Thula

Thula is a fortified stone village an hour northwest of Sana'a and the most complete surviving example of Yemeni highland architecture, built entirely of dressed grey limestone with no mud brick at all. Every house is cut from the same rock as the mountain it stands on, so the village reads as a single mass from a distance. A citadel sits on the cliff directly above it, reached by a stepped path. Rock-cut cisterns catch the rain. The neighbouring villages of Kawkaban and Shibam Kawkaban sit on a plateau nearby. The village is walked end to end in half an hour.