Island kingdom of pearls — Al-Fateh Mosque, UNESCO pearling paths, and muhammar rice
Manama is the capital of Bahrain — an island kingdom linked to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway, with the most cosmopolitan atmosphere in the Gulf. The UNESCO Pearling Path traces the route of divers who made Bahrain the world's pearl capital; Al-Fateh Grand Mosque is among the world's largest; and muhammar rice sweetened with date molasses is the signature Bahraini dish.
Bahrain has been continuously inhabited for over 4,000 years — it appears in Sumerian texts as Dilmun, a sacred paradise at the intersection of trade routes. Pearl diving was the economic engine for centuries until Japan's cultured pearls collapsed the market in the 1930s, and oil discovered in 1931 made Bahrain the first Gulf state with production. The Pearling Path was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.