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The pearl of the Persian Gulf – Bahrain's best place to visit

author:Cold knowledge information station

The best place to visit in Bahrain is the "Five Ones": a castle, a mosque, a tree, a well, a bridge.

A castle

Bahrain's Calat Castle, also known as Bahrain Castle, is one of two castles built on the Calat Riviera near Manama during the Portuguese occupation of Bahrain in the early 16th century and is still intact. Looking out from the castle into the distance, the lazy waters of the bay seem to be close at hand, showing the importance of the castle as a strategic location in the Age of Discovery.

The special thing about Calat Castle is that it has two ruins of an ancient city dating from about 3000 BC underground. After excavation and research by archaeologists, this was once the site of the ancient capital of the Dilmont civilization in 2300 BC, and the ancient city was composed of many wide stone houses, built on both sides of the straight street, surrounded by tall and wide stone walls for self-defense. Various dwellings, public facilities, commercial, religious and military structures can be found in the ancient city. The discovery of these two ancient cities proves that the ancient Bahrainis were highly accomplished in construction engineering.

A mosque

For the Islamic Kingdom of Bahrain, mosques are a must-visit place to experience the mystique and sacredness of religion, and the Manama Mosque, the capital of Bahrain, is not only the largest mosque in Bahrain, but also one of the landmarks.

The pearl of the Persian Gulf – Bahrain's best place to visit

The Grand Mosque of Manama has the largest dome in the world for its prayer hall and is designed with 60 tons of hemispherical fiberglass to create the effect of natural light letting through every corner of the prayer hall.

A tree

Bahrain has a famous "Tree of Life", according to the amusing planet website, the 32-foot (9.75-meter) tall Prosopis cineraria, located about 10 kilometers from Askar, has miraculously survived for more than 400 years because there is no obvious water or vegetation within a radius of several miles, so it has become a local legend. The "Tree of Life" is the only large tree that grows in the area, so it has become a tourist attraction and attracts about 50,000 tourists every year. Locals believe another beautiful story: this is the site of the biblical Garden of Eden, where the water god grows in the "tree of life."

The pearl of the Persian Gulf – Bahrain's best place to visit

This ancient tree, full of spiritual values of its residents, has a history of more than 300 years.

A well

A few kilometres north of the Tree of Life is home to another proud well for Bahrainis. If the "tree" brings strength to the Bahrainis, the "well" brings hope to the Bahrainis. In 1931, the Bahrain Oil Company, which was exploring in the Jabyr Duhan Desert area, discovered light sweet crude oil. In June of the following year, crude oil erupted from the first oil well, which the Bahrainis named "Emir I". At a time when the pearl diving industry on which Bahrain has always depended is coming to an end, oil offers Bahrainis hope for a rapid transition from poor to rich. This is also the first oil well in the Middle East, so it is not an exaggeration to call this the origin of the rise of the Middle East. Today, the oil well that changed Bahrain's fate has dried up and has become a symbol of history. The Bahrainis rebuilt the well as it was and erected a monument next to it.

The pearl of the Persian Gulf – Bahrain's best place to visit

A bridge

In the eyes of Bahrainis, there is a bridge that connects their past and future: the Bahrain-Saudi Arabian Sea Bridge, the King Fahd Bridge. With a total length of 25 kilometers, the bridge was once the longest sea viaduct in the world. Construction began in 1981 and took four and a half years to complete. From a distance, the bridge looks like a long rainbow across the sea, "departing" from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain respectively, both "landing" on a small island in the middle of the sea. The 12-square-kilometre island is a man-made island, on which the border between the two countries is drawn. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain each built a similar observation tower more than a thousand meters from the border, from which visitors can overlook the bridge. Although the bridge is considered a source of pride by Bahrainis, it benefits the Saudis more.

The pearl of the Persian Gulf – Bahrain's best place to visit

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