From the top of one of the ancient buildings in the historic alleys of Jeddah, the picture looks different. Wooden roofs precede the facades of the houses, and beautiful colors, with doors that contain the smell of the years, opening onto narrow corridors to tell their story. Below, Gulf flags in the hands of fans moving up and down from “Qabil Street” to Bab Mecca. One says, “Long live my country,” and another repeats, “Above the clouds,” while a camera stops in front of a historic building, and a reporter for one of the channels prepares to appear on the air.
This is the picture in the days of “Gulf 27”, as historic Jeddah repeats one of its ancient functions. Receiving visitors from all over the world for the three visits (Hajj, Umrah, and trade), but this time the arrivals do not carry the goods of merchants or travellers’ bags, but rather the shirts of the national teams and the flags of the Gulf countries. They come in search of a match, then they find themselves in front of a city that narrates its history through stone, wood, the sea, and people.
90 minutes in the stadium separate a win from a loss, but in historic Jeddah, the tournament time seems longer. The match ends, but the fans do not leave the scene, but are distributed in the alleys, stopping at every story and asking about this building and that, and many of the fans were stopped by the construction process and the use of excavated stone extracted from Lake Arbaeen, with wood coming from Wadi Fatima or through the port, especially from India, while clay was used to stabilize the stones.
Despite these questions, the height of a number of buildings to about 30 meters remained a unique case, which is what some fans mentioned to Asharq Al-Awsat. Their surprise lies in the fact that these buildings and their height were recorded before the existence of modern machines, and they preserved their designs and roofs that contribute to moving the air and providing shades with traditional tools and human hands that have a tremendous culture and architecture, especially in those houses with high spaces and heights, including the houses of “Al Nassif” and “Al Jamjoum” in the Yemen neighborhood, “Al Baeshen” and “Al Qabil” in the oppressed neighborhood, and “Al Banajah” and “Al Zahid” in the Levant neighborhood.
These houses became a backdrop for the fan as he draped his country's flag, and a camera searching for the moment that summarizes the relationship between sport and place in the four main neighborhoods of the old city (Sham, Yemen, Al-Mazloum, and Al-Bahr Lane). These lanes were named according to their direction north and south, and with the western end of Yemen Lane being connected to the port, the name Al-Bahr Lane later appeared, where the Karantina, the scaffolding of the launches, the sanabik berth, and the customs yards and warehouses.
The story was not limited to old buildings and mosques, including the Al-Shafi’i Mosque in Al-Mazloum Neighborhood, whose minaret dates back to the seventh century AH, and the Othman bin Affan Mosque, known as the “Ebony Mosque” due to the presence of two ebony masts. The whole story is a city whose history was linked to the sea, trade, and Hajj. It does not stop at some details, as many visitors stopped at the markets of the ancient historical region that constitute the economic and vital artery, including the “Alawi, Bedouin, and Alawite” markets. “Waqeel, Al-Nada, and Al-Khasikiyah Market.” Each market has its own specialization in the products it promotes and which fans enjoy, especially in the food and textile sectors.
Here, a number of shop owners in historic Jeddah spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about a noticeable growth in sales during the days of “Khaleeji 27”, noting that the influx of fans of the Gulf teams, in conjunction with the movement of pilgrims and visitors, was reflected in the sales of fabrics, ready-made clothes and accessories, while workers in popular food outlets confirmed an increase in demand for fish and traditional dishes in the city.
Historic Jeddah in “Gulf 27” was not the backdrop for heroism, but rather it was the story that told the facts and legends about each neighborhood, including the story that was woven around the oppressed neighborhood that was passed down through generations and not recorded in history books regarding a man who killed his wife unintentionally, so retribution was carried out on him, and it became clear that he was oppressed, which is what was written on the wall. However, all sources confirm the death of Sheikh Abdullah the oppressed, as mentioned in the book. “Weapons and Equipment in the History of Bandar Jeddah” was written by Abd al-Qadir bin Faraj al-Shafi’i in the year 1010 AH, and after his death, the neighborhood was named after him.
Among the stories told, the story of “Gold Street” stands out, the story of which began about 60 years ago, with expansion works and the accompanying demolition of old buildings. It is said that one of the workers, while emptying rubble, spotted pieces of English gold pounds among the rubble, so he bent down and picked them up, before the rest of the workers gathered around him and dug around with their hands in search of more. The story quickly spread, and men, women and children flocked to the site. In the hope of finding something of the “treasure,” the coins were known as “Abu Khayal,” after the image of the knight on the back of the pound. Elders narrate that some of these coins used to arrive in Jeddah during the Hajj seasons across India.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities revealed that about 4 million people visited the Grand Museum from its opening last November until the end of August, and indicated at the same time that the increase in the number of visits coincided with the new tourist season.
