Aden Travel Report 2000

Pros
Colonial architecture with volcanic backdrops, good beaches.

Cons
Hot...very hot!

The Bottom Line
Not your usual beach destination, Aden would make a great place to spend a few days relaxing after a longer trip round Yemen...

Aden is a strange beast. For years, it was under British control and because of its strategic position, it soon became the fourth busiest duty-free port in the world. Then it was the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the only Marxist state in the Middle East, during which Aden stagnated economically. In 1990, the two Yemens reunited, and Aden sunk back into backwater status, although it was pronounced Yemen's economic or winter capital. The scene of heavy fighting during the 1994 civil war, Aden's future looked bright with the construction of a new deep-water port, until a series of terrorist attacks (blowing up the USS Cole, and bombing Yemen's last remaining church) sent this steaming port city back into decline.

Aden could never be described as a pretty place. Intriguing, yes. Starkly beautiful, of course. But not pretty. The whole place has an odour of decay. Buildings on the verge of collapse, streets full of rubbish, the weather so hot and humid that everything seems to lose its colour, becoming drab and grey. Yet this city has something which is definitely likeable, hard to pin it down, but there is certainly something.

Aden is not so much a city as a collection of towns clustered round the edge of a large and imposing volcanic peninsula. There is no such exact place called Aden...the towns of Crater, At-Tawahi and Ma'alla on a volcanic peninsula, and the mainland suburbs of Khormaksar and Sheikh 'Uthman all make up the city of Aden. Across the bay to the west is another peninsula known as Little Aden which was once considered as a possible site for a French colony to rival Aden, but soon abandoned. For the visitor, only Crater and At-Tawahi hold any interest.

If you half shut your eyes while walking through the streets of Crater, and if you have a vivid imagination, it isn't impossible to think you are in any 1950's British town. For me, it felt like a seedy tropical Leamington Spa. Open your eyes fully, and you can't escape the fact that this is most certainly not a British town. The streets are teeming with people, the whole place full of life, but too hot to be chaotic. Things move at a slightly slower pace here than in the highland towns of Yemen, yet there is still an element of disorder...a sort of slow chaos, if you can imagine that.

The souqs (markets) are interesting, more for the mix of people rather than the produce for sale. Not the standard souq, this one is more like a London market, not permanent, just a street with temporary stalls. Just as much rubbish as a London market too, with plastic coverings, empty packets, rotten fruit, the odd dead chicken strewn about the floor. There is more cultural diversity here than in other parts of Yemen too. Young Adenis dressed in futas (sarong-like skirts for men) bargaining with uncovered women, their faces thick with make-up. Older men with dyed orange hair argue over the price of bananas, peppering their speech with English words learnt during British occupation. Shapeless black tents weave between the stalls...these are the women from Hadramawt and other more conservative parts of the country. Jet black smiling Somalis, refugees from Eritrea, flirtatious Ethiopian girls, Chinese construction workers looking thoroughly bewildered, a few Hindus, the remainer of what was once a large community of Bombay Parsees, even a European face or two. These days the Europeans are more likely to be Russians who were sent here when relations between the former Marxist government and Russia were very warm indeed, and now can't afford to leave, although you also come across the rare English eccentric attempting to still live a colonial lifestyle.

Behind Crater, on the slopes of the volcano, you'll find the famous water tanks of Aden, the Tawareej. Nobody knows which era these date from, but they are very old indeed and were such an effective way of storing water on this rain-less peninsula that the British organised for their reconstruction. Nowadays other ways have been found to store water, and the tawareej now form a park with benches and pleasant views over Crater. The lower two tanks can easily be visited without too much effort, as steps and walkways have been provided. To see the higher tanks, a rickety and dangerous path leads up the rock face, although I think you'd have to have a very keen interest in water tanks or be plain mad to put so much effort into climbing the path in humid temperatures in the 40s.

On another outcrop of rock nearby stands a Zoroastrian Tower of Silence, where the followers of Zoroaster would lay out their dead to be picked by vultures. Next to it lie the remains of a Zoroastrian Fire Temple, although I didn't make the effort to visit it...I mean, a fire temple just isn't a fire temple without the fire, is it?!

Back down in Crater (so-called because it was founded in the volcano crater), you can see the impressive colonial buildings of the Aden Museum, although the outside is all you'll see. Since they were gutted during the civil war, the exhibits have bene moved to other museums, and there are no immediate plans to re-open.

