Yesterday was completely packed with things all day, and today isn’t much different. It may feel like less things get done because we have “travel” to take into account, but it will still be full. So… let’s get moving! 

What we wish to visit today isn’t “close”. We put it in quotation marks because Bahrain isn’t that big, the entirety of the country can almost fit within the limits of greater Riyadh. And, to top it all off, Bahrain/Manama is supposed to be very well connected by busses. By the end of the day we hope to tell you if that’s true or not, and this is considering that with all of our walking yesterday we didn’t notice any public transit until we were arriving close to the road that connects the main Bahrain Island to that of Muharraq (close to the Bahrain National Museum, where we noticed quite a few busses). But, let’s go! We leave this view behind and head down to the streets below. 

Luckily for us there’s a bus stop very close to our hotel so we head down. Unluckily for my partner… it’s hot and there isn’t much shade. Ha. 

As you can see, the schedule is right on the little pole. However, not even close to correct. We waited way longer than indicated. We came down with about 10 minutes before the next scheduled bus, and ended up waiting until the bus that was scheduled after that one. Not sure if that’s normal or not. Hopefully not. 

Another little misunderstanding we had… we thought we could buy the public transit card (Go Card) directly on the bus, but that’s not possible. So instead we had to buy a paper ticket on the bus (300 fils = 0.3 BD = ~1 dollar). No problem, this bus goes directly to where we want it to go. Only… it doesn’t. We get to the bus terminal and the bus driver tells us to get off as this is his last stop.

So we need another ticket… at least here we can buy a Go Card where the daily maximum is 700 fils (~2.50 dollars) and the one way tickets are cheaper as well. So we get this and jump on the next bus to our destination. But we had checked what bus to take without transfers, so we got on the same bus as we were on before, which wasn’t the most direct route. But that’s okay. We get off a bit before our actual destination and walk a bit. It’s good to stretch out my partner’s legs since he definitely doesn’t walk enough on a daily basis. 

After a little bit of walking through some residential neighbourhoods, we’ve made it to the Qal’at Al Bahrain, the Bahrain Fort!

Well… you don’t see the fort yet, obviously. But the building in the background is the site museum. 

We go in to see what we need to do, and then we get confused. We have to pay to enter, but online we saw it was free. We don’t quite understand, but that’s fine it’s only 2 BD (~7 dollars) and that’s fine by us for a museum and fort. We enter and start the exhibit, but we notice that many people are entering, asking something, and then leaving without going into the museum. We think that the entrance fee is just for the museum and not the fort itself (we later confirmed this is correct). But whatever, we don’t mind paying for museums and knowledge, hehe. 

We enter the museum by going down the stairs and starting the exhibit. Immediately we start seeing that it was worth the entrance fee (and hopefully you agree with all the information we will try to convey). 

This is the very first thing you see when you get into the museum, and it’s probably one of the most important things to the fort. Although you haven’t seen it yet, the fort is on a hill overlooking the inlet outside, behind the museum. However, it’s not a true hill, it’s a tell. Not sure if our dear readers know what a ‘tell’ is, we didn’t know, but a tell is an artificial mound that is created by successive layers of human occupation. So the above picture now makes much more sense showing the different time periods that people lived at this location and how they built on top of one another from about 2200 BCE to 1650 CE. Incredible. 

Next we see some figures that were discovered from the very first settlements in the area. These figures were common around the beginning of the first Millenium BCE in other parts of what is now considered the Middle East, and suggest that the first settlement may have included a temple at this site. 

Then we go up the stairs to the next section of the museum. This section is very interesting. 

So, they have discovered snakes, placed in cloth bags, placed in pots, placed in the floors of different locations around what is now the fort area. Why? They’re not really sure. Snake sacrifices aren’t known in the Near East, and there aren’t any written records as to why they were buried like this. On top of this, they were often buried with a bead or even a pearl, so they obviously had some importance. But this is from the late Dilmun Period (900-300 BCE) that we learned about yesterday at the National Museum, and because of the locations that they have been discovered it seems as though it may have played a ritual role. 

This is how they were discovered by a French archaeological team in 1992. They were placed in the floors of the buildings by cutting through the plaster floor, and then sealing it again after having placed the clay pots inside. You could walk above the display to look down onto these jars. Super interesting. 

There were other things here as well, like the burial mounds of the Dilmun, but we think that they were better presented at the National Museum yesterday, so we will skip them here. 

Up another set of stairs and we’re greeted by a bunch of steles. 

These are from the Tylos phase (300-400 CE) and again, they’re not 100% sure why they were used. They seem to have been used in graveyards, but they don’t seem to have been associated to any graves in particular. Sometimes they were buried in the actual mound of a grave, so they were likely not grave markers either. Who knows? The mysteries of our shared past. 

Then we again climb some stairs to the final level. This is more “modern” in terms of the site, the Islamic Period (1250-1650 CE). Here they had many things on display, but the most interesting to us were these. 

