On the way from the Al Wahbah crater, we take our time and drive to a small side valley in the afternoon, where we stop to do our laundry. We have developed a new laundry-washing system for ourselves. It’s very simple. Now we no longer wash the laundry after filling the water tank, but before refilling it. In other words, always when we know that a water point for refilling will be available in the foreseeable future. This gives us more certainty that we always have enough water in the tank.

Medina

In the shopping center

In the spacious outskirts of Medina, we drive to the Panda Hypermarket, which is now integrated into a shopping center. Of course, we stroll through the mall in the evening and are approached by many perfume saleswomen.
Among them is a small but lively Arab woman who peeks out curiously from behind her abaya. As I wanted to buy a perfume for myself anyway, I let her advise me. Of course, Vreni also has something to say. And so I end up buying a genuine, fragrant, strongly scented Saudi Arabian perfume. I now use it every day to drown out the smell of sweat. In our colloquial language, this is known as “taking a French shower”.

Prophet Mosque

Medina is officially called“al-Madīna al-munawwara” , which means “the enlightened city“. It is the second most important city in Islam. It is home to the Prophet’s Mosque with the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad. The city has around 1.5 million inhabitants, over 40% of whom are foreigners and almost 60% Saudis. Part of the city is a “holy district” and is closed to non-Muslims until 2021.
Now that we are here, we want to see something of Medina. A cab takes us from the parking lot to the city center, in front of the Prophet’s Mosque. Without our knowledge, into the holy district. We have no problem taking a few pictures of the mosque and the never-ending stream of pilgrims. With the pictures already in the box, the police turn us away from the area.
The predecessor city of Medina was called “Yathrib” and – get this – was a Jewish city. Yes, and the Babylonians were already here and perhaps it was they who settled the Jews here.

The pilgrimage city

Medina is extremely clean and it is easy to see that Medina must be very wealthy. The Prophet’s Mosque is surrounded by a ring of pilgrims’ accommodation and here too there is a hive of activity with congested streets and coaches loading and unloading their passengers.

The White Volcano

Harrat Khaybar – volcanic field

It is a good 230 km to the White Volcano. The road winds its way through valleys and past barren mountains until we finally reach the plateau of “Harrat Khaybar”, an extensive volcanic field.

Slope to the volcano

From the tarred road, the track first leads across a wide volcanic gravel field. We park for the night in front of the first lava flow. We want to drive the track to the volcano the next morning when we are rested.

Typical: just as the sun is setting, a vehicle heads towards us. A “parking attendant” comes up to us and wants to chase us away . Ohne Bewilligung dürften wir uns hier nicht aufhalten und zum Vulkan dürften wir auch nicht fahren. Allerdings gibt es für dieses Verbot und für die Auflage eine Permits nirgendwo eine Tafel und die Amtsstelle, die die Bewilligung vergibt, ist 360 Km entfernt. Typisch Saudi-Arabien denken wir und ärgern uns über den Umgang mit uns Touristen. It’s getting worse from year to year and more and more is being regulated. If only they would regulate that the Saudis are no longer allowed to dispose of their waste in their villages and in nature. We are not deterred. I tell him that this is no way to treat tourists and anything but hospitality. I also tell him that we won’t be leaving here, as there are no signs prohibiting it. And after all, you drive hundreds of kilometers only to be chased away like a dog.
He understands this and leaves us for the night.

The next morning, we take the poor and narrow track under our wheels. The problem here is the sharp, angular lava stones, which could tear a tire open on the sidewall. So we drive very slowly and with the utmost caution. When the track becomes too risky for our tires, we stop and continue on foot. All in all, the effort was well worth it. The wind, the fresh air and the silence that we always long for are wonderful. We can just about fly with the drone, but then the wind gets so strong that it’s no longer possible – unfortunately.
That same day, we drive back onto the tarred road and look for a spot with good views and hopefully no encounters with park rangers.