Walking close to the post office, you'll come across an unusual structure...a lone white free-standing minaret without the accompanying mosque. It leans ever so slightly, so this is Aden's answer to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. A street away lies the former house of Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th Century French poet turned adventurer and arms dealer. The well preserved house is now the Centre Culturel Francais, albeit a shut one at present. Head down the road and you'll see a sign of Aden's cultural diversity, a Hindu Temple. OK, so it isn't very obvious from the outside, but it still functions as a temple and has a community of around 300 worshippers, surrounded on all sides by Islam. Crater's only surviving church has now become a Protestant Missionary Hospital.

The waterfront at Crater has changed somewhat since the British left...you can buy old postcards of Aden showing waves lapping almost at the gates of the Aden Museum, but now this land has been reclaimed from the sea, and redeveloped into parkland and a recreation area with entertainment facilities. The President has a summer house here, next door to Yemen's only outlet of a Western Fast-fodd chain, Pizza Hut. Although I normally make a conscious effort to avoid these places, preferring to experience local food, Pizza Hut enticed me in on three occasions for one reason only...air conditioning! With temperatures in the 40's all day long, and with humidity at 90%, air conditioning is really the only thing that matters!

Opposite Crater is Siwa Island, formerly off-limits to everyone but the military. Night-time activity in Crater consists of strolling along the causeway linking the island to the mainland and drinking tea at one of the many small eateries. Most guidebooks will tell you that the Turkish fort crowning the island is still a military base, but this is not the case...although there are a couple of uniformed soldiers lazing around and eying you suspiciously, it is perfectly possible to climb the rock to the fortress for fantastic views over Crater and beyond. It goes without saying that you should take plenty of water to do this.

Where Sira island meets the mainland lies Holkhat Bay, an almost picturesque cove crammed with colourful fishing boats. If you want to explore some of the remoter beaches further round the headland and try a bit of snorkelling, you could try striking a deal with a fisherman here. If you prefer to eat fish rather than look at them, there are a couple of basic fish restaurants behing Holkhat Bay...just follow the fishy smells.

To get to the other interesting town on the peninsula, At-Tawahi, you'll have to take a minibus which passes through the built-up and ugly settlement of Ma'alla. Tens of identical tower blocks overlook the modern container port, and it is easy to assume that these are influenced by Soviet architecture...in fact, us Brits are to blame for these monstrosities! A Chinese restaurant, one of the only ones in Yemen, is Ma'alla's only real attraction, although there are several cafes where you'll meet old adenis who speak perfect English if you have time to spare.

Ten minutes round the headland is At-Tawahi, the most pleasant of Aden's sub-towns. Minibuses will drop you off in what must have once been very well-kept gardens. Here, you'll notice two famous landmarks..the Crescent Hotel, which has been recently renovated and now offers first-class accommodation, and the Rock Hotel, which has weathered the years rather less well.

The next headland is known as Steamer Point, topped with a mini Big Ben clock and a few colonial mansions. Below this hill lies the Prince of Wales Pier, the former duty-free port recieving more than 200,000 tourists a year during the 1960's. Nowadays, you are likely to be the only visitors, but there are still a couple of souvenir shops inside waiting for better days. Outside is another one, the famous Aziz Bookshop. Here you can buy old postcards showing Aden under British rule, old magazines, and Aden Protectorate postage stamps. The owners of these shops are always willing to chat about old times too, often in amazing English, and I ended up spending nearly an hour in one even though I only bought a couple of postcards. One proudly boasted that he fought the British in the 1960's, but in the next breath he informed me that he always admired the British as fighters, in particular "the ones with the skirts"...I guess he meant the Scots in their kilts!

Carrying on along the caost road, the next major landmark is Yemen's only functioning church, St Francis' Catholic Church. On my visit, the doors were locked, as there is a service only once a week for Aden's dwindling Christian community. A month after my visit, the church was bombed, claimed to be the work of the Aden-Abyan Army, an Islamic fundamentalist group with ties to more well known terrorist networks. This is one reason why a visit to Aden for a foreigner isn't exactly risk-free.