These are gawarir al-naft (fire grenades) and they’re one of only two examples that have been discovered in their archaeological context around the world (the others were in Oman). They were even discovered with residual sulfur and charcoal in them, and it is believed that naphtha was added at the last second before being used. These particular fire grenades are dated to two different occupations of the fort at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 16th centuries CE. 

And then we had a look down at the museum below us. And then something clicked. 

We don’t usually tell you about the stairs we climb when in buildings, but we did it on purpose here today. What clicked for us? We think the museum is designed to be the same as the tell which the fort sits on. We didn’t see any sign telling us this, but seeing as each floor is used to teach about a different time period in the history of this location, we’re willing to bet that that’s why it’s designed this way. My partner felt pretty smart when he realized this. You can only see part of it in the above picture, the other level is hidden behind the wall, as shown below. 

Well, that’s the museum. Very cool and, like we said above, well worth the entrance fee to get a background of the fort we’re going to now visit. 

And, to top it all off, we’re at another UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

But it’s time to go outside and climb up the tell to visit the actual fort!

So, as you’d probably expect with a tell and having continuous occupation from 2200 BCE to 1650 CE, it’s not all perfectly contained on one site. That being said, the first stop is the Coastal Fortress. 

And then it was around the actual Bahrain Fort that is still standing today. 

We didn’t notice a specific direction that we should walk from the Coastal Fortress to the Bahrain Fort, so we ended up taking the long way around, but that’s fine since we’re not in any hurry and we came to see the entirety of the fort. And just before entering there was this, a place that seems like an active excavation site. 

This just brings back the point even more that less than 25% of this site has actually been excavated. Imagine the secrets left to be uncovered! Imagine what it would mean, as it seems like the Dilmun were the most important ancient civilization on the Arabian peninsula for a very long period of time. But, we wonder if we will ever truly be able to excavate much more of the site as that would presumably mean excavating underneath of the fort. Is it possible to excavate below the fort without disturbing it? We definitely don’t know the answer. And while you ponder that, we will enter the fort. 

What an entrance. And that first walkway with all the arches was always filled with people trying to get their picture taken. 

Now, the very first thing you see when you walk in is a sign explaining the designation of the Bahrain Fort as a UNESCO World Heritage site and then the history of the different civilizations that have occupied this location. You got a taste of that history from our descriptions at the museum yesterday, but we will quickly summarize those signs here, as best we can. 

First came the Dilmun (2250-1750 BCE). They established the first settlements here because of the waterways and the clear path through the coral reefs from this location. The location in the middle of the Arabian Gulf lent itself to connecting vast empires and far off lands like Oman, Mesopotamia, and Persia. During the time of the Dilmun four successive cities were constructed in this same location. Some would incorporate past structures, while others built on top of those that had existed or that had deteriorated for various reasons (a fire was given as an example here). The Dilmun also established their capital here at the fort’s location.

Then, as the Dilmun period came to an end, the Babylonians took over this region in the mid 15th century BCE. They made it the residency of their governor, realizing the strategic importance of Dilmun / what is now the fort. 

The next period was the Tylos period (300 BCE – 400 CE). This period began when one of Alexander the Great’s maritime expeditions landed on the island. During this time the island had a lot of influences from the Hellenistic and Parthian civilizations which was evident to archaeologists from discoveries such as the stele (like those in the museum today and yesterday) that were found throughout the region. During this time they find a lot of evidence for the many groups that inhabited this area like the descendants of the ancient Dilmuns, Greeks, Arabs, Syro-Mesopotamians, Persians, and more in the area. 

And finally, the Islamic Period (1250-1750 BCE). During this period trade seems to have reached an even greater level as the area continued to play crucial roles in various trade routes. There also seems to be some struggle for control of this trading post as the fortifications are made bigger and there are many weapons found from this time period (like the fire grenades from the museum). 

And that’s the quick version of the history of the Bahrain Fort, now it’s time to really look around! 

The fort is awesome, and quite big. Just as you would expect from such a historically important location. And they’ve also recreated some things to provide a bit of context. This is one of such things. This well was reconstructed to show some Sumerian mythology.

Let’s explain. “In Sumerian mythology, land and sea were thought to float on top of a freshwater ocean called “Apsû”. This subterranean ocean was the foundation of the world, home of the gods and the source of seas and rivers. It was watched over by Enki, the Mesopotamian god of fresh water and wisdom.” (Directly taken from the sign at the well). This legend explains the origin of the world, but also of Bahrain specifically. “Bahrain,” which means “the two seas” in Arabic, is referring to the vast Arabian Sea we all know is here, but also to the vast sea of fresh water that is underneath the island allowing for civilization to flourish here.

We continue walking around while enjoying the sights. 

With the last one that we paid attention to being this wall. This wall shows how the whole fort was really constructed. It’s from ancient coral! 

The walls were created from fossilized coral. The majority of the corals around Bahrain are fossilized, and since ancient times people have looked to create channels for navigation through them. During the process they have gotten some of this material for construction, as can be seen here. (We’ve seen similar things in other countries as well). And, another interesting thing here. In the picture that was taken a bit further back of the wall above you can see a rough wall and a smooth wall. Why is that? Well, the smooth wall is a restoration. But! Because of the rules of UNESCO it is not allowed to be fully restored, it must also be preserved, and hence you have the rougher wall as it was when the fort was “rediscovered”. 

