Tour and the history of selected sites in downtown Kuwait City - Part I

October 15, 2011 saw me participating in a tour of historic sites in Kuwait.  It was sponsored by the AWARE Centre.  AWARE is the acronym for Advocates for Western Arab Relations.  They are always organizing tours, information evenings, language classes and much more.  I am presently going to the AWARE Centre once a week for introductory Arabic.  Just what the world needs...Mary Jo slaughtering yet another language.  :)

The tour was very informative, and we were able to see some historic areas that others at the school, who have been here much longer, have not seen.  I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity.  One of the things that I hadn't realized before coming to Kuwait, was the Kuwait got it's start because of pearl diving.  Apparently some of the best pearls in the world have come from the Arabian Gulf.  I will have to take the people's word on this since I haven't seen any of them yet, and don't really have a comparison.

I will post the pictures of the tour and try to explain them as we go.  I hope you enjoy of Kuwait through photos!

This is the entrance to the AWARE Centre.  It is half of a what was a home in this area.

These are next pictures are of houses that are just down the block from the AWARE Centre.  The second picture is looking down the street from the first house.  And yes I do mean homes and not hotels, or apartments.  I have never seen so many absolutely beautiful homes in a city.

The early town of Kuwait was surrounded by desert yet it had an excellent harbour also.  Because of this, in 1918, a mud wall was built that enclosed 13 square kilometers of the city.  It is also said the Sheikh Salim Al-Mubarak originally built the wall with the intention of keeping the city safe from the attacks of the desert tribes.  Currently only the five gates of the wall remained intact as a remembrance of the past. 

When the Iraqis invaded Kuwait the Old City Wall Gates at Kuwait suffered massive damages.  The gates were almost destroyed by shell attacks but after liberation the government of Kuwait undertook the responsibility of rebuilding the historical Old City Wall Gates in Kuwait and now these historical gates can again be seen.

A little old and a little new.

This would be the inside of the wall that was built. 

This is the side of the gate/wall that faces the ocean.

Stairs leading to the roof on the old wall.