Gallivanting Grandma

Saturday – February 10, 2018

Today was our first full day in the city of Abu Dhabi which is the capital of the United Arab Emirates.  The UAE is a federation of seven emirates, each governed by an absolute monarch.  The Emir of Abu Dhabi has traditionally served as president of the United Arab Emirates since the establishment of the federation in 1971.

We began our tour of the city at the fruit and vegetable market.  Dates are a popular fruit which are grown in this region of the world.  We stopped at a shop which sells 30 different kinds of dates.

There was also a large fresh fruit and vegetable market with great looking produce.

Our next stop was the port and fish market.  It’s difficult to think of fresh fish on the Arabian peninsula, but the UAE is located on the Persian Gulf and sea food is one of their major products.  In the photo below, the fishermen are coiling a net.

There were fishing boats of all kinds and sizes lining the harbor.  We walked into the huge fish market nearby along the pier.

Most of the vendors were friendly and didn’t mind tourists taking photos of them at work.  They spoke English because they were workers from the southern part of India.

The fish was incredibly fresh!  A person could buy a fish and have it cooked to order at one of the stands nearby.  There was a line of people waiting for their seafood lunches.

We boarded the bus and drove to the Heritage Village to see exhibits of the traditional desert way of life before oil was discovered in Abu Dhabi.

This was an outdoor museum with displays of traditional crafts, tents, irrigation system display, mosque, and shops.

Our next stop was the highlight of the day with a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.  We could see the magnificent building from our hotel and up close, it was spectacular!

The mosque is large enough to accommodate over 40,000 worshippers, while the main prayer hall can hold over 7,000 people.  The complex covers an area of more than 30 acres.

Construction was completed in 2007 and the design was inspired by Persian, Islamic, Moorish, and Arab influences.  The carpet in the main hall is the world’s largest and took two years to complete.

The seven chandeliers of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque were imported from Germany and incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals.  A unique lighting system was designed to reflect the phases of the moon.

Later in the evening we had a real treat of going to the Emirates Palace Hotel for dinner. This is a premier hotel in Abu Dhabi where visiting dignitaries stay and tonight the president of India was in residence, so security was tight.

The hotel opened in 2005 with construction costs of 3 billion dollars – the third most expensive hotel ever built.

We enjoyed an incredible dinner of every imaginable scrumptious dish.  Afterwards, I took a photo from the outdoor dining area across the creek to a magnificent palace.  The local guide said it was one of the emir’s residences.

This was the view from the front of the hotel, across the beautiful fountains looking toward the skyscrapers of Abu Dhabi.

Friday – February 9, 2018

Today was a travel day and we drove the 90 mile distance from Dubai to Abu Dhabi UAE on a modern multi-lane highway through the desert.

We arrived in the capital city about lunch time.  We stopped at Etihad Towers, which is a complex of five towers and includes offices, a hotel, restaurants, and an observation deck on the 75th floor.  We ate a fabulous lunch at the modern buffet restaurant named, Rosewater.

Afterwards, our coach drove us to the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Hotel and I explored while the tour group waited to check in.  The modern lobby was decorated for Valentine’s Day.

Linda and I shared a huge room with an amazing view across the creek.  We quickly settled in and then went out to explore the “neighborhood.”  There was a walkway along the creek connecting several hotels and a very nice high-end Souq which had several international restaurants, shops, and cafes.

The location was lovely and it was fun to explore the beach-side path. Across the creek, we had a view of the Grand Mosque.

Much later, we had an excellent dinner at the buffet in the Fairmont.  We enjoyed another wonderful day in the UAE.

Thursday – February 8, 2018

Burj Al Arab is a luxury hotel built on an island of reclaimed land.  It was designed to resemble the billowing spinnaker sail of a J-class yacht, and has become an iconic symbol for Dubai.

Today was our last full day in Dubai and our guide, Maged Salib, presented several options for the group.  He arranged for the bus to drive us into the heart of the city to see several interesting sights and then drop off anyone along the way who wanted to spend more time at a particular place.

After a photo stop at Burj Al Arab, we drove to Souq Madinat Jumeirah to see the high-end shopping mall which is part of the Madinat Resort.  It is supposed to be “an authentic re-creation of an ancient marketplace with traditional Middle Eastern style and ambiance.”  It was a lovely place to shop.

