Bahrain
When
Nov to March
Price
From 1 700€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
3 nights
Ideal length
Bahrain was for centuries the undisputed capital of the natural pearl, its oyster beds ranking among the richest in the Gulf until the market collapsed in the 1930s. The Pearling Trail, UNESCO-listed in 2012, links historic buildings tied to this industry over three kilometres in Muharraq, from former merchant houses to the oyster beds themselves, still accessible offshore.
The Pearling Trail, the first site in the Gulf listed by UNESCO for a cultural ensemble rather than a single monument, links seventeen historic buildings over three kilometres in Muharraq: pearl merchants' houses, mosques, majlis where cargoes were negotiated, and a coastal fort, extending to three oyster beds still visible offshore. The trail traces the entire economic chain of the natural pearl, from diving to sale, as it operated before the arrival of Japanese cultured pearls.
An outing aboard a traditional dhow reaches one of the listed pearl oyster beds off Muharraq, where divers today demonstrate the ancestral free-diving techniques, with no equipment, that once made this trade both lucrative and dangerous. Bahrain also remains one of the few places in the Gulf where the natural pearl trade survives, on a smaller scale, in a handful of specialised shops in Manama.
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A Renovated Merchant House in Muharraq
A former pearl merchant's house renovated on the Pearling Trail, a traditional inner courtyard, within walking distance of the UNESCO-listed buildings.
A Manama Waterfront Hotel
A comfortable hotel on Manama's waterfront, a short drive from Muharraq and the Pearling Trail, rooms overlooking the Arabian Gulf.
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