Al Habbalah- The Pulse of a City

Continues from The Mountain Market! 

It took us around 20 minutes of drive from the traditional market of Abha to the Habbalah village. The winding mountain roads presented sceneries that had been unique to the country. Every picturesque spot were fresh and a pleasure for our eyes. Even the dirty looking monkeys that so often ventured the fast driven roads entertained us. 

We were in fact driving through the part of the country that held a different pulse of the culture. All along the way we could see houses in traditional architecture. Though we wanted to stop and photograph them, the sun and the time constraints detained us.

The native people of the place were much friendlier and helpful that their counterparts in the capital city. Though they were reckless in driving, some of them took all pains to take us to our destination. We reached Al-Habalah by 11a.m. 

Al Habbalah

The mountains were mitigated with the fairy mist. The bronze valleys held the golden sun rays under their cold blankets. The beauty was heavenly and serene.  The calm moments were pelted by the mountain monkeys who threatened the visitors into their own land.

The children were definitely not in a mood to enjoy this calm bliss of their parents. We very soon found a café table overlooking the valley. The Arabian burgers tasted good as never before at that mesmerizing location. 

After the short time at the mountain tops, we were ready to travel down to Al Habbalah Village, once inhabited village of the the Qahtan tribe. This village was inhabited until 1970s. The people were relocated to the King Faisal Village in the 1970s and the place remained untouched for many years.

Al Habbalah

The main transportation method to Al Habbalah Village in the early days was ladders and ropes now replaced by the cable car. From above the village seemed to hang from a cliff above a wide valley. Someone explained to us that the village was also called ‘the hanging village’ owing to its appearance.

We were ready for the steep descend. I felt goose bumps as I saw the cable car approaching us.

Continues in Al Habbalah Village- The heaven on Desert

The Green Mountain!

 Continues from From the Sea level to the Mountains

Jimson and Julie joined us at Mercure by 5p.m. By 7p.m all of us were ready to visit the Green Mountain, a hill in Abhah, a popular tourist spot. We spent almost one hour on the roads of Abhah in search of the Green Mountain. At many instances we could get the glimpse of the mountain but the route to reach its foot remained unknown.

After many queries we took some steep upside curves and reached our destination. The hill was covered with green electric lights around to realize its name. The wind was blowing painfully chilly as we got out of the car. The time for the cable car travel across the mountain was over and we had no other option but to get back to the hotel.

We walked to the edge of the mountain where tourists were getting a bird’s eye view of the city at night. Away from the green boundary of the mountain, the flood of lights announced the spirit of the city. The dark mountains stood magnificently amidst the ocean of lights. 

From the Green Mountain

We returned back to the Green Mountain after two days. We reached there just before the closing time and were lucky enough to get into the service. In the dark and chilly air, the cable car took us over the Jebel Thera region. 

The city below lulled in cosy darkness with floods of light in some regions. The air sail took almost 7 minutes and we reached the opposite hill. From there, the Green Mountain looked like a glittering green mound.

As we started to roam around the well-built grounds, Sreejith, Shreya and I sneaked into a private café room overlooking the city of Abha. There was no service at that time. Far below the mountains, the dark winding roads were glittered with umpteen moving vehicles. The dark winding road looked like a huge python uncoiling and flashing its glittering spots. . As we sat together there as a family, looking at the dark mountains and the starry sky, we felt that our trip was really memorable.