Sanaa Things to Do

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The National Museum is in an old Ottoman Palace, called “Happy Palace” and was opened in 1987. The exterior of the building is very beautiful and it is nice to view the artifacts in an old building, rather than a modern one. The exhibits are well laid out and well lit, although the building is typical of the old building in Sana’a and has many floors and steps to climb.
There is a lack of dating on some of the exhibits, particularly the older ones and this is because more excavation work is needed at most sites and dates are, as yet, unknown.
Exhibits range in date from pre-Christian times up to recent history and include some inscriptions of the South Arabian language carved into stone dating from 2nd and 3rd century BC, a map of the Frankincense route with incense burners and other related artifacts, guns, swords and jambias, costumes and jewellery and a section on Dame Freya Stark who spent some time in Yemen in the 1930’s.
You can easily spend half a day here it is so interesting. The caretaker is very old and has a bunch of enormous keys for the massive old door.

Sana'a has about 100 mosques, the oldest one being the "Great Mosque." It was built in 630 during the prophet's lifetime and was the first mosque in Yemen.
It has some Sabaean and some pre-Islamic parts from other buildings, and most of the present mosque was built in the 12th century.
You can get a good view of the mosques if you go onto one of the roof terraces - you see many domes and minarets mixed in with the other buildings.

Dating from pre-Islamic times, the suq has 40 different sections and is open air. Like most traditional suqs it is divide into sections by product including coffee, cereals, spices, qat, jewellery, leather, carpentry. The central area used to be the Jewish area. There was a large Jewish population in Sana'a until the State of Israel was created.
The souk is interesting any time of day. However, once the afternoon qat chewing has started, the atmosphere is very laid back and nobody hassles you to buy.

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Late afternoon the place to be is the main square when everybody congregates to meet and chat. Men are sitting around smoking and talking, everybody is either chatting or walking about going to the souk and the lights are starting to be switched on in the old houses, illuminating the beautiful stained glass windows.
A good place to observe is from the steps above the art gallery facing the souk.
Great people watching!

You will need at minimum one full day to explore the old city, and if you really want to do it justice you should go for one trip early morning until lunchtime, then lunchtime until early evening. It is best split into 2 days if you can. This is because there is so much to see, and the scenery changes throughout the day.
The Tower Houses can be explored any time of day, you just walk around the streets marvelling at them.
Morning is a good time for shopping and visiting the galleries and museums. Afternoons are best for exploring the souk and the main square.

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QAT (pronounced Kat) is the very soul of Yemen. It is not just leaves which are chewed on; it is the way of life, friendship culture and conversation. At first glance it looks like long green leaves stuffed in huge amounts into the mouth and bulging to one side. It was not until I was asked by the receptionist at my hotel to go to the market with him and buy some Qat did I understand how important those little green leaves are to the Yemeni people. When I first sat down to chew my Qat the other men asked how much I paid and inspected my purchase. Passing approval for quality and a good bargain, they even selected the leaves for me. Even after painfully bulging my left cheek, they still insisted that I must stuff more. This results in the slow chewing that you see of Qat. With that much in your mouth, there is no other choice. I thought is tasted similar to grass. It is chewed and dissolves over time. There is no spitting or reason to do so. And then the conversation began. Supposedly it is mildly narcotic, but I do not agree. The leaves are grown on a tall tree and the crop is worth millions of dollars to the economy. It is priceless in social circles. Qat is the reason for almost all gatherings other than prayer and no social function would be without it

QAT- is a herbal stimulant which guys and some ladies like to chew in Yemen- It has different kinds of qualities- the low cost ones are so bitter and high quality seems equally bitter. It is a cultural thing to chew it and also a bonding experience.
I wandered around the old city and at the afternoon one could see almost all the guys with lumps in their cheek like a chipmunk. they are chewing qat and they offer it to you to also chew- I really kind stand the stuff but join them to be polite... One would wander past small booths in the souq area and see 5 or 6 lads crammed into the booth huddled together chewing the stuff, over to the next booth, more lads chewing waving to you to join them.
QAT MARKET
There are, as far as I know, two big Qat markets- one in the old city and one in the general city. Those markets are heaving with guys clamouring over other guys with big black sacks filled with qat. they wrestle over small bags of qat, crawl and climb over anything- the scene is really astounding! A kind of tea ( but not made of tea- but some kind of seed) soaked with non alcoholic beer and lemon is ladled out into a cup- refreshing but unknown ingredients!

I was invited to a Yemeni house in the old city, to the top floor in a small room they said was dedicated to chewing Qat- I see all the twigs and leaves scattered all over the floor, cups of tea are also frequently passed around, ( they also drink tea from the metal tins which are used for tin fruit, milk etc- as a cup!)-
I thought it was fun but one would start to wonder if Qat is becoming addictive in Yemen- or is it another way to have a bonding time with your mates- like people in UK do in the pub with a beer?

Right in the centre of the old city - vast and confusing, lies the souq al-Milh - which means salt market. However not only salt is sold - actually I did not happen to see any. You can buy all sorts of products here, from spices, to incense, raisins, dates, jambiyas, pots and pans, jewellery, dresses, nargilehs, suitcases and even doors. Oh, and don't forget qat.

Each product has its own area - and generally speaking (with the exception of some shops right by Bab Al Yemen) shop keepers are very nice and not pushing. This comes sometimes to extremes - I was in a shop thinking about buying some old-looking necklaces, and I did not manage... the owner was talking to a friend and was obviously not very interested in making business - after 30 minutes I was still there waiting for him to finish his conversation. He never did...