This week, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend and speak again at Blackhat MEA 2023 in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. I attended last year as well (see this posting), but this time I took some extra time and gave up my sleeping hours to explore some more of the city and surrounding parks.

Inside Riyadh

One night, a few of us went out late to check out the very popular Riyadh Boulevard. Completely free to get in!

You could see this Las Vegas Sphere from miles away and it was super bright!.

It is packed with people and families even at 11:00 PM at night.

Many different themes, Greece, pirates and ancient Egypt.

It has lots of shops, small places to eat and numerous attractions and activities. Everyone feels welcome: locals, tourists, visitors and all ages.

I was not expecting it, but the shooting and skeet ranges at the park were very popular. You could rent and choose all types of guns, shooting ranges and also paintball competitions.

The traffic can be bad sometimes and it can take a hour to get there even though it is a few miles away, you can take a Uber to get their from your hotel and is a safe getaway if you are not local and are looking for something to check out on your own.

Now, lets go exploring outside the city!

Outside Riyadh

You need to wake up early in the morning, but do not worry, there are coffee shops available along the highways 24×7! (yes there are some famous people here)

About 100 KM outside of Riyadh is a park known as “Edge of the World“.

It is not in the middle of nowhere, but it is quite some distant from the roads and any cities/villages. One of my continued watch choices on these adventures is my Breitling Emergency II watch that can always be there if anything goes wrong, lost or … (yes, I am a watch guy 🙂 )

It is an amazing place to see the sun rise. Most people come first thing in the morning or late in the evening when the sun sets. It is a little chilly in the mornings, so definitely bring a jacket.

When you first arrive, it just looks like a massive canyon with inspiring views in all directions.

But when you turn the corner around the short walk around the cliffs, the most famous and amazing spot jumps out at you. and yes, you can walk right up to the top. It is not dangerous, but there are some slippery rocks, loose gravel and there are no barriers, fences or chains, so be careful!

On a weekday, there are likely to be no other visitors, but as we just started to leave after about an hour, the crowds started to come in. Here was the first local visitor looking to have a picnic on the nice day.