Rediscover The Saudi Region Of Alula

Desert wonders, clear skies and the relics of kingdoms past. George Kipouros beats the crowds to rediscover the Saudi region of Alula, Arabia's best-kept secret...

- George Kipouros

Time has always been at the centre of AlUla,” smiled Faiz. As a rawi (a reciter of poetic tales) and among the town's first storyteller guides, he was helping me to navigate the labyrinth of AlUla's Old Town, and his gift for puns was showing. The reason for his smile became apparent as we stood in Tantora Plaza, the central square of the thousand-year-old settlement, named after the sundial (tantora) at its heart. “The region's farmers depended on this ancient clocktower for their crops - and also to distribute spring water fairly, he explained, gesturing to the oasis just opposite the plaza.

Water has long been the game-changing element for AIUla. To this day, over 60 natural springs provide for the Waha, an oasis of 2 million date palms with around 40,000 inhabitants. The old name for the region is Wadi Al-Qura (Valley of the Villages), an apt designation for somewhere that has hosted so many ancient peoples. Water security coupled with a strategic trading location in the Arabian peninsula helped numerous civilisations thrive here, from the Dadan Kingdom to the Nabataeans and Ottomans, the final rulers before the formation of the modern Saudi state.

At its height the region grew into a busy trading hub, leaving a long legacy behind. We have always been expert tradespeople. The Old Town alone had 400 shops at the beginning of this century,” explained Faiz, as he showed me around its ruins. For hundreds of years we were like an ancient Dubai a commercial hub for Arabia, he continued, before narrating some stories passed on to him by his grandfather, who lived here as late as the 1980s. With electricity and plumbing making its way across the valley, the last few residents left the Old Town for more modern living conditions. “But we always keep the memories alive, reassured Faiz. “Time will never erase our connection with the past.