On our way back to Riyadh from the camel souk, the motor pool driver had overheard me asking about a place called Diriyah, which nobody had heard of, so when we passed it on the highway, he said, “This is Diriyah, do you want to see it?” Of course we said yes, but really only drove through it quickly and stopped for a moment to take a picture at a cemetery. Definitely a place to go back to on our own. The old palace had pretty heavy security so I’m not sure if that is accessible to tourists or not, but we’ll see when we make a proper visit.

“Al-Diriyah … is a town in Saudi Arabia located on the northwestern outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Diriyah was the original home of the Saudi royal family and served as the capital of the first Saudi dynasty from 1744 to 1818. … The Turaif district in Diriyah was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.” (from Wikipedia)

"At-Turaif District in ad-Dir'iyah

"This property was the first capital of the Saudi Dynasty, in the heart of the Arabian Penisula, north-west of Riyadh. Founded in the 15th century, it bears witness to the Najdi architectural style, which is specific to the centre of the Arabian peninsula. In the 18th and early 19th century, its political and religious role increased, and the citadel at at-Turaif became the centre of the temporal power of the House of Saud and the spread of the Wahhabi reform inside the Muslim religion. The property includes the remains of many palaces and an urban ensemble built on the edge of the ad-Dir’iyah oasis." (UNESCO)