This came during a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Grand Egyptian Museum, headed by Sherif Fathi, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities. The Board of Directors agreed to accept the donation submitted by the French side, within the framework of the Egyptian-French cooperation project in the field of antiquities, which includes providing a number of humidity measuring devices in the museum’s exhibition halls, which contributes to supporting the preventive preservation system, by recording and monitoring the stability of the environmental conditions surrounding the archaeological collections. According to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Tuesday, members of the Board of Directors were briefed on a number of memorandums of understanding that are being signed, to enhance cooperation between the Grand Egyptian Museum Authority and a number of universities and archaeological museums.
The Grand Egyptian Museum is considered the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilization, “the civilization of ancient Egypt.” It extends over an area of 490,000 square metres, and includes more than 57,000 artifacts that tell the history of Egypt through the ages. It includes a main hall with a statue of King Ramses II, in addition to the great staircase, which extends over an area of about 6,000 square metres, with a height equivalent to 6 floors, according to a previous statement by the Presidency of the Egyptian Council of Ministers.
The museum also includes 12 main exhibition halls with an area of approximately 18,000 square metres, temporary exhibition halls with an area of approximately 1,700 square metres, as well as halls for displaying King Tutankhamun’s belongings on an area of up to 7.5 thousand square metres, containing more than 5,000 pieces of the king’s treasures that are displayed together for the first time, in addition to a children’s museum with an area of about 5,000 square metres.
The museum, which targets 5 million visitors annually, received the Chinese President during his official visit to Egypt at the beginning of this September. The Chinese President’s visit to the museum, especially the golden wing of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, received remarkable attention, especially with the wide spread achieved by pictures of Xi Jinping and Sisi inside the wing.
It is noteworthy that the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities had previously confirmed, on the sidelines of the “Al-Ahram Forum for Egyptian Tourism,” on Monday, that “the Egyptian strategy for tourism is mainly based on highlighting one of the strengths of the Egyptian tourist destination, which is the tourism diversity that is unparalleled globally.”
Fathi explained that one of the main goals of the strategy is to reach 30 million tourists annually, pointing out that the tools to achieve this goal are monitored periodically every 6 months, in light of a number of hypotheses and influencing factors, including the size of hotel capacity available in Egypt, the number of incoming airline seats, in addition to the geopolitical developments taking place in the region, stressing that reaching 30 million tourists represents a step on the path to Egypt achieving what it deserves tourism, and not the end, pointing out that it is Egypt is scheduled to receive about 20 million tourists during the current year, stressing that his country offers unparalleled tourism diversity and a distinguished tourism product. Regarding forms of tourism promotion, the Minister explained that reliance on electronic marketing channels and tools has increased recently, especially with regard to social media platforms, in integration with other marketing mechanisms, including joint promotional campaigns with professional partners such as tour operators and local and international airlines.
A British study reported that practicing stability or isometric exercises once or twice a week may be sufficient to maintain, in the short term, part of the reduction in blood pressure achieved by these exercises, while practicing them 3 times a week may be more effective in maintaining these benefits for a longer period.
In the study, the results of which were published on Tuesday in the journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, researchers from Canterbury Christ Church University explained that reducing the frequency of exercise may represent a practical option for people who do not have enough time to exercise frequently.
Isometric exercises depend on holding a certain position for several minutes without moving the muscles repeatedly. Examples include squatting while leaning against a wall, planking, and hand grip exercises.
Previous studies have shown that this type of exercise can lower blood pressure to a greater extent than some other forms of exercise, and its effect may be similar to or greater than the effect of some drug treatments, but it was not clear how many times training is needed to maintain these benefits.
The study included 100 people, their average age was 37 years, and their systolic blood pressure levels were normal to slightly high, ranging between 120 and 140 millimeters of mercury, and they did not exercise regularly.
Participants were randomly distributed into 5 groups; Among them was a control group, while the other four groups underwent a 4-week home training program, which included 4 rounds of static squats leaning against a wall, separated by two minutes of rest, 3 times a week.
During the next four weeks, one group continued exercising 3 times a week, a second group twice a week, a third group once a week, while the fourth group stopped exercising.
After 4 weeks, all groups that exercised recorded a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure, compared to the control group.
After 8 weeks, participants who exercised once or twice a week maintained significant reductions in systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure, but not diastolic blood pressure.
As for the group that continued to exercise 3 times a week, it maintained a low blood pressure and recorded the largest decline in systolic pressure, amounting to 13.73 millimeters of mercury, compared to its level at the beginning of the study, compared to 6.95 millimeters of mercury among those who exercised twice a week, and 6.56 millimeters of mercury among those who exercised once a week.
The group that trained 3 times a week also maintained improvement in other cardiac indicators. Among them is heart rate variation.
In contrast, the blood pressure of participants who stopped exercising after the first four weeks returned to levels that were no longer statistically different from the control group.
The researchers concluded that a reduced frequency of isometric exercise may be sufficient to maintain low blood pressure in the short term, however, exercising 3 times per week appears to be more effective in maintaining these benefits and improvements associated with blood vessel and heart rate regulation.
