Amazing First IMPRESSIONS of NABLUS PALESTINE S06 EP.63 | MIDDLE EAST MOTORCYCLE TOUR
Good Lord... What has our navigation brought us into? I'm sure you haven't found yourself in such a situation before. Right at the heart of old town Nablus is the Jamia Mosque of Nablus. It was built by Sultan Saladin.
All you must have heard about Kunafah. This city is the actual place of origin of Kunafah. They are lifting it to turn it upside down.
Let's see how crowded it is going to be. They aren't stopping anyone coming from this side. Previous you saw the Israeli yellow-white registration plate. These are quite different from them. We are not too far from Nablus old town.
We'll be there in no time. Just another 5 km to go. We are already in the city outskirts. Cafes here seem quite nice.
The houses that I can see from here appear to be very beautiful. Welcome to Nablus One of the oldest cities in Palestine. We can see a lot of new buildings here, for now. However, we'll be in the old town in some time. Gradually, the city is getting livelier.
Apparently we are close to the main city area. Need to ride extra carefully here. Because my insurance is not valid in this area.
Only valid for cities in the Israeli territory. If anything happens here, it's gonna be a problem. That's An-Najah National University. The environment here is completely different. You clearly feel like you are in an Arab city.
Similar to how it was in Syria and Jordan. There are numerous restaurants and cafes in this city. In case we decide to stay here for the night, it's gonna be a very lively evening. This is the old town. I think one can hardly take the motorcycle into the old town.
That's all part of the old town. Look at those stairs. Too many streets here. Need to go this way. That's the pure old town of Nablus. Good to see that there is not much traffic here.
Let the old man get through, first. People are looking at me with surprise. 'Where does this guy get on his motorcycle?' O my goodness. We are getting to the more crowded part. Don't wanna get stuck here. Blindly following the navigation has brought you here, Abrar.
Well... Well... We are on the wrong track. Although our navigation brought us here... But, it shouldn't have happened while we are on our motorcycle. Good Lord... What has our navigation brought us into? I'm sure you haven't experienced this situation before.
My navigation brought me to this purely pedestrian area. Better stop and ask someone. That is really awkward. I'm not sure how am I gonna get out of here.
It's just for pedestrians. I, somehow, made my way through the previously crowded area. However, I'm just a 100 meters away. They are filming some sort of a video here. I think we can get through from here. Oh my God Just look at that...
That's the result of blindly trusting your navigation. Thank God I should have come from that side. Let's park here. The guest house must be somewhere around here. We are in front of a soap factory. We have found a guest house.
It was one hell of a task to find the way here. But the people were really helpful. I've left some of my luggage, my backpack for instance. I wanted to explore the way without worrying about getting stuck. It's not easy to ride the motorcycle in the old town. Here....
Better keep going. We've got ourselves a room. The place is called Sofal Family Guest House.
The owner is a very friendly guy. Actually it's sort of a youth hostel. They have a large room with about 7 beds.
He told me that there will be two more guys to join me tonight. So, the three of us will be sharing this room tonight. Normally, I prefer to take a single room. But that's what's available here. If the room were full, other guests might get disturbed by my loads of luggage.
Luckily, the room is almost vacant tonight, so I can use another couple of beds to place my luggage. I paid almost 21 or 22 dollars worth of shekels for this room. Quite reasonable, I guess. The best thing about this place is the amazing view of the old town from here. Right at the heart of the old town.
Let me give you a glimpse of the old town. You can see the mosque from here. I think it's constructed in Ottoman style.
There's a clock tower right next to it. The new building that you see in the back is the commercial center. On this side, there's a really old mosque, dating back to 11th or 12th century. Built by or during the time of Saladin. Let's go and explore this city. I've come to the old town of Nablus.
You can say that Nablus is the 3rd or 4th oldest city in the world. Jericho is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Next in the list is Damascus, followed by Aleppo or Nablus.
People in Aleppo claim their city to be older. The same is claimed by people in Nablus. Nevertheless, it is among the oldest cities of this world. For that reason, you will find a lot of old buildings here. I just visited a mosque here, known by the name of Al Nasir Mosque. The one with the green dome that I showed you earlier.
This mosque was renovated in 1927. A serious earthquake destroyed a lot of buildings and the previous mosque here in that year. That's when the mosque was renovated. The mosque is really beautiful from inside.
I don't think that the renovation was done to match the style of the mosque that existed before. I got this information from the locals. The city on the whole is quite lively.
Many tourists come here for a day tour. Probably the ones who are already visiting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Lets capture and showcase the old town together. Right at the heart of old town Nablus is the Jamia Mosque of Nablus. It was built by Sultan Saladin.
There used to be a church of the Crusaders at this location, before. Later on, that church was converted into a mosque. That Crusaders Church was also built upon another church from the Byzantine times. So, you can call it to be a mosque from thousands of years ago. The construction style of this mosque is also very similar.
I hope you remember the Umayyad mosque of Damascus from one of my old vlogs. This mosque is very similar to that one. The 1927 earthquake severely affected the mosque along with the other places in the old town.
It was later restored in 1935. You can still see some very old and large stones in the walls. They were clearly from the old construction here. The smaller stones are the newer ones.
Nevertheless, the renovation work was nicely done. It's a very beautiful mosque for sure. You get the feeling of being at a very old and unique mosque. I love Pakistan... I love Pakistan...
Thanks very much. As you can see that the whole market wants to be in our video. And we are trying to fit everyone in.
