-
Crafts Centre Gallery and Workshop
Home to a variety of studios and workshops promoting the contemporary revival of traditional crafts, such as weaving, palm-leaf paper making, pottery and ironwork. All the work is for sale.
-
Muharraq Dhow Building Yard
It can be a bit hit or miss as to whether you see any action here, but its worth pulling over to admire the half-built wooden dhows by the roadside as you drive between Manama and Qalaat Arad.
-
Arabesque Art Gallery
Tucked away in a quiet corner southwest of Adliya, this longstanding gallery exhibits the oils and watercolours of its owner, A Weheb Al Kooheji, who specialises in painting local Gulf architecture and street scenes.
-
Royal Camel Farm
Signposted just off King Fahd Causeway, this farm is home to hundreds of camels owned by the great and good of Bahrain. If youre lucky, one of the workers will let you ride a camel in return for a small (negotiable) fee.
-
Al Jasra Handicraft Centre
In the residential area of Al Jasra is the government-run Al Jasra Handicraft Centre. This collection of workshops specialises in textiles, woodwork and basket weaving. Bus 12 from Manama stops outside, but timings are unreliable.
-
Al Riwaq Art Space
This small but dynamic space offers up some of Bahrains best exhibitions, cultural events and film screenings and its the heart and soul of the creative outpouring that has come to characterise the Adliya district. Great cafe, too.
-
Fort Museum
This excellent museum helps bring Bahrain Fort alive. How can you fail to enjoy exhibits labelled ‘Looking for a Tylos Necropolis?’. Displays about snake bowl sacrifices and stamp seals from the Dilmun period help unravel some of the complexities of a site that spans nearly 5000 ye
-
Busaad Art Gallery
In a beautifully restored Muharraq house dating to the 1930s – the elaborate wooden balconies are worth admiring from outside – this gallery is the former home of and showcases the work of Ebrahim Mohamed Busaad (b 1954). The canvases are colourful and bold, and theres a small gift
-
Friday Mosque
Built in 1938, this mosque is easily identifiable by its elaborately crafted minaret, the mosque’s most interesting architectural feature. The mosque is reflected in the glass windows of the neighbouring Batelco Commercial Centre, providing a suggestive reflection of old and new Ma
-
Muharraq Souq
Running through the heart of Muharraq Island, the souq is an atmospheric take on old Bahraini life. Near its southern end, Souq Al Qaisariya is still undergoing restoration that, when finished, will make it an important part of the heritage pathway being built through the old quart
-
Kids Kingdom
An amusement park called Kids Kingdom has a few rides if nearby construction work isnt off-putting, and youll find plenty of information about whats on for children in the media; in particular, the Teens & Kids section in the magazine Bahrain this Month has heaps of information
-
Al Oraifi Museum
Dedicated to the art and artefacts of the Dilmun era, this private collection of art and sculpture has over 100 works of art from the era. Inspired by these artefacts, the artist-owner paints Dilmun-related canvases that he displays in the museum’s gallery. From Manama, take Sheikh
-
Barbar Temple
Barbar is a complex of three 2nd- and 3rd-millennium-BC temples, probably dedicated to Enki (the god of wisdom) and the Sweet Water from Under the Sea. The excavated complex can be seen from a series of walkways; a detailed map (such as that in Bahrain: A Heritage Explored by Angel
-
Vertical Garden
Along Sheikh Abdullah Bin Isa Ave is a vertical garden, that acts as a landmark for entrance to the old quarter of the island. Created by European artist Patrick Blanc, and the first of its kind in the Middle East, it is home to 200 species of plants in what Blanc describes as a li
-
Beit Seyadi
A traditional house from the pre-oil period, Beit Seyadi once belonged to a pearl merchant. The house, located off Sheikh Isa Ave and closed for restoration, boasts a fine exterior, with its peculiar rounded corners decorated with emblems of stars and crescent moons; note the filig
-
La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art
Showcasing regional and international contemporary artists, this beautiful space hosts regular exhibitions. The venue is a magnificent elaboration of a 19th-century Bahraini town house, with many features typical of Gulf Islamic architecture, including covered colonnades, archways
-
Sheikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Centre for Culture and Research
Inspired by the early-20th-century intellectual of the same name, this elegant centre hosts recitals, lectures and exhibitions every Monday evening. At other times it delivers a synopsis of Bahrain’s history and heritage through the pages of a giant electronic book: a mere wave of
-
Qala’at Arad
Built in the early 15th century by the Portuguese, Qala’at Arad has been beautifully restored. There is little to see inside except the old well and the date-palm timbers used to reinforce the ceiling. Nonetheless, the location overlooking the bay makes it well worth a trip, especi
-
Bin Matar House
This traditional house, built in 1905 in the heart of Muharraq, was saved from demolition by the Sheikh Ebrahim Centre for Culture and Research. Once the home of a pearl merchant, it has been reinvented as a museum devoted to the history of pearling (on the 1st floor), with an airy
-
Manama Central Market
Malls have conquered Manama in a big way, but the antidote lies in this earthy vestige of Old Bahrain, located off Lulu Ave. Fruit and veg dominates the cavernous main space, and youll rub shoulders with a broad cross-section of Manama society doing their shopping far from the glit
Total
60 -travel
FirstPage PreviousPage NextPage LastPage CurrentPage:
2/3 20-travel/Page Goto:
