and has a very interesting museum. Sadly, as in most of Yemen in recent times it has been a center for extremists -- both Islamists and left-wing secularists fight for territory and influence in the city. In October 2013, the assassination of a tribal leader led to significant instability and violence in the city. A power vacuum persists and general instability has changed it from the placid place I visited in 2007.

Within the city (aside from it's fascinating narrow-alley-streets old town and market/souq specializing in cheese, fried fish and silver jewellery), there are many historical monuments to see. The most famous mosques are the 628CE Ashrafiyyah (which can be entered by tourists who come to see the tombs of al-Ashrafa, his wife, his father, his sons, and his primary security guard), the Mu'tabiyya (also built by Ashrafa, and was traditionally, but no longer, just a woman's mosque), Modhafar (the oldest mosque in Taiz, built by Ashrafa's great-grandfather, the namesake) and the Abd al-Hadi, built in commemoration of a Sufi saint in 1618. A secret door was found in 2005 leading to an underground room in the Ashrafiyyah mosque, but it was not found full of treasure, only with access to the tombs. There are two old gates to the old city - Bab al Kabeer (The Great Gate) and the Bab a-Musa (The Gate of Moses). The citadel and governor's palace "Cairo Castle" rest on the top of a mountain peak 450m above the city center with spectacular (if hazy) views over the basin of the city. This large fortification is currently being renovated using river stones and original building techniques. 

Source: Lonely Planet Oman, UAE, & Arabian Peninsula 2nd Edition 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta'izz

http://www.yementourism.com/tourism2009/destinations/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=2681 (Their source is the Bradt guide to Yemen)

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21588123-once-seen-yemens-most-sophisticated-city-taiz-bad-way-city-edge

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2013/1004/Once-stable-a-proud-Yemeni-city-struggles-to-hold-on-amid-violence

#820 Dar al-Hajar (Imam's Rock Palace), Yemen

On the outskirts of Sana'a (#985) is one of the most iconic symbols of Yemen. With it's typical icing-style decorations, it is a beautiful building in itself. However, it's amazing because it is perched atop a high rock and the rooms and floors tumble down in layers to reach the rock's base.

When Yemen was ruled by Imams rather than presidents, Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamiddin (1869-1948) built this mansion as his summer residence in the 1930s apparently on top of prehistoric ruins already on top of the rock. It is only five-stories, surprisingly, and the museum includes many sets of stairs, the kitchen, storage rooms, women's rooms, meeting rooms and a sophisticated system of cooling water in earthware jars. a deep well and various balconies.

However, others claim that Dar al-Hajar was built in the 18th century by scholar/poet/scientist/intellectual Ali bin Saleh Al-Amari (1736-1798) while he was minister to Imam Al-Mahdi Abbas. 

This is such a beautiful place -- peaceful and magical.

Men dance a typical Yemeni performance.

One beautiful form of art in Yemen is their traditional takhrim stained glass windows, which are made with plaster  and each individual cut-to-fit colored glass. The windows are made separately and then put into the wall as a complete piece.

View down Wadi Dhahr.

Source: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/12/dar-al-hajar-rock-palace.html

http://wikimapia.org/137195/Dar-Al-Hajar-Rock-Palace

http://islamic-arts.org/2012/dar-al-hajar-the-rock-house/

#835 Yemen Stone Circle, near Zabid, Yemen

One thing it is almost impossible to do is to know about something that the tour guide doesn't know, especially in a country like Yemen. Well, I managed to do that with the help of the Bradt travel guide when I was there. There was a tiny paragraph hidden deep in the Tihana section labelled 'Midamman'. In terms of learning about it, it's not particularly helpful, but at least it helped us to find it. Our guide, Noman, was sceptical, but persisted in asking a few locals until we found one who knew of it. It says:

"The small village of Midamman is located 21km from Zabid along the road to al-Fazah, a stretch of road covered with dense date palm trees. The village of Midamman is not noteworthy except for its connection to 'Yemen Henge', a series of Bronze-Age megaliths long known to the inhabitants of the region, and only recently found by Western archaeologists. The megaliths are a little hard to find -- they stand about 5km outside Midamman, reached by dirt roads heading toward the north."

As you probably know if you have met me or my mother, you would know that stone circles and areas fascinate me. I have done research on stone circles in Morocco (Mzora #860) and visited others in far flung places such as Armenia (Zorats Karer Carahunge #910), the Orkneys (#987) and Colombia near Villa de Leyva (#986), and of course more familiar places like Stone Henge (#905).

Very close to the Red Sea, the basalt and granite rocks, which are around 3m in length (sadly, none still standing), and around 7 tons in weight are said to be from around 3500 B.C. which is significantly older than most other civilizations in the region. The rocks themselves are said to be from the Surat Mountains 60km away and had to be floated across the Red Sea on rafts.

The remains of a male skeleton and three children were found in charred earth near the stones and are thought to be connected to a ritual or commemoration.

"Furthermore, there are many rock drawings in the desert areas adjacent to the Yemeni stone circle in which collectors, hunters, and herders of the period between the fifth and second millennia BC depicted themselves, their weapons, their customs, and their daily life. Hunting featured prominently in the life of these early groups of people. These people differed in appearance from later inhabitants of the region, so it is assumed that they were driven out of their settlements by the expansion of the southern Semitic tribes."  http://nabataea.net/sarabia.html

Source: Yemen (Bradt Travel Guide), Daniel McLaughlin, 2008, p171
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/the-henge-in-yemen/3567150 A tv show that aired discussing the discovery amongst archaeologists.
http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000110.html 
http://www.oocities.org/athens/troy/4040/circles.htm -- others in Saudi Arabia