Getting used to traveling in Saudi Arabia. Very difficult to determine when and if sites will be open. Rarely is there a website and the information on Google maps is not accurate. Whet to see Al Masmak Fort, but it was closed so only got pictures of the outside.
The second main tourist stop is the palace of the first king. King Abadulaziz lived here with his 800 staff in the 1930’s. The complex also has a national museum and a large park. Museum and palace were closed. Went to the park at night to see the palace lit up at night.
Riyadh was hotter during the day than where I am staying, but cools down more at night. During the day the city is deserted. At sundown, people emerge to enjoy the cooler weather.
For dinner, we picked this restaurant based on the pictures of food hanging by the register. There were pictures of pizza, hamburgers and many other foods. This way we could order by pointing at the pictures avoiding having to communicate in Arabic.
When we went to order, the only food available was chicken shawarma and fried chicken. The pictures were just for show. This has happened several times to us where restaurants put nice pictures of food in the menus and on the walls, but not pictures of the actual food being served. The workers were very excited for me to take their picture. One guy ran from the back to get into the picture.
Matthew of Arabia 