I walked through the Souq to the canal behind the mall and the vista opened to a wonderful scene of traditional styled buildings connected by a green waterway.  Traditional wooden boats transported guests from hotels along the canal.

Our next stop was the famous “Palm Jumeirah” which is an artificial island created just offshore in the shape of a giant palm tree.  Construction began in 2001 and the island is entirely built from rocks and sand.  Our bus let us off at the mono-rail station and we rode to the end of the line to the Atlantis Hotel & Resort.

Dubai is such a huge city it takes time to travel between important sights. Our bus met us at the end of Palm Island and we drove to Dubai Marina.

Gerri, Anne, and I had ventured here yesterday on our own so it was familiar to us and I was happy to see the impressive district again.

In the photos and in reality, this part of Dubai looks like an unreal drawing of a modern city.  However, its scale is very human and seems user-friendly with families, children, and moms pushing strollers along the canal.

Most of the people in our group wanted to have free shopping time, so we stopped at the two most famous malls: The Dubai Mall (1200 shops) and Mall of the Emirates (only 700 shops).

We all entered the Mall of the Emirates to see “Ski Dubai,” with its indoor mountain and five ski slopes – including an indoor black diamond run!

Imagine downhill skiing in 120 degree weather in July!  Unbelievable!!!!

I chose to return to our hotel to relax and pack instead of shopping.  The Hyatt Regency was an excellent luxury hotel for our brief time in Dubai.  There was a small mall attached to the hotel complete with an ice skating rink.  A young girl was having a lesson when I snapped this picture.

This is a photo of the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  Tomorrow we leave for Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Wednesday – February 7, 2018

We had free time this morning to explore Dubai on our own.  Gerry, Anne, and I wanted to see Dubai from the sea so we took a taxi to Al Ghubaiba Marine Station and bought tickets for the 11:00 AM ferry.

Our plan was to ride the ferry from Dubai Creek all the way to Dubai Marina and see the city skyline from the water.  We boarded the ferry and were surprised by how modern and new the catamaran was.  There was comfortable seating for 100 passengers in a large air conditioned cabin with video screens.  There were a dozen first class seats near the bow and an outdoor standing area.

The ride in the Arabian Sea was smooth and pleasant, but unfortunately the sky was hazy with poor visibility.  We wondered about air pollution.  Our first stop was the Dubai Canal near Jumeirah Beach.  One of the crew members said that many tourists get off there and take another ferry along the canal through the city and back to Dubai Creek.

We continued to the next and last stop on the ferry, which was Dubai Marina.  This is another new section of Dubai which is developing rapidly.  Like all the other desert cities, there was construction everywhere!

This was like another city with many clustered high-rise buildings some distance from Downtown Dubai.  There was a large ferris wheel at the entrance to the harbor.

The ferry continued into the narrow inlet to the dock and we got off.

We had to return to the Hyatt by in time for the afternoon’s activities.  We walked to the metro station to take the mono-rail which runs between Dubai Marina and the Creek near our hotel.

Dubai has an excellent public transportation system which services a large part of the city.  The mono-rail portion is above ground and then it connects to an underground part near Dubai Creek.  It was clean, quiet, safe, and fun to ride!

The entertainment for the evening was riding over the desert in 4X4 vehicles.  It was a lot of fun!  And we held on as the driver negotiated the car over tall sand dunes.  We passed this man on a camel waving his cell phone:

The 4X4 #3 Team:

We passed several herds of Arabian Oryxes and tried to take photos of them:

After 40 minutes of twisting, turning, skidding, and climbing up and down sand dunes, we arrived at a desert oasis set up for us complete with champaign and strawberries.  I’m sure nomadic life was never this good!

Linda and I posed for desert photos:

We watched the sun go down over the dunes and then we all drove to the base camp for dinner and entertainment.

The camp was set up with camel rides, apple hookahs, henna painting, an open bar, desert souvenirs, and a buffet Middle-Eastern dinner.  Music played while we sat on cushions at low tables:

The evening’s entertainment was a “Whirling Dervish” and a Belly Dancer.  Both were excellent and we all had a fun time!!

