This is the Bahrain National Theater, situated right on the Persian/Arabian Gulf and part of the national museum complex, from where this was taken. It’s not too obvious from here, but the building has an unusually shaped roof that turns a beautiful gold in the late afternoon sun.

Manama is only a five-hour drive from Riyadh, through Dammam on the east coast and across a causeway separating the Arabian Peninsula from the island of Bahrain. We’ve never made the trip but might do that now for a brief respite from Saudi Arabia. I think one has to come here just to relax or take advantage of things like movie theaters and entertainment, because there really aren’t many sights to see within the city of Manama. It looks like there are many more attractions around the island, but we are pretty much limited to the city itself due to the security situation outside of it.

We’re flying back to Riyadh tonight, so will be offline for the rest of the day and most of the evening. I’m looking forward to expanding this overview gallery with sub-galleries on all the places we visited. It will be a welcome relief to have something to work on other than shopping malls, parks and ritzy neighborhoods around Riyadh!

Posted earlier this morning, the Al Fateh mosque, which we were able to tour: