Best places to visit in Yemen

Surprisingly, although not a popular tourist destination, Yemen has four UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The first of the four astoundingly awesome sites is the Old Walled City of Shibam. This ancient wonder was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site because it showcases how good an urban planner the settlers of old Yemen were that they can construct vertical structures 5 to 11 stories high made of mud bricks. Once a tourist sees it, it will understand why the site is nicknamed the “Manhattan of the desert” and the “oldest skyscraper city of the world.” It is known to be built around the 3rd Century AD.  Surely, any tourist would gape in awe if they see how well the ancient mid-rise buildings still hold up to this date or what’s left of it after the 2008 floods collapsed a lot of it. It’s just unfortunate that the government of Yemen is not making tourism its top priority because for sure, this is a definite crowd drawer.

Another of the UNESCO World Heritage Site is the city of Sana’ a. This old city, located at an altitude of 7,000 feet is host to about 103 mosques, 14 bath houses and 6,000 houses. The city has been said to be built around the 11th Century AD. Sana’a is by the way inhabited and is currently capital city of Yemen.  To date, the city has a number of buildings that are over 400 years old.  One famous attraction here is the old Salt Market, where everything was for sale even slaves.

The third UNESCO World Heritage Site is the ancient town of Zabid. Zabid dates back to the 13th Century and it was an important center for the Arabs and Muslims as the famed University of Zabid is located here.

The fourth UNESCO World Heritage Site is the archipelago of Socotra. Socotra is not an ancient city like the first three but what makes it different is that it was mentioned by Marco Polo in his travels. Socotra is the gem of the Arabian Sea in terms of flora and fauna. In fact, a third of Socotra’s 800 plant species can be found nowhere else.  One such wonder to behold there is the Draceana cinnabari or more popularly known as the Dragon Blood tree.