When we were visiting Bahrain in early 2005 the fort was undergoing the final touches to a refurbishment so it was not totally surprising to see it receiving inscription in that July as Bahrain’s first WHS. In the (very fine and “not to be missed”!!) Bahrain National Museum we saw earlier photos of the fort and “reconstruction” might be a better word to describe the activity. Large car parks, “interpretive signs” and pathways designed for disabled access show that the government intends this to be a significant “visitor attraction”.

In fact tiny Bahrain has a number of interesting historical sights and is well worth a couple of days with rent-a-car to explore them (don’t even think of bothering with taxis or public transport as rent-a-car from the airport is so cheap and easy). In our opinion the Fort is not the best of these but it is pleasantly situated on the coast a few kms away from the centre of Manama on a spot which has been inhabited for over 4000 years and should certainly be visited if you are in Bahrain. As well as the heavily reconstructed Portuguese fort there are on the same site excavated remains (albeit not very extensive) of “cities” going back to the Bronze Age “Dilmun” civilisation which was centred on Bahrain. Bahrain Island is well served with underground springs and was regarded as a “paradise” in ancient times. The religion of Dilmun was centred on the Sumerian god “Enki” - “god of sweet waters under the earth” and another of Bahrain’s Tentative List sites, the Barbar Temple, only a few kms on from the fort, was dedicated to this god. There is not a lot to see so just take it in “en passant”

We preferred the unbelievable 40000+ mounds at the A’Ali burial field and the Saar “Heritage Park” (both are on Bahrain’s Tentative List). From its name this latter may have “better” things planned for it but at the moment is a wonderfully unadvertised and unspoilt excavation of a Dilmun town (it wasn’t even mentioned in my Lonely Planet and we only found it because it was on the WHS Tentative list). It is staffed by a single bored policeman who seemed very pleased to see anybody!

All of these sites could be seen in one day together with the oilfields and the somewhat disappointing “Tree of Life” which is having its life snuffed out of it by locals swinging on its branches. Give the museum a full half day and then take in the old Arab houses on Muharraq.