Now, with this picture towards Manama we’re pretty much done taking pictures for the day, so let’s tell a little story. 

When we arrived to the fort we immediately started taking pictures as you would expect. Some of those pictures were 360 pictures. When we were taking one such picture a security guard approached us and asked us what we were doing. We told him it was 360 pictures and showed him the camera. He asked if we would put the pictures on Instagram. We said no, 360 pictures don’t go on Instagram, but they go on Kuula. He didn’t know what that was, so we told him it was another social media site. Okay… he wasn’t convinced but he left us alone. 

Well, that was the easy part. After taking all of our pictures, we returned to the start to film. We walked through the entire fort while filming and just as we were about to leave another security guard approached us and told us we couldn’t film. Uh oh. So we obviously stop and my partner asked him why not. He just said something about 2 beedee, but we didn’t understand. So… he brought us to security headquarters. Dun, dun, duuuuuuun. It wasn’t bad though. The guy there spoke better English, and the two guards spoke in Arabic to each other and then he would speak to my partner. They wanted to know why we were filming, if it was a professional production/camera, and what we would do with the film. My partner told them it wasn’t professional, it was just planned to go on YouTube or Instagram but it didn’t need to, and that it was mainly for his family but he could show them without putting it online. They talked a bunch more and then my partner was told it was fine, he could go. But, before leaving he asked if he could or could not put it on YouTube and the security guy said yes because it wasn’t a professional camera. Pfew. 

And then we were out! 

As we walked around the outside of the fort, we filmed a bit more now that we had permission. But that was it. Quickly we were back at the museum, at the water, and it was time to get going. 

Our time at the fort had come to an end. 

As we were leaving something clicked for us again. Maaaaaybe when the security guard said “two beedee” he was actually saying “2 BD”. We hadn’t understood at the time that he was referring to money. And the entrance to the museum is 2 BD, so maybe that gives you the ability to film and things? We know other museums you have to pay extra to film sometimes, maybe that was it. If we would’ve realized and shown our museum ticket we may have been fine. But whatever, we were fine in the end anyway.

So, as my partner often does, we started walking back towards the busses in another direction. Why walk the same way twice, right? Well, it paid off. 

We don’t know if this is always happening here or not, but it’s a happening spot! Two tracks for people to ride four wheelers on over the sand, places to eat, places to shop, and some entertainment like bouncy castles. What a time. We just walk straight through, and start our walk back towards the bus. (This is what the “parking lot” we found yesterday after Al Fateh Mosque must be like in the evenings).

It’s a pretty short walk back and we wait beside a mall for a few minutes until our bus arrives. 

Then we ride the bus back to the main terminal and get off here. We’re still pretty far from the hotel and it’s getting late (as you can see) but we wanted to see if we could find the bus terminal for Dammam. We did! But, it was closed. We at least know where it is and the times that we can leave Manama. Perfect. 

We leave the terminal and start walking towards the hotel, with a certain route planned in our head to see the “centre” of Manama. On our way there we walk through what must be the Gold Souq because there was gold everyyyyywheeeere. So, so, SO much gold. 

And just a bit further from Gold City was Bab Al Bahrain, the Gateway of Bahrain. 

This is a landmark in and of itself, but it is also the entrance to the Bahrain Souq. What better way to end the day than walking through the Souq? 

And it was busy, busy. A lot of shops and a lot of people. Some streets were so packed that we couldn’t walk at my partner’s normal speed, but it all depended on where you turned. 

You could find local artisanal things, which we would have loved to take with us (if we weren’t planning on travelling for so much longer and had room in our luggage). Very beautiful, all handmade in Bahrain. 

And then we entered the gold sector of this Souq. All of the stores seem so very busy. Is it always like this or is there a special occasion coming up soon?

Now we’re both getting a little tired, so we start going back towards the hotel. We pick some little side streets to leave the area faster, and we quickly cover some ground. But then my partner decides to take yet another “little” detour. As we get further from the hotel I wonder if my partner has lost his mind. But no, he just wanted to show you this. 

This is Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the first church we’ve seen while travelling in this corner of the world (we think, that we remember). It’s a good sized church in the middle of Manama, and we went inside on the other side of the building. 

As you May recall from the National Museum yesterday, the Pope made a visit to Bahrain last November (2022), and it seems like he likely made a stop at this church. While we were there there were a lot of what we believe to be masses going on. There were at least four. Some were singing and others were listening to the sermon. There were a lot of worshippers there. 

But that’s all the time we have for the church, time to get walking again if we ever want to make it back to the hotel! 

We walk and walk. Taking side streets here, busier streets there. Manama is bustling. There are many people walking around enjoying the evening as we are (it is now around 7 pm). On one corner we even get to see some people selling the “catch of the day”. Must be tasty. 

But, we’re now close. Just a few more blocks and we stop by a grocery store and a restaurant for some food. Time to eat, relax, sleep, and do it all again tomorrow! Good night from Manama!