Qualla: Sana'a

Sana'a: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dan from Brussels, Europe, CC BY-SA 2.0. Tradition says Shem, the son of Noah, founded this city at the base of Jabal Nuqum. Whether the story is literal or symbolic, Sana'a has earned the nickname Sam City, and its claim to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on earth puts it in the company of Jericho, Damascus, and Aleppo. What a traveler notices first, though, has nothing to do with antiquity. It is the jambiya - the curved ceremonial dagger worn at the belt by policemen, civilians, shopkeepers, and small boys. In Sana'a, everyone who identifies as a man wears one.

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Image: Dan from Brussels, Europe | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sana'a: First Impressions

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0. The airport welcomes visitors into a city that is, among other things, at 2,250 meters elevation. The air thins noticeably. The temperatures moderate in ways they never do down on the Red Sea coast. Even in summer, nights in Sana'a get cool. The buildings as you leave the airport...

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Image: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sana'a: The Old City

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dan from Brussels, Europe, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Old City of Sana'a is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and standing in its markets at dusk you understand why. The tower houses rise six to nine stories, built from rammed earth and basalt, their upper floors decorated with the distinctive qamariya - half-moon windows filled wit...

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Image: Dan from Brussels, Europe | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sana'a: The Jambiya

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0. Buying a jambiya is a meditation on authenticity. The dagger itself is carried sheathed at the front of the belt, often paired with handmade leather belts and silver pouches. The sheath is leather, sometimes decorated with a base metal, in expensive models with silver. The most p...

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Image: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sana'a: The Pace of Afternoons

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0. Tourism in Yemen has collapsed under the weight of the civil war that began in 2014. For most of the twenty-first century, foreign visitors could still sit in coffeehouses and watch the world drift by at a pace that felt suspended - the unhurried rhythm of a country with almost n...

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Image: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia | CC BY-SA 2.0

Sana'a: Stay Safe, Stay Aware

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DEMIS Mapserver, पाटलिपुत्र, CC BY-SA 3.0. Consular services at the American embassy have long since been suspended; travelers must contact the US embassy in Cairo. The British embassy has also suspended operations. Guns are visible - many men carry them for tradition as much as defense, and the sight of a Kalashnikov in ...

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Image: DEMIS Mapserver, पाटलिपुत्र | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sana'a: Excursions

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dar_al_hajar.jpg: Antti Salonen derivative work: MrPanyGoff, CC BY-SA 3.0. Dar Al-Hajr, the Rock Palace, is about thirty minutes from the city center in Wadi Dahr, a five-story palace that appears to grow out of a sandstone pillar. It was built in the 1930s by the last imam before republican revolution changed Yemen forever. A full day further out, the ...

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Image: Dar_al_hajar.jpg: Antti Salonen derivative work: MrPanyGoff | CC BY-SA 3.0