The Liquor Store!

I wanted to take pictures, but wasn't sure if it was allowed. We made it to the tucked-away liquor store in Bahrain! This is a big deal because even though alcohol is allowed on this island, it is not readily available in every restaurant or hotel. Also, it is not stocked by the regular supermarkets. This liquor store is not well-marked, small, and located behind a petrol station. At night the white corrugated gate goes down the front door and you can't even find it. In the daytime, for the first-time visitor, you can't even find it until you spot the emptied out liquor boxes by the Dumpster.

Inside, the store is cool (temperature-wise) and immaculate. It's stocked with a lot of goods, everything lined up so neatly with no holes in the displays.

(I've noticed this about retailers here- liquor store, supermarket, or coffee shop open fridge- they spend a lot of effort to quickly refill stock on display so that you never see any "holes". If you take out a soda, someone always mysteriously shows up to replace the one you took.)

I really expected to just see white faces in the store- thinking this store was only for ex-pats. But surprisingly (or maybe I shouldn't be), there were many locals in there, many of whom I'm sure were Muslim. I'm sure there are many degrees of how strictly you adhere to the religion, but I still think it's so crazy that this huge country of Saudi is dry, but Saudis can drive just 40 minutes to a miniscule island and go to a liquor store.