Most of the guys didn’t want to visit Riyadh. “Just a bigger Jubail,” they said. The ones who had been before or even lived there didn’t have great things to say about it either. Still, two friends and I went anyway. And we enjoyed it.
- The drive, starting at 4:00 to get to the city by 9:00 in the morning
- The museum, more modern and well put together than I ever expected
- The square, Dirah Square, the place for the public beheadings
- The hotel downtown in the heart of the city
- The shawarma, times two for each of us, that almost put us in a food coma with its goodness
- The mall in the Kingdom tower where the Saudi girl said, “Wow!”
- The observation deck that stunned me when I walked out on it and continued to please us with its coffee and view as the sun sank slowly down the sky
- The Souqs and the antiques and the auctions and the glimpses into Saudi culture we’d not seen before
- The sugar cane juice freshly juiced in front of us
- The Arabic coffee and dates and the Saudi who spoke with us
“Get out and see Saudi,” he said. “Don’t forget it. You are only here for a period of time. Spend the time well.”
He put into words what we’d realized with this trip. I think we were all thrilled that we took advantage of the opportunity to experience this city, the capital of Saudi Arabia, before leaving the Kingdom for the last time.
