Our first stop after picking up our car was the National Museum. It is the first stop from Muharraq Island if you cross from the middle bridge. Sorry I can't remember to bridge name. Too lazy to open the map :-)
It costs 500fils per person to enter the Museum. Bahraini Dinar is broken into fils. BD1 = 1000fils.
There were six different section opened. The Natural History section was closed for unknown reason. We spent around 45 minutes at the museum learning the early era of Bahrain, previously known as Dilmun and later Tylos before been known now as Bahrain. It was an eye opening experience to learn the history of each country you visited. Before this I didn't know that Bahrain has very interesting history.
After the museum, it's time to go through the map to find the hotel. I have booked the Oriental Palace Hotel via the Asiatravel website for for RM220 per room incuding breakfast. To find the hotel, our key landmark is Yateem Center. Apparently, according to the (non-updated) Lonely Planet book, this is one of the well known center in Manama. Yeah right.. it was empty when we paid a visit the next day ;-)
Almost all the lanes around Bab-al-Bahrain are narrow and one way street. Enough only for one vehicle to pass by at one time. As compared to other Gulf countries that I have visited, I noticed there are not a lot of Filipinos in Bahrain. Hmmm... wonder why.....
Steping into the Oriental Palace Hotel is like stepping into 1970s era. From the deco, colour and the overall architecture, you can say that this hotel is too shy to embrace the new world.
After checked in, we went straight looking for food. We ended up having late lunch at KFC near Bab-al-Bahrain, a walking distance from our hotel. After that, we walked around the area and snapped few photos before went back to the hotel to freshen up.
Later, we drove to down south of Manama - hoping to find A'ali, a pottery center for Bahrain. Luck was not on our side and we could not find any pottery place despite being in A'ali area. later we were told that this cottage industries are home based. No wonder we could not find any place at all. Proabably it is Friday - everything is closed. We gave up and drove to nearby area to visit Riffa Fort. It was an easy find, thanks to the sign boards available along the street. As per any other forts in the world, it has the same design. Hmmm... wonder whether the same person designed the forts in the world during medieval time... hehehehe
I don't really know how to appreciate fort architecture, same way I don't know how to appreciate paintings. So, for me, it was merely a visit to fill up the itinerary. Being there, done that kind of thing :-)
Since we have more time before the sunset, we decided to drive further south to the Bahrain International Circuit. We passed by Bahrain University on the way to the circuit. Snap some photos and then we drove to the north towards the King Fahad Causeway to catch the sunset. According to the Lonely Planet (again), we should enjoy the sunset while sipping coffee at the Causeway Restaurant. So, that was our plan.
Paid BD2 toll, we drove along the causeway until the border. It was a beautiful sight, only on the way to the border. The causeway Restaurant is no where near what Lonely Planet said. Paid BD1 to go up to the observation deck. The weather was a bit hazy and we could not really see the Saudi side man-made island. From the view on the top of the tower, the Saudi side has more excitement. There are McD, Hardees and the island is bigger than the Bahrain side. Well, the causeway was built by Saudi using their funds. Of course they have every right how to design it :-))
We spent around 30 minutes there before driving back to Bahrain Island. On way back, we stopped by at Seef Mall. No visit is complete without a visit to the shopping mall. :-) After the mall, drove back to the hotel to freshen up and then went out to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Bought few souvenirs for friends and had a filling steak dinner there.
On way back, Zal decided to visit another fort on Muharraq Island, Arad Fort. Unfortunately we could not find it, probably due to lack of sign boards. It was already around midnight, we drove back to the hotel and dozed off until 8am the next morning....
~ MT @ Bahrain
~~ Oriental Palace H0tel, Manama
~ To Travel Is To Disover Oneself ~
