Day 276: Medinah - Al-‘Ula (العلا)

Jan 4 - The rain lets up in the morning and I hope for the best as we head out west and then north. The streets are still a mess, but crews are out cleaning up. Make our way through the city center and out to a highway that doesn’t require tolls. The scenery leaving Medina is striking, with steep hills of jutting, bare rock. Some vehicles sit akimbo by the roadside, their wheels buried in mud.

As we turn north through a wide, flat valley, the sun comes out and I feel like we are in more characteristic weather.

Further north up the valley, we go through areas of palm date farms. At some point near Al-’Ula, the rocks suddenly change from the jumbled, Arabian Shield metamorphics to horizontal sedimentary units.

Our hotel is stuck out on a back street by a mosque in the southernmost extension of Al-’Ula. It is a non-descript area but quiet. This whole part of town is just random, blocky buildings and empty lots. No place is cheap to stay here, and at least, in our case, that meant a huge apartment with kitchen, all less than a year old by the looks of it.

Head north of Old Town, seeking something out to have a look at before the sun goes down. Settle on Elephant Rock (Jebel Al-Fil), which we can visit for free and it only opens for viewing in the late afternoon anyway. The rock itself, and the surrounding weathered formations, are wonderful in the late afternoon light. I was taken back a bit by the ambiance, however. Just behind the rock is a restaurant. Fair enough, they tried to make it low profile by recessing the tables into the valley floor, but it seems incongruous with the natural beauty of the place. There was also some drifting, quasi-techno music playing, which was fine for a bit, but also discordant with the silence one is usually looking for in the desert.

Head back to town and find an Indian restaurant for our one meal of the day. Then enter the labyrinth of U-turns and one way streets to get back to the hotel.