Tuesday – February 6, 2018

After all the hype and schemes for several years, I finally made it to Dubai – “the Las Vegas of Middle-East.”  However, I soon discovered that Dubai is a gigantic sprawling city with distinct neighborhoods.  Our hotel, the Hyatt Regency, was in the “historic’ neighborhood of Deira.

According to Frommer’s Guide, “Deira is Dubai’s oldest and busiest neighborhood, filled with the traditional sights, sounds, and smells of the city.”  From our 11th floor window, we could see the cruise ship harbor in the distance and the commercial wharf of Deira lined with traditional wooden Dhows loading goods to be transported to Iran, India, and other Persian Gulf countries.

Our first stop of the day was the Dubai Museum located in Al Fahidi Fort.  Built in 1787 out of coral rock and mortar, the fort is the oldest building in Dubai.

Several wooden boats, al abra, which are still used today, were on display in the courtyard.

The museum was well planned with life-sized dioramas showing existence in the region before the discovery of oil.  As visitors walked along an indoor path, there were sounds and displays of shops filled with craftsmen, vendors, tailors, carpenters, textile workers, and depictions of desert life with a date farm, camels, and Bedouin families.  In the courtyard outside there was a full-sized Dhow.

The tour group continued to the creek where we took several water-taxis, abras, across to Bur Dubai.  This congested waterway reminded me of Venice!  It was full of boats of all sizes and shapes.  Who knew that Dubai was water and desert?!!

the other side of the creek was the more interesting part of Deira, with Dubai’s famous street markets, including a Gold Souk, Textile Souk, Spice Souk, and Fish Souk.

We were led into a large shop selling spices and camel milk chocolates and, after a sales pitch, we were finally able to explore the Souq on our own.  Like its Arabian peninsula neighbors, most of the shoppers and vendors are “ex-pats” – people from other countries who came to Dubai to work with 2-year contracts.

Afterwards, the bus took us to the business center of Dubai and to our next stop which was Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world!

We drove through a lot of traffic but finally reached the famous skyscraper area of the city for which Dubai is known.  Similar to Qatar and Oman, there was much construction going on everywhere.  Burj Khalifa is part of the Dubai Mall and we had to walk through the mall to get to the entrance to the elevators which go to the observation decks of the building.

Like any main tourist attraction, we had to wait for our timed tickets to get on long lines to the elevators up to the top.  There were two entrances which we had to go through for security: one for women & children and another just for men.

Statistics: Burj Khalifa is 2,717 feet tall with 160 stories.  It was opened in 2010 and was designed to be part of a development which includes: 30,000 homes, 9 hotels, parkland, 19 residential towers, and an artificial lake.

There was an indoor observation deck with 360 degree views of Dubai and an outdoor observation area.  Burj Khalifa set all the records for the tallest building in the world.  It took the elevator 9 seconds to climb up to the 148th floor.

I walked around the observation areas, took pictures, and looked out at the other tall buildings built in the flat white desert.  Then I took the elevator back down to ground level.

When the group was assembled, we were taken to have lunch at Jumeirah Emirates Towers’ excellent Italian restaurant, Alta Badia, on the 53rd floor.  It is the world’s third-tallest hotel building in the world.  We had a wonderful lunch with a fantastic view of Dubai!

We passed several interesting buildings on our way back to our hotel.  This region of the world must be a wonderful place for professional architects to design and create fabulous buildings.

The building below is called “The Dubai Frame.”  It just opened January 1, 2018 and has a museum and observation deck connecting the two towers.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit it.  Oh well, next time!

We rested for several hours at out hotel and watched the sun set over Dubai Creek:

Maged, our tour leader, had a great surprise dinner for us.  He had made reservations at The Atlantic which was rated “the best seafood restaurant in Dubai.”  The restaurant was at one end of Souq Al Bahar and was billed as the “ultimate dining experience in downtown Dubai.”

We sat outdoors on the deck of The Atlantic overlooking the lake surrounded by illuminated buildings.  Burj Khalifa dominated the night sky across the water.

The Dubai fountain was installed in the lake to rival the famous fountain in Las Vegas, Nevada and “danced” with musical accompaniment every half hour.  What Fun!!

As an added feature, there was a light show cast onto the exterior of Burj Khalifa at regular intervals!  What a show!!  What an experience!!!  Incredible…….