Zabid, Yemen

ZABID (Yemen)

The small (fewer than 53,000) town of Zabid on Yemen's western coastal plain is one of the oldest towns in the country. Capital of Yemen from the 13th to the 15th century, its Great Mosque was built in 628 CE--before the death of Muhammad--by Abu Musa Ashaari, a native of Zabid and a companion of the Prophet. Tradition says it is Islam's 5th mosque ever.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Old Walled City of Shibam

THE OLD WALLED CITY OF SHIBAM (central Yemen)

This 16th-century city of seven-story sun-dried mud brick tower houses in central Yemen is known as the "Manhattan (or sometimes Chicago) of the Desert” for its resemblance to modern skyscrapers. The one-time caravan stop on the Southern Arabian plateau's spice and incense route is surrounded by a fortified wall on a rocky spur above the bed of a wadi.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)