Wealthy merchant's house, Traditional Museum, Al Qasser, Farasan Island, Jizan. December 2020
Museum-ish
The Farasan Islands are just off the Saudi coast near Jizan city. Historically, they have been controlled by many different nations given their strategic position in the Red Sea - the Germans even built a small outpost there during WW2. For most Saudis, the place is just a name that conjurs up images of "remoteness" - think less tropical islands (which they actually are) and more ends of the earth. After telling people about a visit to Farasan, Saudis generally looked a bit surprised and asked "how was it, anyway?" Never, "Oh, I always wanted to go there". I get it, too. The whole group of islands is only a few meters above sea-level, composed of rock and ancient coral, and flat with virtually no trees. Yes, the beaches are quite stunning, but the sun is also brutal. I am happy I went, as few foreigners have ventured there, but quite honestly, the islands are also nothing to write home about.
One stop on that rather rushed and semi-ill-fated journey to Farasan was a "traditional village" [see: museums and calendars; Diriyah]. We visited at night which somewhat diminished the photo ops, but saved us from the blazing midday sun which was strong even in the winter. Since the Farasan archipelago is pancake-like with very few trees, Al Qasser village luckily sits atop a reliable source of fresh water and inside the largest grove of date palms on the main island. We strolled from building to building and my Saudi friends from Abha (and two tag-alongs from Riyadh) were at a loss to explain anything. They were from different worlds entirely. Farasan was definitely ancient, but what was left of those ancient times was unclear at best. Here at al Qasser we were shown a stone with a bit of Latin on it which proved the Romans had some kind of base here at one time AND we were told there even used to be a church on the island in the early days of Christianity.
The houses were all mud-brick mixed with coral blocks and rather plain inside and out. Those that were fixed up for tourists were beautiful inside in a rustic kind of way - think lots of carpets and colorful cushions. My friends were all dubious that this village had EVER looked that good at any point in its history. Again, was this a place that had never been all that good now "restored" to exceed what it originally had looked like? There really had been rich merchants in Farasan who made fortunes on the spice and incense trade given the strategic position of the islands. The home pictured above was of a supposed "rich merchant". However, a lot of the village made little sense. The main town of Farasan was only 5 km distant and also held some very old buildings, so this was by no means "the original settlement". In fact, this village was apparently the "summer residence" for locals coming to enjoy the cooler breezes, the abundance of wells, and the date palm grove. To me, it looked like the rest of the island, flat and dusty. Who would decamp only 5km on a flat island for "better weather"?
Nonetheless, the bits of history we were told were true. The Romans had been here; there were Christians on the island long before; and some people at some point would have gotten rich from trading. The question remained - was this "restored" village a "build it and they will come" kind of place since Farasan these days is a tourist destination or was it truly a restored, ancient Farasani village? My Saudi friends were mystified and dubious and I have to admit, so was I.