Things to do in Yemen
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Al-Hoda Supermarket
This is good for provisions or picnics, or if you're just hankering after Western goodies, such as chocolate or bikkies. It also stocks shampoo, sanitary towels and - usually - nappies.
reviewed
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Mumbai Durbar
Dishing out spicy subcontinental dishes, this is one of Yemen's lonely Indian restaurants.
reviewed
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Old San'a
All these galleries are very nice, but let's be honest, on their own they're not worth traipsing halfway around the world for. However, the Unesco-protected old city of San'a is a different matter altogether. It would be fair to say that old San'a is one of the most beautiful cities anywhere on Earth and nothing is likely to prepare you for the moment you first pass through the gates of the Bab al-Yaman.
Most people spend days wandering without aim through this enormous work of art and that's certainly the best way to absorb this city. A compulsory activity for tourist and local alike is to climb to the top of one of the tower houses and relish the ravishing views over…
reviewed
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National Museum
Not really a museum at all, but more the petrified palace of Imam Ahmed, the NationalMuseum preserves the life and times of its previous and slightly peculiar owner. Among the exhibits – which are intriguing, bizarre and comical in equal measure – are a large collection of gifts and purchases from Europe, including an Etch-a-Sketch, hundreds of bottles of eau de cologne (in which the imam apparently bathed), a personal cinema (despite TV and films being banned under Imamic law) and an electronic rocking bed that must be the envy of Hugh Hefner. Among his many quirks, the imam claimed not just to have magical powers that protected him from all evils, but also to be…
reviewed
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Souq al-Milh
At the heart of Old San'a is the Souq al-Milh. Though the name indicates that the sole product is salt, this is something of a misnomer. Everything from mobile phones to sacks of sultanas is available here. It's almost impossible to point to individual buildings, souqs or sights, but the qat market, in the centre of the old town, is frenetically busy around lunchtime.
The spice souq is every oriental fantasy brought to life and the small cellars where blinkered camels walk round and round in circles crushing sesame seeds to make oil is a glimpse into a bygone age. For many the abiding memory of the city is likely to be of the topsy-turvy, icing-cake houses and the dreamy…
reviewed
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Hope in their Hands
The National Women's Centre for Development Handicrafts and Hope in their Hands are two nonprofit organisations located inside the same building with the joint aim of increasing the financial independence of Yemeni women. This is done through workshops where the women, who are often widowed or divorced, learn skills such as sewing and weaving. The resulting products are then sold in the two downstairs shops, which together are the best place in San'a to buy souvenirs.
If you're lucky, you might be allowed upstairs to watch the women at work. Even without these centres the building itself, a renovated caravanserai (a traditional storage and lodging house for traders…
reviewed
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National Women's Centre for Development Handicrafts
The National Women's Centre for Development Handicrafts and Hope in their Hands are two nonprofit organisations located inside the same building with the joint aim of increasing the financial independence of Yemeni women. This is done through workshops where the women, who are often widowed or divorced, learn skills such as sewing and weaving. The resulting products are then sold in the two downstairs shops, which together are the best place in San'a to buy souvenirs. If you're lucky, you might be allowed upstairs to watch the women at work. Even without these centres the building itself, a renovated caravanserai (a traditional storage and lodging house for traders…
reviewed
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Honey
Yemeni honey is well known - and justly so. Honey shops are found throughout the capital (including Az-Zubayri St), though the honey sold is not cheap: around YRI2500 for 500g. Beautiful honeycombs (conveniently packaged in sealed metal discs) cost around YRI2000 to around YRI8000 (depending on quality). A decent honey shop in the old city is Tariq Honey Shop, near the Sheba Art Gallery, where the gift of bees is also likely to come with gifts of Islamic literature.
reviewed
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Shibam
Lying 2300m (7546ft) above sea level, at the foot of Jebel Kawkaban (2800m/9186ft), is the ancient village of Shibam. Dating from the 2nd century AD, it became an important capital for the local Yafurid dynasty in the 9th century, when its grand mosque - one of the oldest in Yemen - was built.
