Pearling is the idea behind the whole route, not a single building, and the point on this map marks the heart of the old pearl trade in Muharraq. For centuries, divers set out from here each summer on wooden boats to work the oyster beds in the shallow Gulf, and the season, the long dive, lasted from about June to September. A diver went down with a clip on his nose, a stone to take him to the bottom, and a basket for the oysters, holding his breath for a minute or more and repeating the dive dozens of times a day. A rope hauled by a companion on deck brought him back up. The work was hard, the pay was poor, and many divers were in debt to the boat captain, the nokhada, for the whole of their working lives.
Singing was part of the work. A man called the naham sang to the crew, keeping rhythm and spirit up, and those songs survive in a living folk tradition that is still performed in Bahrain. The oyster beds, called hayr, were located by long experience, and the shallow banks off the north coast of Bahrain were known as some of the best in the Gulf. The trade collapsed in the 1930s when Japanese cultured pearls flooded the market, and at the same time oil was found in Bahrain, in 1932. The country's economy changed forever, but the memory of the pearling age is a source of pride, and the UNESCO route traces it through a seafront, an oyster warehouse, merchants' houses and a fort.
The route is a walking one, and the riding is a way to get there. The roads around Muharraq are generally good, with wide new boulevards on the outskirts and narrow lanes in the old quarter. The shore road offers a view of the water that was the working world of the divers, and the best light is early morning, when the sea turns pale and the dhows rest at their moorings. The sea breeze helps a little, but from June to September the humidity is severe and midday riding is hard work.
Muharraq, with nearly a hundred thousand people, has fuel stations and cafés in abundance. Sit down for a glass of karak tea, sweet and spiced, or Arabic coffee with cardamom, and look at the water. Pearls are still sold in the souk, but ask carefully and compare prices, because many of those on sale now are cultured, not natural.