Fadaq & keystone tombs

E woke up unwell in Al Hait today, with the beginning of a headache.  He sounded congested as well.  Could I have given him Covid-19 so soon after having had one himself?

We had leftover bread from last night’s dinner, with cheese and set-off at 0945.  He seemed well enough to handle the day.

First up was Fadak, a village just outside of Al Hait.  It lays partly in ruins but there were some inhabitants there still.  The oasis here appears dead in parts, with plenty of palm trunks sticking out of the ground with no palm leaves.

It’s not too clear how old some of the houses are but Fadak had been around since about 600 AD as a Jewish town before being taken by the Muslims in a peace treaty in 628 AD.

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Backtracking, we saw some homes in better restored states that were available for visits.  But we didn’t try any of them as often they’re just rooms with spartan bits of furniture and ornaments.  These include the Al Rasheed and the Al Ajlan Traditional Houses.

From here we drove to the collective graves beside the highway heading out to the east.  The remains of these appear as stacks of rocks in a keyhole formation, when seem from a satellite.  On the ground, one can make out this appearance but less clearly.  There is little information anywhere (on-site or online) about this site.

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Around 1130, we thought we had done the place justice and were ready to move on to Hail.  E wasn’t feeling too good, and I drove for about 2h30 while he slept.