Apart from the mosque, also worth a peek is the old town gate, and the souq, which is the site of a very colourful Friday market. that attracts people from all around.
reviewed
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Gold Mohur Club
If you're desperate for a dip – or a drink – the Gold Mohur Club, part of the Sheraton Gold Mohur Hotel, provides refreshment in both ways on a private but muddy beach. Admission buys you free use of the shower and changing facilities, as well as access to the hotel's restaurants. You can also put your sea legs on and head out in a boat (per boat half-hour/hour YR6000/8000) to view Aden the way it should be seen.
reviewed
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National Museum
Claiming to be the largest museum on the Arabian Peninsula, the National Museum is certainly one of the best. The ground and 1st floors contain a breath-taking collection of statues, figurines and other artefacts from the pre-Islamic Kingdoms of Saba and Hadramawt. The 2nd floor concentrates on the medieval Islamic period while the top floor features a slightly less rewarding mishmash of stuffed lions and re-creations of the souqs of San'a.
reviewed
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Great Mosque
The mosques in San'a are open only to Muslims, but you can often get a fleeting glimpse inside through a doorway and the majestic minarets are there for all to enjoy. Out of the 50 mosques still standing, the Great Mosque is the most significant. For centuries it served as an important Islamic school and centre of learning, and attached to it is a library containing the largest and most famous collection of manuscripts in Yemen.
reviewed
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Old San'a
In 1984, Old San'a in its entirety was declared a Unesco World Heritage site. The town is so perfectly preserved, it is said that you can walk a square kilometre without encountering a single new building. The old city is famous for its 14,000 'tower houses'. Reaching six or eight stories high, they have been called 'the world's first skyscrapers'.
reviewed
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Sultan's Palace
Originally built as a 19th-century defensive fort, the Sultan's Palace was converted into a residential palace by the Sultan Al-Katheri in the 1920s. The Sultan wasn't a subtle man and his house, containing a mere 90 rooms, towers over Sayun like an exaggerated wedding cake. It now houses one of the best museums in the country.
reviewed
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Hammams
At least 20 hammams dot the city and they are among the best places to mingle with locals and, should you speak Arabic, catch up on the latest gossip. Not all hammams are keen to take foreigners, so ask your hotel to recommend one locally. Most charge around YRI300 and are open from 06:00 to 19:00. Men and women always bathe separately.
reviewed
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Military Museum
The ground floor contains Sabaean overflow from the National Museum, which means the Military Museum is more interesting than it sounds. After that the displays revert to the standard death and guns of military museums the world over, though this one also includes some incredibly graphic photos of executions during the Imanic era.
reviewed
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Shaharah
This village boasts one of the most spectacular vistas in the country. Shaharah is most famous for its 17th-century stone bridge (which is smaller than it appears on brochures and posters) - both the limestone brick construction and its mountainous position over a deep gorge are magnificent. You could be standing in Middle Earth.
reviewed
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Al-Rayan
Ta'izz has many excellent juice bars. Normally decorated with curtains of fresh mangos and oranges, these respites from the heat and chaos outside provide delicious, healthy drinks. A couple of good ones are the Al-Rayan and the busy, unnamed one next to the Tadhamon International Bank on Gamal Abdul Nasser St.
reviewed
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Houmald Salta
Next to the qat market in the heart of the old city. This salta (a kind of stew and the traditional lunch dish of the highlands) restaurant is regarded as having the best salta in San'a and is a pre-qat-session institution. Buy the accompanying sheets of bread from the women standing around outdoors.
reviewed
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Aden Minaret
Among the town's mosques that are worth a peek are the Al-Aidrus Mosque , built in the mid-19th century on top of 600-year-old ruins, and the strange little Aden Minaret, which is all that remains of a mosque built in the 8th century. Non-Muslims won't be allowed inside either.
reviewed
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Sailor's Club
When in a seedy port, do as is done in seedy ports and come to a smoky, seedy nightclub. This one is full of Somali prostitutes and hard-drinking locals and is hardly representative of Yemen. But for some travellers, a highlight of Aden is the chance to sip a much-missed beer. Spirits cost YR700; beer YR1000.
reviewed
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National Handicrafts Training Center
The gallery is located on the 2nd floor of the National Handicrafts Training Center. This former samsarah (resting/storage house for merchants using the old incense trading routes) also houses a series of other shops selling silverware, woodwork, and semi-precious stones etc.
reviewed
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Mukalla Museum
Occupying part of the elegant former Sultan's Palace, the MukallaMuseum contains displays relating to the sultan and to the town's history. Most explanations are in English, but the huge white building is probably more arresting than its contents.
reviewed
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Tourist Harbour
The Tourist Harbourand its pier is a colourful place for a stroll, especially early or late in the day when boats, which range from traditional sambuqs (local boats) to giant supertankers, are coming and going in greater numbers.
reviewed
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Al-Fanoos
Probably the best Western-style sit-down-and-relax restaurant in Yemen - though don't rely on it being open, as it often only swings back the doors at weekends or when there's a group booking. The food is predominately Middle Eastern and there's occasional live music.
reviewed