Built along the trade route linking Eastern and Western Saudi Arabia, the old city of Muwaih was a vibrant town offering food, shelter and trade to the caravans passing through. With the unification of Saudi Arabia and subsequent building of the interstates, the locals would relocate the town, moving closer to the highway. Leaving the town and its fortresses abandoned.
When people think of Saudi Arabia’s landscape, they almost invariably imagine a huge expanse filled homogeneously with sand, camels and… oil. While there are good reasons for the stereotyping, my visit to Western Saudi Arabia’s mountain city of Ta’if and its surrounding valleys and deserts completely changed even my views of the country. Bear in mind, that I have lived in Saudi Arabia nearly my entire life, and never have I experienced Saudi Arabia in this way.