A dynamic Saudi city pleasant to live in
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The Corniche
Jeddah was built first on the bay and later expanded along the Red Sea shore creating a seafront that has become the beating heart of Jeddah's social life called the Corniche.
The Jeddah Corniche — divided into the southern, central, and northern corniche — stretches almost 110 kilometers, with plenty of international hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, places for fishing, picnic areas, a science museum, and mosques. And it also the famous King Fahad Fountain, also known as the Jeddah Fountain, which has become the iconic symbol of Jeddah.
Along the Southern Corniche, we find a number of beautiful monuments and memorable objects, from 26 bronze sculptures made by world famous artists in front of the Al-Hamra beach to restaurants, hotels, famous fast-food chains, as well as Al-Hamra Mall. Although fishing is allowed all along the Corniche, it is only along the Southern Corniche that special places have been setup to do horse riding, bicycling, and motorcycling.
Satellite view of Jeddah (Google Earth)
Jeddah Seafront (photo: Tourist Destinations)
The adopted design of the Corniche adds an artistic touch all along by placing sculptures and other artwork at roundabouts and on streets running alongside the Corniche. Most sculptures and artworks can be found along the northern and central parts of the Corniche.
Hassan Enany Mosque is a very prominent mosque located along the Central Corniche near Palestine Street. It was built in 1984 by the architect Raouf Helmi and commissioned by a Makkan businessman, Hassan Enany. It has a capacity of 1 200 worshippers in an unusual prayer hall covered by an octagonal golden dome.
Hassan Enany Mosque
The Northern Corniche is a strip that extends from the Coast Guard building to Fatima Al-Zahra Mosque, also known as the floating mosque. It is actually built in the sea and at high tide it seems to be floating in the water, like the floating mosque in Penang, Malaysia. The Northern Corniche is made up of three routes — each one travels in both directions — that create artificial lakes along the roads and stretch toward the sea.
Fatima Al-Zahra Mosque - Floating Mosque (photo: HalalTrip)
The Corniche is lined up with numerous facilities and services, such as playgrounds, amusement parks, lush landscape, and spacious paved areas, as well as many shaded seating, walking and jogging areas for families to enjoy the ocean view.
King Fahad Fountain
King Fahad Fountain, also known as the Jeddah Fountain, is the tallest of its type of fountain in the world. The fountain was donated to the city of Jeddah by King Fahad the fifth king of Saudi Arabia who ruled during the eighties, hence its name. Construction works started in 1980 and it began operating in 1985.
Kind Fahad Fountain in Jeddah
Kind Fahad Fountain in Jeddah
The fountain jets water from the Red Sea some 312 meters above the surface of the Red Sea. The water it ejects can reach a speed of 375 kilometers per hour and its airborne mass can exceed 16 tons.
The power of this fountain makes its jet visible throughout the entire vicinity of Jeddah. People can admire its elegant silhouette in the sky above Jeddah even at night as it is illuminated by 500 spotlights at night.
Jeddah Tower
Jeddah's fame in the Middle is about to turn worldwide with an on-going gigantic project that will set a new world record. Indeed the Jeddah Tower, once completed, will reach as high as 1 001 meters, making of it the highest building ever, breaking the previous record of Burj Khalifa in Dubai by more than 170 meters.
It will be the centrepiece and first phase of a 75 billion SAR proposed development known as Jeddah Economic City that will be located on the north of Jeddah.
The creator and leader of the project is Saudi Arabian Prince Waleed bin Talal, the wealthiest man in the Middle-East and grandson of the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Jeddah Tower project
Outdoor sky terrace of the Jeddah Tower
The design, created by American architect Adrian Smith - who also designed Burj Khalifa in Dubai - incorporates many unique structural and aesthetic features such as an outdoor sky terrace will overlook the Red Sea and have an area of over 697 square meters.
Construction started on the 1st of April 2013 and is expected to be completed in 2020.
Jeddah Tower building progress as of 13th of july 2016 (photo: Ammar Shaker)
A dynamic Saudi city pleasant to live in (author: Florent Egal)