Nablus souq is one of the most vibrant ones. With a great atmosphere and vibe. I haven't visited any other souq like this in Palestine. The one in Nazareth was a very small one. The one in Tel Aviv had a very different feel. Because it was not really an old souq but more like a street market.
You won't find too many tourists here. Most of the people visiting here are local Arabs. The souq has almost everything that you need for everyday life.
A lot of replica items, football jerseys and more... But the atmosphere is awesome. It's such a good feeling to be able to walk through this souq and have this experience.
Watching people shopping and observing how they negotiate. I haven't seen more friendly people in the Middle East before. Nobody is the souq is pushing you to buy anything. Everyone seems happy. Especially when I tell them that I'm from Pakistan, their behavior gets even more friendly. All you must have heard about Kunafah.
This is the actual city of origin of Kunafah. I've tried kunafah at a lot of places in the Middle East. But everyone told me that the kunafah in Nablus is really special. We have come to the most famous Al-Quds shop here. I have ordered Kunafah for myself.
Let's taste it and see how special this is. They don't speak Urdu. Take a look at this kunafah. Looks really different from everywhere else.
I have tried kunafah, a number of times before, in the Middle East. Starting from Iraq and right up till Nablus... By far this is the best one.
Can't stop myself from eating...despite the fact that it's too sweet. And the place is super crowded. They are making kunafah here.
Starting off by greasing the pan with oil. This is flour... The color of this flour is due to saffron.
Then they add sugar and water. They make it really smooth. When the flour is ready, they add cheese on top of it. This is pure cow cheese without any salt or additives. They put a lot of cheese in it. The guy was just telling me that they add more cheese than what other shops do.
Finally, they place it on a medium flame for 10 minutes. You can take a look at the flame. I don't think it's too hot. They still have to cover it as I saw before.
10 minutes... Look at him... Lifting it to turn it upside down. And our kunafah is now ready. Adding sugar syrup. That looks like a lot of sugar.
Soap making can be traced back to three cities; Nablus, Aleppo and Tripoli. This one is really famous. Even today, you can find some factories in the old town, still making soap in the old style. The way it used to be when they started making it. Right now we are in the oldest and most famous soap shop in Nablus.
I'll try and talk to the owner of this shop to get more info. That's Mr. Nablusi... The owner of Nablusi Soap Factory. So how many families are in this business... In Nablus, there were 9 families. How many are left now? Now there are only 4 families. Please tell us if you still use organic ingredients.
Definitely we use olive oil. Only olive oil? Only olive oil. Can you please show us. There are many different types of soaps. This is the classic one from olive oil only.
This one is from fresh goat milk. This is camel milk soap. And this is Dead Sea mud soap.
The soap has different benefits for the skin. For example, goat milk has vitamin A. So it's good as an anti-oxidant agent. Similarly, camel milk has its own benefits.
This one is really good for dandruff and hair. How much does one bar of soap cost? Its wait is 100 grams. The prices vary a lot... For example, in Palestine, this one costs 5 shekels.
The classic one with goat milk is 10 shekels. 15 shekels for camel milk soap. The Dead Sea soap is also for 15 shekels. And these small bottles, 100 ml each, are for 10 shekels.
The one with 500 ml costs 25 shekels. Thank you very much. You are very welcome brother. Thank you. You are very welcome. God bless you. Have a nice stay. You are from Pakistan. Finally, we have discovered some nice Turkish coffee here.
Let me show you ... How this guy made my coffee with so much love and dedication ... He wanted to treat his Pakistani brother with a nice cup of coffee. Let me introduce you with someone. Meet Mr. Ibrahim.
Ibrahim has already seen my videos on TikTok. The one from Iraq that got viral. He told me that he already knew me. He has been showing me around. Thank you so much my friend.
So much love for Pakistan. As soon as we get out of the old town... You find yourself in the new city. The area between the two parts of the city is like a plaza.
Here, you'll see a lot of people sitting in cafes and restaurants. Even if the restaurants are full, they may still sit by the roadside and enjoy their coffee. Having a good time while doing conversation with their friends. That adds up to the overall lively air of this city. However, the traffic here is quite chaotic. One of the reasons for that is...
People who own good cars, come to the roads in the evening to show off their cars. And to roam around the city... That's the Arab style of life... exclusive not to this city only. Overall people here are very friendly. So I just sat here to observe the life style of this city.
Today, I had falafel sandwich. Something that I eat in this region when I don't feel like having meat. The falafel sandwich was really delicious. It also had pickles and salads.
Gives a rather unique taste to it. I paid almost 1.5 dollars for it. Had I tried this sandwich in Tel Aviv, I would have paid 10 dollars. I'm sitting by the plaza near the mosque with the green dome. The overall environment here is very relaxed.
Locals come here and sit in the evening. They enjoy their sheesha and have lively conversations with each other. I got some comments on Instagram, asking me if there was any war going on in this region. And I was like... what?? It's not like there's a war here all the time. Whenever there are clashes here, you get to see that in the news.
Otherwise, things are pretty normal here. People here are super nice and friendly. My personal experience here has been excellent. I highly recommend visiting Nablus to all those who are visiting the region.
It's a beautiful and amazing city. Especially the people.... I hope you guys must have enjoyed this vlog. If you did, don't forget to hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and SHARE. Remember me in your prayers. See you in the next one. Allah Hafiz
Long Live Pakistan
2022-11-06 17:46
