Phenomenal pastries at Al Nimran Hotel, al-Khobar
In my search for high quality coffee drinking establishments, I have found Latasia Cafe at Al Nimran Hotel in al-Khobar. I visited the hotel and cafe last night in the hope of a unique Ramadan iftar experience, as well as to sample the coffee at Latasia Cafe, a European accented cafe inside the hotel. The […]
Bahrain’s City Centre Shopping Mall during Ramadan
Two nights ago I took a bus across the King Fahd Causeway from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain. As I mentioned in my previous article, this is my first Ramadan in the region and I wanted to witness the season in Bahrain. Ideally, I would have liked to have visited an old part of the city […]
Lulu market during Ramadan
It is my first Ramadan in Saudi Arabia. Today is the fourth day since Ramadan started and this morning I went to Lulu market on the al-Khobar corniche to see what special foods are available. I was a little disappointed to find that apart from large packets of chocolates and other types of sweets, and […]
The view from Pimlico
Last month I visited London for three days as part of a week-long visit to England. Since it was a short visit I wanted to be close to everything on my list of places to see in the city, which was basically the Tate Britain art gallery. Other than that I thought I’d just let […]
City of London Walk – June 7, 2013 (Part 2)
Here is the conclusion to my London walk. To read the first part of my walk, click here. After my lunch I continued along the narrow passageway and came out onto a street called Hatton Garden. There were lots of jewelry stores along this street and apparently the area is famous for dealing in diamonds. […]
City of London Walk – June 7, 2013 (Part 1)
The City of London, commonly called “the City,” is London’s main financial and legal district. It is located in an area of the city where the Romans founded the original Londinium trading center in roughly 47 BCE. There are several places in the area where the original Roman walls of the City can be seen, […]
Caffé Vergnano 1882, Charing Cross Road
I arrived in London on June 6 and had three really excellent days in the city. My brother met me at the airport and took me to my hotel in central London. I stayed at Blades Hotel in the Pimlico district, which is located near Victoria and is close to the Tate Britain art gallery. […]
Café Liwan, Corniche, al-Khobar
Today I visited Café Liwan, located in a new shopping strip next to the corniche. It had been recommended to me by a Saudi friend as a place to find traditional Arabian coffee, served in the traditional way with a dallah (coffee pot). It states on the company’s website that the café was established to […]
Saudi Arabian coffee etiquette
Some weeks ago I found a copy of “Saudi Customs and Etiquette” at one of the Jarir Bookstore branches in al-Khobar. The book was written by Kathy Cuddihy, based on her experience from many years of living in Saudi Arabia. The book is well researched and includes a useful and fairly comprehensive glossary of cultural […]
Cappuccino at Sado Café
Yesterday morning I went to al-Rashid shopping mall in al-Khobar to pick up new eye glasses and look at the new Blackberry phones. Last weekend I went to the mall to see whether I could schedule an eye test and to also look at some new frames. I chose Barakat Optical, on the ground floor, […]