Taizz stopover
The plan for the day was to head to Taizz for a walkaround, before continuing to our nightstop at Ibb.
We had breakfast of eggs, bread and tea at the hotel. Eelco went for a last walk in the old city of Zabid but we didn’t bother.
To get to Taizz, we walked to the main road. Here we took a van further down where we could find a Peugeot shared taxi to Taizz.
But we did have to wait a while for it to fill up. But I didn’t mind because it was such an interesting scene of people, donkey, goats, children carrying goats, donkeys pulling carts etc.
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- Waiting for our Peugeot shared taxi to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- While waiting for our Peugeot to fill with passengers.
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- Market near the taxi station.
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- Market near the taxi station.
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- Scenery from Zabid to Taizz.
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- Scenery from Zabid to Taizz.
The Peugeot took us to the outside of Taizz where we had to take a van into the old town, where we explored by foot. We took lunch at a sit-on-the-floor restaurant.
The old town was full of activity against a backdrop of a mountain 450m above the city centre and a citadel (closed to the public).
Taizz is the cultural capital of Yemen. The famous traveller Ibn Battuta described this city as “one of the most beautiful and extensive cities of Yemen.” Typically buildings were built with brown bricks, and mosques are usually white.
It was in Taizz where Kim finally bought a janbiya, something he had eyed for a while.
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- Colourful market scene in Taizz.
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- Colourful market scene in Taizz.
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- Cheese in Taizz.
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- Wandering around Taizz.
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- Lunch stop in Taizz.
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- Lunch stop in Taizz.
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- Lunch stop in Taizz.
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- Old Taxi in Taizz.
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- Wandering around Taizz.
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- This product claims to dispel horniness!
Ibb overnight
To get to our nightstop, Ibb, we took a taxi to the taxi station. There we found a taxi to Ibb and had to change to an in-town taxi to Ibb’s centre. Along the way, we passed the town of Al Qaedah, but we missed the sign.
In Taizz, we stayed at the Sam Tourist Hotel. An inspection of a slightly nicer one across the road turned out to be double the price at USD20.
After a rest, we walked around the old town. It was hilly. We had a cheap dinner of fasuliya (beans) but it was rather runny compared to the way I’m used to having it.
As we’re approaching the end of our stay in Yemen, we bought some Arab scarfs. The first lot we bought were YER600 each despite us knowing that Eelco had previously got them for YER400 elsewhere. The vendor simply wouldn’t budge.
Then came another vendor that happily sold us some for YER400! After the deal was done, the vendor followed us all around for quite a while pleading for another YER100. We gave it to him as he must have really needed it to be so persistent. And he wasn’t aggressive.
We found a tearoom with a view of the city by night. We chatted to people. Eelco has a lovely nature with everyone including Yemenis. The power went off. We traded the lights of the buildings on the hillside for the stars. After a while we decided to retire for the night.