Past the church, you reach Aden's recreation area, a series of bays with fine sand backed by an increasing number of hotels and chalets. The favoured beach among Adenis is Gold Mohur Bay (shaati' al-mahr ath-thahabi in Arabic, in case your taxi driver gives you a blank look!), complete with a spanking new Sheraton Hotel and a once exclusive Gold Mohur Beach Club which was once reserved for diplomats only. I've never been one to pay for sitting on a beach, and anyway, the water was far too calm for my tastes, so I moved on to the much wilder Conquest Bay, the last beach reached by road. Yet to be developed, this large expanse of sand recieves stronger waves from the open sea, and remains almost deserted save for a few expats and adventurous Yemenis. Slap bang in the centre of the beach is the rusty hull of a Russian navy ship which ran aground while trying to fire missiles at the President's Palace in At-Tawahi. because of the sea and the heat, the ship looks much much older than it really is, but it is a nice focal point of the beach. Swimmers should take care here...every year, several Yemenis drown while bathing from this beach. If you are used to waves, as I am, then you can take that warning with a pinch of salt; most Yemenis don't know how to swim, and when they come from the interior for a holiday by the sea, they enter the sea unaware of the dangers of undercurrents, and drown.

It has to be said that the general atmosphere in Aden seems to be much more liberal than in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. When South Yemen flirted with Marxism, the government set about creating social equality and discouraging religion. The result of this was that just as many women as men obtained university education, the British brewery still continued to produce bottled beer, and women could wear anything they wanted. Since reunification and the civil war, things have become much stricter...the brewery was one of the first casualties of the war, bombed to smithereens, bars and nightclubs closed down, and women were forced to cover up with hejab and the veil. Still, it is one of the few places in Yemen where you can talk to women without fear of being warned off by male family members, girls rebel by refusing to wear the veil (or sometimes even the headscarf) and wearing make-up, and there are no unwritten rules in buses about males not sitting next to females. This by Yemeni standards is very relaxed indeed.

There are several hotels in Aden, with more being built as part of a government project to encourage tourism to the region. The ones in At-Tawahi are obviously more pleasant, but pleasant comes at a price. I was unable to afford to stay in At-tawahi, but luckily Crater has many budget and mid-range options. I wouldn't recommend the budget options unless you are really accustomed to extreme heat and humidity...budget hotels in Yemen tend not to have electricity, so no air-conditioning. I felt a splurge was necessary, and stayed at the Aden Gulf Hotel in Crater, where a single room with air-con, TV, and a spotless shared bathroom set me back 1400YR, which is about US$11...expensive by Yemeni standards, but worth it to have somewhere cool to retreat to during the heat of the afternoon.

Eating out is easy in Aden...almost every street has a restaurant, usually with the same menu of kebabs, salteh (a fiery meat and fenugreek stew which literally bubbles at your table!) and occasionally fried or baked fish. Some might find the heat of these eateries a little overwhelming, as there is absolutely no air inside. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and head to the air-conditioned Pizza Hut or one of the outdoor food stalls on Sira Island, one of the few places to catch a breeze.

Aden has an international airport, situated on the mainland overlooking the salt-flats and the causeway linking Crater with the transport hub Khormaksar. Landing at Aden's airport, you get fantastic views, and it is great for a general orientation of the city. From the airport, Aden's volcanic peninsula reminded me of the Rock of Gibraltar, and indeed Aden is rather like a down-at-heel Gibraltar in some ways. Flights on Yemenia link Aden with Sana'a and most cities in Yemen, the remote Yemeni island of Suqutra and a limited number of Middle Eastern and East African cities. Most of Yemenia's flights, including the one from London, touch down in Aden before carrying on to Sana'a, so it is becoming an increasingly more accessible city.

Buses link Aden with most Yemeni destinations, although I prefer to use shared taxis, as these depart when full, and stop off regularly for food and toilet breaks. They are also slightly more comfortable and quicker than the buses, while still a cheap option. The taxi from Aden to Sana'a costs US$8 and is an eight hour journey.

To travel in Yemen, all foreigners need a travel permit (tasreeh) listing all destinations and dates when you'll be there. This is a pain, although I can see why they are needed...Yemen has become one of the hottest destinations for kidnapping, so the authorities are just trying to keep track of their precious tourists while refusing them entry to dangerous parts of the country. The road from Aden to sana'a passes through a well-known kidnapping zone, so there are several police road-blocks where you'll have to present your permit and passport (photocopies of both are essential...about 20 should be enough for a week's travelling).

So, to wrap up...Aden isn't immediately likeable, although there is more than enough to keep a visitor occupied for a couple of days. it is easier to spend longer though, and get under the skin of the city...then you'll find that Aden is a thoroughly fascinating destination.

Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb