SAUDI ARABIA Dream

Riyadh is a sprawling busy city with a mix of sky scrapers, shopping malls and old mud buildings with a hotchpotch of architecture. I initially started in local hotel in the old district. It was not easy with congested roads cutting the hotels and the cafes appart with lines of noisy traffic. I soon moved to the Holiday Inn which was in a quieter part of the city. I ended up being a mall rat going shopping there for my outfits before heading to the Biennale in Diriyah. I took Ubers everywhere it was very easy to get around.

I saw many international people everywhere I went including Diriyah which was on the outskirts of Riyadh.

The Diriyah area has been redeveloped around the old  Diriyah fort in Al Traif. It had a museum, a tower and the old city had been restored to walk around and attached to modern café and shopping complex just in a few minutes from new galleries and art and design district including Diriyah Futures where my friend Irini was working. I touched based with her and she was enjoying it very much. During the Biennale, I had a fun packed week; touring the historical district with At-Turaif as well as viewing art and music from around the world. And I had a special dinner with Diriyah executives as well watched an amazing movie about camel herders. In particular I was part of an arts workshop run by two very personable Bahraini artists. I also caught the show jumping championship at Jump Saudi.

I was so enamoured by my experience I was determined to come back and bring my daughter.